Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 13:21:08 -1000
From: "Elizabeth A. Proudfit"
Subject: HNW - Blackwork
So I narrowed down my personnel definition of black work, first to three types, then
to one. The type that makes the most sense as "blackwork" are the outlined pieces
with the diapered insides. The other two are the double running pieces found in
the german Holbein paintings and the cuffs of English work such as Jane Seymore's chemises,
though the first is definitely counted work, and I have done similar work as the
cuffs uncounted. They involve large bands and so far I have only run into them in
black on white, but I may have only been looking at B&W photos. I have found this referred
to as True work, because it is "true" on both sides.
The other is the narrow bands of true type embroidery found on Spanish and
italian, as well as English chemises; on the cuffs and around the necks.
It appears to be more geometric than figurative, thus could come from the
Moors of Spain and have come from Spain with Catherine of Aragon. I've
seen this mainly in black ,but I think occasionally in other color.
Of course then you have the outlined animals and such as on the chemise
done in red embroidery, the pictures printed on before embroidery. which
if I felt like getting up and looking for the books I could probably cite
more authoritatively. I think there are parts of it in the back of QEW.
Please do not take this as anything except my opinion, and please, anybody
who want to feel free to jump in and critisize. I do all my research out
of books, not alot of period blackwork in Minnesota.
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From: Gwenllyan
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 17:44:07 -1000
Subject: Re: HNW - Blackwork
I did a short class in elementary blackwork, and have some reference sources.
Here is just a VERY partial list of books available on embroidery. Even if you
don't specifically want blackwork, some of the patterns are suitable for other
embroidery.
Ashelford, Jane,
Dress in the Age of Elizabeth. Holmes and Meyer Publishers, Inc. 1988
Campbell, Etta,
Linen Embroidery. London: B.T. Batsford, 1957.
Cunnington, C.Willet. & Phyllis,
Handbook of English Costume in the 16th Century.
London: Faber and Faber Limited, mcmliv
Dye, Daniel Sheets, Chinese Lattice Designs.
New York: Dover, 1974. (originally published as A Grammar of Chinese Lattice
by Harvard University Press, 1937) [this book per se has absolutely nothing to
do with needlework, but I use the lattice patterns to create blackwork diaper
patterns, borders, and motifs]
Geddes, Elisabeth, and Moyra McNeill,
Blackwork Embroidery.
New York: Dover Publications, 1985
Gostelow, Mary,
Blackwork. London: B.T. Batsford, 1976
Gostelow, Mary,
The Complete International Book of Embroidery.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.
Guild, Vera P.,
Good Housekeeping New Complete Book of Needlecraft.
New York: Good Housekeeping Books,
Harris, Karen, 16th and 17th Century Coifs. online,
http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/headwear/coifpics.html
Kendrick, A.F.,
English Needlework. 2nd Edition.
London: Adam and Charles Black, 1933, 1967.
Marmor, Paula Katherine,
Elizabethan Blackwork, The Blackwork Embroidery Archives.
online,
http://www.pacificnet.net/~pmarmor/bwarch.html
Pascoe, Margaret,
Blackwork Embroidery, Design and Technique.
London: B.T. Batsford, (date unknown)
Petersen, Grete,
Stitches and Decorative Seams. trans. by Carol Schroeder.
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1956.
Snook, Barbara,
The Creative Art of Embroidery.
New York: Hamlyn, 1969.
Swain, Margaret,
The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots.
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1973.
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From: "Bradshaw, Beth"
Subject: HNW - HNG
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 06:38:00 -1000 MIME-Version: 1.0
Thanks for the input about HNG, and I will be sending in my paperwork today! Also,
two really good books are Thomasina Beck's "Embroiders Story" and" Gardening with
Silk and Gold". Also "Exploring Elizabethean Embroidery" by Dorothy Clarke. I just
got them from my supplier, and wow. Very good research sources.
Beth
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Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 21:40:55 -1000
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: HNW - Blackwork
Perhaps not, but the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a wonderful painting in
the "school of Hans Holbein" that shows blackwork on the inside of a young
lady's partlet. I found it particularly interesting because the painter
clearly used two weights of line in the embroidery design. That could mean
two weights of thread, or two kinds of stitch (stem and running, for
instance). It is the only documentation I have found for what might be two
weights of thread being used in the same motif. The leaves are filled with
dashed line seeding in the lighter weight line. And the leaves themselves are
not closed figures. And there is still another pattern on the chemise where
it is pulled through the lower sleeves.
I visited last summer, and spent a great deal of time taking notes on that
painting. I also got a postcard in their shop of a piece of raised work on a
chalice veil. Has that been on display? The photo is frustratingly small.
