White Threads » Elizabethan embroidery

Elizabethan Strawberry Roundel

yvette — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:33:19 +0000

I thought I might spend a bit of time over the next few days giving you more information about the classes I’ll be teaching at Beating Around the Bush.

Elizabethan Strawberry Roundel
With Yvette Stanton
Sunday 15th April 2012

This charming strawberry ornament features Elizabethan embroidery stitches such as buttonhole filling, reverse chain stitch and plaited braid stitch. Working with silks, paillettes and good quality imitation gold threads, this project will introduce you to the delights of Elizabethan embroidery. In red, green and gold, it would make a lovely Christmas decoration.

Many people admire plaited braid stitch but are scared of attempting it themselves. In this class, you’ll learn how to stitch it, with personal instruction from both me and my written instructions.

Skill level: intermediate stitchers (not complete beginners). This is because we will have a lot to get through in the one day, so instructing complete beginners would suck up a lot of my time, meaning the other students would miss out on me. Because I want everyone to have equal access to my tuition, stitchers with some experience – even if they’ve never done THESE PARTICULAR stitches before – are welcome in this class.

Kit Contents: Linen fabric, cotton backing fabric, silk thread, imitation gold thread, pailettes, needles, padding, card, instructions

Please bring with you: 10cm embroidery hoop, magnification (recommended), wash out marking pencil or HB pencil, embroidery scissors

Kit Cost: $23.00 AUD

To book in, please go to the TryBooking website.

The Magic Flute and BATB classes

yvette — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:03:18 +0000

Last night we took our girls out for a huge treat (a treat for us too!). We went to see Opera Australia’s production of The Magic Flute at the Sydney Opera House. It was amazing! As you can expect, apart from the opera itself, I was transfixed by the costumes. Wow! Full of colour, shapes and pattern. It was fabulous! We’ll have two very tired little girls today, but they were so thrilled to be going, and really enjoyed the performance. Fortunately today is a public holiday (Australia Day) so we don’t have to do very much – no gymnastics training for one thing!

Now, if you’re wanting to do any classes with me this year, for Beating Around the Bush, the needlework conference being run in Adelaide at Easter time, two of my classes have changed. Beating Around the Bush is a fabulous event, and last time one of the things I loved best about it was simply being with so many other people who also love embroidery.

My one day class is now going to be an Elizabethan Strawberry Roundel, replacing the Hardanger class.

Replacing the difficult and unusual stitches class will be your first chance to do a class in Portuguese Whitework with me! We’ll be making the handtowel out of my upcoming book “Portuguese Whitework”.

The Mountmellick lily cushion class remains the same.

I would absolutely love you to join me for these classes! Bookings for Beating Around the Bush can be made at the Try Booking website.

Class proposals

yvette — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:36:36 +0000

Over the next few days I have to get stuck into some class proposals. I’ve had a few letters over the past months asking for class proposals, but just haven’t had the chance to do anything about them. Thankfully the submission dates have not yet passed.

These are for classes into 2013, which seemed such a long way off when we were in 2011, but now I guess its not really all that far away!

Elizabethan panel

I’ll be submitting a range of proposals, including Portuguese Whitework, Mountmellick, and do you remember the Elizabethan style embroidery I did for fun a few years ago? I’m also thinking of doing a small one-day class proposal using some of those techniques.

So this means that apart from sorting through projects already made for classes to see which ones I’d like to teach again, I’m just going to *have* to design and make a small Elizabethan project in the next few days. Oh what a dreadful chore! (wink!)

Cable plait stitch and plaited braid stitch

yvette — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:39:43 +0000

What’s the difference between cable plait stitch and plaited braid stitch?

cable plait stitch

This is cable plait stitch. It is the stitch used in Mountmellick embroidery. It is a reasonably simple stitch, with only a few steps. Also known as figure of eight stitch to the ladies of Mountmellick, because that’s what each stitch looks a bit like.

Each stitch (or the sequence of steps that goes to make up a single cable plait) is worked separately and sits on the fabric separately (though with so little distance between that it is negligible). Individual cable plaits do not interact or interlace with each other.

When worked wide, (shown here about the widest I would be happy to do) it becomes very unstable. It can be worked quite narrow, which creates a slightly different, more compact, knotty look.

It looks like a simple braid on the surface of the fabric.

plaited braid stitch

Below left is plaited braid stitch. There are two lines shown as each is worked with a different method to create the same result. You can read more about this at a previous post on plaited braid stitch.

