Sunday, December 18, 2011

Elizabethan Stitching

  The past couple of weeks I've been doing the preliminary work on two new projects.  One is the Agecroft Sweet Bag which was published in the third quarter EGA newsletter.  The other is a more complex project in the same style, Thistle Threads online course called Glittering Gentleman's Nightcap.  Both projects are worked with motifs based on those found on a jacket in the Victoria and Albert Museum's textile collection
( jacket 1359-1900 and also the Laton Jacket).  The sweet bag is about 4" x 4" and is worked in silk threads on linen with some goldwork trim.  The nightcap is 8" x 21" and worked in silk threads, gilt silke twist and three different types of gold threads. ( I think I'll work the bag first!)

   Tracing the pattern of the cap onto linen was a chore!  The main motif is traced on the right side, but the cuff motifs have to be traced onto the back side as the fabric gets turned up when finished.  Since I couldn't find my light box I had to stand at the window and hold my arm up to trace a bazillion little flowers and leaves.  It took about an hour to complete the transfer.  The sweet bag, by comparison, took about 12 minutes to get traced off.

More information on the sweet bag can be found on this review by Mary Corbet:
http://www.needlenthread.com/2011/04/agecroft-sweet-bag-thread-kit.html
She has pictures and a review of the thread kit put together by Access Commodities.

The Glittering Nightcap information can be found on the Thistle Threads website, here:
  http://thistle-threads.com/teaching/projects/17thcentury/17thcent_nightcap.html

I'm looking forward to working with the gilt silk threads.  I saw them worked in to the Plimoth Jacket at Winterthur and they're really pretty.
  If I can find my camera cable I might even post photos.

1 comment:

MeganH said...

Hey there :-)
I'm not doing Glittering Nightcap myself. I took one look and said 'no waaaay am I doing that much work in gilt sylke twist' ! :-) But I have 2 friends that are doing it. One of them has rude things to say about managing the tiny motifs. She's almost completed one panel. The other friend is just starting, but will wizz along, knowing her. She's waay good.
We've all done the Masterclass, and various other TT classes between us. We'd love to know how you are going with the piece. You obviously share our interests.
I'm at http://elmsleyrose.blogspot.com.au/, Rachel is at http://www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk/wordpress/ (she's the only person I know to have done the whole, entire Masterclass, and she's blogged about it) and Mary doesn't blog but does e-mail. We'd love to chat to you about the piece, - I have an academic interest, tho I understand I'm not allowed to know the history/close techniques etc, on pain of death as I'm not signed up for the course. Problems are good- something to discuss, in case you feel self conscious :-) People seem to think I'm a lot better embroiderer than I am, for some reason. I read a lot. (my fingers and eyes are everywhere, mwa-ha-ha-ha!). We're just 'other embroiderers', good and less-good in various areas, you know? ~smile~ Just after chat in a very very niche area of interest.
I've pulled up another blogger that's mentioned the class - http://stitchingfoolishness.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/biting-off-more-than-i-can-chew.html tho I haven't read her entries yet, but I'll be saying the same stuff to him/her.
I found you on a Google/Blog search coz Rachel and I were saying 'how come no-one is blogging about it?'. There is no Yahoo group for the class, unlike the Masterclass.
Are you doing the casket course, btw? Loads of my friends are - we're all very excited!