So there are some fascinating historical embroidery research opportunities in Minnesota....
Yours in stitches,
Eowyn Amberdrake, Caid
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From: GarFairies
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 05:29:31 -1000
I have been working on the history of smocking stitches trying to trace their
roots throughout history. The earliest mention of smocking came from Sarah
Douglas (author of The Pleater Manual and great smocking scholar) who saw a
piece in an EGA magazine from 1175bc Denmark which to her looked like
smocking.
So far here is a partial list of paintings that show smocking from the
earliest 8th century (in question) through the late 19th century (oh and if
you know of any additions to this list please let me know). Now remember when
looking for the history of smocking that it will not look like what we are
used to, modern smocking is considered heavy whereas the earlier forms were
simple stitches. Styles change but the stitches are what we are searching
for. (Thank you for all of your kind additions.)
'Lindesfarne Gospels' (shows smocking on one linen apron) - Celtic Northumbria
8th Century
'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' - Hans Memling 1465
Self portrait by Albrect Durer - 1493
'Portrait of a Man' by Albrect Durer
Self portrait by Albrect Durer - 1498
'Portrait of a Man' by Albrect Durer 1516
'Anna Putsch' by Cranach the Elder 1503
'Child with St. Dorothea' by Cranach the Elder 1506
'Agnes & Kunigunde' by Cranach the Elder 1506
Dorothea Kannengiesser - Basle 1516
'Portrait of Jacob Meyer' by Holbein 1516
'Burgersfrau' by Holbein
'Portrait of Rui Fernandes de Almada' by Albrect Durer - 1520
'Coronation of Louis 1' 1526
'Portrait of a Woman' - Streigel 1525
Mona Lisa - Leonardo da Vinci 1503-06
'View on Mousehold Heath near Norwich' - John Crome (1768-1821)
'Woburn Sheep Shearing, 1811' - George Garrad
'Sheep Shearing' - 1828 James Ward
'Village Choir, Bow Brickhill Church, Buckinghamshire' - 1847 Thomas Webster
St. James's Fair by Samuel Colman
'The Sleeping Shepher - Morning' 1857 - Samuel Palmer
Derby Day - W.P. Firth 1858 - a man in his sunday smock
'Snowballing' - John Morgan (1823-1886)
'A Dame's School' - Thomas Webster (1800-1886)
'Weston Sands, 1864' W. Hopkins and E. Havel
'The Piping Shephed' - Alfred Downing Fripp (1820-1895)
'ACountry Cricket Match' 1878 - John Reid
'A Rustic Angler', 'Rustic Anglers' and 'No Luck Today' - Charles Edward
Wilson (1854-1941)
'Captured Unawares' - Caroline Paterson (1892)
Beth-Katherine Kaiman
http://members.aol.com/garfairies/smocking.html
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From: GarFairies
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:58:59 -1000
Thank you jacquie for the information on the Psalter. I'm trying to re-
construct the history of smocking and all information that I receive goes into
my mental hopper which is on the trail of something. So far I have discovered
that smocking existed before the "smocks" were popular in the late 17th
century and that it existed in very simple forms around the necklines of
shifts or chemises during the 14th and 15th centuries. Earlier examples are worked
in side panels, or gussets to dresses (for lack of the proper term)
which added volume to the skirt area. One kind member of this list referred
to it as a play of light and shadow instead of heavy thick embroidery.
I have been thinking that smocking as we know it evolved during the time of
the "ruffs". Workers brought home the pleat concept and played with the idea
of making the pleats permanent and possibily came up with the idea of smocking
longer lengths to make the pleats stay. Just a thought. Any ideas out there?
Beth-Katherine
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Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 14:39:03 -1000
From: Nancy Gilly / Philippa Grey
Subject: Re: HNW - Knitted Stockings
I have tried a sample piece for these stockings, (if I ever have time, and if I can
find a good photo of the heels), and I found that 000 needles and good old Knit-Cro-Sheen
crochet cotton gave a very good gage for them. I have not tried the pattern in the TI, but don't trust Rutt for the lozenge pattern. At one point he says two purls,
and you can tell from the picture that it is three. When doing the knit 2 together
for the eyelets, it seemed to work best if you reverse the twist on the stitches
on the second one; it makes it more symetrical. Has any one seen a good photo of the heels?
The photo in Rutt is excellent for the pattern sections, but the one heel is rotted
out, and the other is very neatly folded up so I can't tell how it was turned.