It is usually worked in gold or silver thread, and comes from Elizabethan embroidery. It is a more complicated stitch to work than cable plait stitch. Each individual stitch looks a little like a pretzel. (Though if you look at the cable plait stitch picture, each one of them looks like an upside down pretzel… interesting…)

Each stitch (or the sequence of stitches that go to make up a single plaited braid stitch) interlock with the ones one each side of it, so that the effect is much more interwoven than for cable plait stitch.

If this stitch is worked too wide, the stitches start to look too squat. This can be solved by using a thicker thread or narrowing the width. It is quite a stable stitch because of all the interlocking.

It looks like an intricate braid on the surface of the fabric.

I guess an interesting experiment would be to work both stitches in the same thread to see how they compare then. Here we are comparing two different threads, and the thread (its stiffness or otherwise) can really affect ease of stitch construction. With plaited braid stitch it really helps to have a thread with some “body”, but this is not necessary for cable plait stitch.

At some point, I think I’ll have to prepare some samples of each in the same thread. Perhaps one each in Mountmellick thread and one each in gold thread, so that we can compare better.

I have a hunch that in actual fact they’re not all that dissimilar. Just that plaited braid stitch is more interlaced with the stitches on either side.

Book review: Embroidery in Britain from 1200-1750

yvette — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:57:37 +0000

“Embroidery in Britain from 1200-1750″ is a book that I keep coming back to. I love soaking up the visual delights found in it.

This book is a visual survey of some of the delights of the V&A’s textile collection. It includes a couple of essays, then a listing of the plates with sizes and descriptions, then the plates themselves.

The first plate is of a piece that I have actually seen: a maniple dating from the 1900s, which I saw at Durham Cathedral, when visiting there in 2002. We just stumbled across the display, realising as we were there that these were actually extremely precious and significant embroideries. Quite a treat!

There are examples of ecclesiastical embroidery, a lot of metal embroidery, needlepoint tapestries, blackwork, counted thread samplers, sweetbags, silk shading, Elizabethan embroidery, crewel embroidery and more.

Whenever I want inspiration, or just to look at some really nice old things, this is one of the books I pull off my shelf. I just love it. I think that I bought it at the V&A when we were there on the same trip that we went to Durham Cathedral. I was there to research Mountmellick embroidery, as they have two examples at the V&A. But of course you can’t visit the V&A without a visit to the textile galleries and the bookshop!

I’d say this book is out of print these days, but its worth searching out one in your guild library or a second-hand copy.

“Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750″ from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collections, by Donald King and Santina Levey. ISBN: 1851771263

experimenting with synthetic gold thread and plaited braid stitch

yvette — Sat, 22 May 2010 20:32:55 +0000

I did a little experiment yesterday with the Kreinik Japan No 7 thread. I really wanted to see how it would go, in case I decide that I want to use gold thread on my beret. I don’t think real metallic thread would be happy about being rained on.

Kreinik Japan No 7 thread is a synthetic gold thread, with a ribbon of lame (plastic) wrapped around a gold coloured thread core. Proper metal threads have a metal ribbon wrapped around a gold coloured thread core. I usually use T71 Benton and Johnson thread.

The difference between these two threads, apart from quality and cost (!), is that the Kreinik thread uses a wider ribbon than the Benton and Johnson. This means that it is more difficult to curve the thread as it doesn’t bend as readily. Imagine a curve being made up of straight line segments. The more segments you have, the smoother the curve, the less segments you have, the less smooth the curve. With the Benton and Johnson thread, because the ribbon is narrower, it takes more wraps around the core to cover the same length of Kreinik (more segments over the same length). This means the B&J thread gives a smoother curve.

Looking at my stitched sample, I worked it on black as the beret is black. This isn’t the beret fabric, but a piece of faux suede. I used it because it was black and had the soft slightly fuzzy surface that the felted wool of the beret has. I tacked some guides that were about 5mm apart. I started stitching (at the top end) and decided that it was too wide. So I narrowed it down as though the guides were only about 4mm apart. This looked MUCH better. I still think it could do with a little more downwards spacing though.

When plaited braid stitch is worked too wide, you have to compensate by spacing the stitches closer together (down the length, not the width). This isn’t how it looked on the historical examples. To counteract this, you need to either work narrower, or use a thicker thread to fill up the space better. (I talk a bit about this in my left- and right-handed stitch dictionaries, each of which has a double page spread of step-by-step instructions for plaited braid stitch.) In this case, it was easier for me to narrow down the stitches.

I found that I don’t like working with the Kreinik thread very much. Each stitch has to be guided down onto the surface of the fabric, as otherwise it twists against itself and knots up. Grrrr!! This makes it a much slower process.

It also looks dazzlingly plastic… Really ultra shiny, rather than the soft shine of metallic thread. (This also makes it a bit hard to photograph!)

But, it does work. And it would be rain-on-able.

Added later: If you’re here for the first time, perhaps visiting from Pin Tangle or Craft Gossip – welcome! You can sign up to receive White Threads delivered each day to your email inbox. Just go to the top of the right-hand column and click on the little envelope symbol. Follow the instructions, especially the one where you have to confirm your subscription in the email they send to you. Do it now and you’ll be enjoying White Threads every day!

difficult and unusual stitches class

yvette — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:55:50 +0000

Following on from yesterday, I have been thinking about the stitches that I might teach in the difficult and unusual stitches class that I am planning for Beating Around the Bush 2012. This is the sort of class that really gets me excited, as I love sharing stitches with others, especially ones they’ve never seen before, and ones that they have seen and drooled over, but thought were way out of their reach.

So here’s the beginnings of my list – stitches that I am highly likely to put in the class (though no guarantees…!):

Plaited braid stitch is a stitch of Elizabethan embroidery origin, that is seen as being very difficult. So we’ll attack that one!
Cable plait stitch which looks difficult, but can be quite readily mastered.
Spiral trellis stitch (another Elizabethan stitch) is one that many find intriguing as they haven’t seen it before. As its quite an unusual stitch, I’d likely include it too.

And once again, I look to you, my wonderful readers to suggest other stitches that you would like to see covered in a class like this. I will be limiting it to only surface stitches, so there’s no need to suggest counted thread or needlepoint stitches.

I look forward to your suggestions!

plaited braid stitch

yvette — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:42:00 +0000

A lot of people end up at this blog because of their interest in Elizabethan embroidery. They come here to see my Elizabethan embroidery from earlier this year.

For all those who are interested, The Embroiderer’s Story currently has a series of posts about plaited braid stitch and how to do it. Very interesting information!

And for the left-handers amongst us, I remind you that there will be left-handed instructions for this stitch in my upcoming left-handed stitch dictionary!

Book review: "Twixt Art and Nature"

yvette — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:06:00 +0000

I recently bought a copy of “English Embroidery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: Twixt Art and Nature”

This is a gorgeous hefty book – 308 pages! It is actually an exhibition catalogue from the exhibition of the same name currently on at The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture in New York, until 12 April 2009.

Firstly there is a series of essays on aspects of English embroidery. Following that, there is the actual catalogue section, showing the articles on display in the exhibition.

The photos (all 280 of them, with the majority in colour) are magnificent – and that’s always what I’m after in any embroidery book. There are photos of complete objects, but also really good quality, lovely close-ups of details of the embroideries.

The styles of embroidery include goldwork, counted thread samplers, needlelace samplers, stumpwork, blackwork, Elizabethan embroidery. There are articles of clothing, such as jackets, hats and gloves. There is also a section of furnishings like boxes, cushions, chair covers and even embroidered picture frames (I used to work as a picture framer while at uni, but never came across anything like these!). There are sweetbags, wall panels, valances, and book covers.

Even if you never read a word, there is SO much to look at in this book. I highly recommend it. Copies can be purchased from Yale University Press.

And if you’re lucky enough to be in New York, there is actually a lecture entitled “The Needle’s Excellency: Tudor and Stuart Embroidery in British and American Collections” on in conjunction with this exhibition TONIGHT! Reservations are required, so you’ll have to get in quick! (For your sake, I hope that its not fully booked already!) More information can be found at the Bard Center website.

Now, if any of you lovely readers happen to go to this, I want to know about it! ‘Fess up and tell all!

Gilt sylke twist

yvette — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Look what I got earlier this week down at the Crewel Gobelin!

Back in January I asked Margaret, owner of the Crewel Gobelin, if she had heard of Gilt Sylke Twist, and she hadn’t. But always being one to try to please, Margaret said she’d try to get some for me.

Well, she did! She’s got (I think) the full range of colours. I bought Redde, Lincolne Green, and Blewe.

They ARE expensive, but as there is nothing else like them, and they are gorgeous, you really just have to accept that you have to pay for quality. And, with the dollar the way it is compared to the US dollar, I don’t think you could get them here yourself (by ordering online from the US) cheaper than that.

Thanks Margaret! Now I just have to find time to use them in a project. I do have a design forming in my mind…