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From: BaronGiles
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 11:46:54 -1000
I use PatternMaker Pro, for the PC, which does allow 'knight's move' -one
over, two down- charting. In fact, you can connect any intersection with any
other interesection.
The program supports cross stitch charting by colored "X" or by colored symbol, or
b&w symbol. It supports backstitch along the grid lines (perfect
for blackwork). you can also do half stitches from any intersection into the
center of the square. All the standard features (move, cut, copy, paste, rotate,
flip) work intuitively. There's also a handy import feature that lets you convert
a scanned image into a crosswork pattern, after specifing the number of colors you
want to use.
I really like it, and will provide contact information for the manufacturer
upon request.
Giles
Gyldenholt, Caid
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Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 13:35:35 -1000
From: [email protected] (Conny Fitzsimmons)
Subject: HNW - smocking
Greetings all,
I just received a book in the mail today " Early German painting 1350 -
1550 isbn 0 85667 376 5
It is pictures of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and there are a number of paintings
with smocking. I do smocking, and I can easily identify the patterns.
One is on a mans shirt and the stitchery is done in red floss forming diamond patterns.
One painting on page 245 painted by Hans Holbein the Elder painted 1518-1520
is a portrait of a man the neck band smocked with black floss
The painting of the man with smocking stitched in red floss was painted by
Barthel Bruyn the Elder in 1538 - 1539 it is a portrait of a man of the
aPatrician Family of Weinsberg it is on page 168
Hope this helps.
Mistress Catherine Lorraine
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Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 14:23:40 -1000
From: Sarah Randles
Subject: Re: HNW - Book recommendation for period embroidery
>Okay, I'll bite .I;ve seen this at the V&A and delighted in the fact
>that it was possibly the ONLY thing I saw at the V&A that wasn't perfect.
I too saw this at the V&A about 7 years ago and was also delighted by it.
Despite the fact that it is technically rather crude, it has such colour and life
that it stopped me in my tracks. Some years later, I found a photo of another Tristan
embroidery in a book on heraldry, and the whole issue fascinated me so much that
I am now writing a thesis on the depiction of the Tristan and Iseult legend in medieval
embroidery. There are many large embroideries of the Tristan narrative, and also
many which depict aspects of it. The V&A incidentally also has another one - a Sicilian
quilt which is the pair to one in the Bargello museum in Florence (originally part of
the same piece or pieces) but which is too fragile to display. But I digress.
>What did you object to?? Inquiring minds want to know...
Kay Staniland's mistake is to confuse the V&A's applique with another embroidery.
She (I'm working from memory here, so I might not be quite right) describes it as
having 22 scenes. It only has 10 main scenes and 3 (or 4 depending on how one counts
it) tacked on the end, probably from another embroidery. The 22 scene embroidery is actually
the oldest of the 3 Kloster Wienhausen Tristan embroideries. She also (I think this
is her, actually it might be Jennifer Harris or someone else) describes it as having a blue ground. The scenes have alternate red and blue grounds. It is possible
that the entire thing is mounted on a dark blue ground, but if this covers the entire
back of the embroidery, it has to be a later addition.
I found these mistakes annoying because I believe that Ms Staniland works
in London, and it wouldn't have taken much to go and look at the thing.
Even more annoying is the caption accompanying the larger photo of a detail. It describes
it as St. George killing the dragon. Not only is it definately not St. George, since
it comes from a Tristan embroidery, but the iconography is wrong for it to be St. George anyway. Tristan fights the dragon on foot after it kills his horse. St.
George is always mounted. Grrr.
The photograph of the embroidery in the book is also not complete. This is not Ms
Staniland's fault - for some reason the V&A's archival photos of this work chop of
half of the left hand scenes. It would have been nice if that had been specified
in the caption, though, but that's probably just me being picky - it's not reasonable to expect
that from a non-scholarly book.
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Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 03:40:56 -1000
From: Mike Newell <[email protected]> S
Subject: Re: HNW - Drawstring purse construction details?
I don't know if you've c heck out Tim Mitchells' Web Page (Master Richard
Wymac) I am slowly working on a much humbler seal bag (silk thread on linen). After
working the entire fabric so it's covered with counted satin stitch,a strip of fabric
is sewn to the top. Holes are actually worked right through the linen band,and two
drawstrings go through. Tim has photos of the original purse (V&A, natch),as well as
good working diagrams. He had an entire Compleat Anachronist dedicated to his work,
but should have most of it on his web site, too.
I have to admit I no longer have his Web Site on my Favorites list because I have
hard copies of his patterns and work. However, you can probably link to it via the
various medieval needlework pages, Ianthe's page,etc.
--Kathryn SCA: Kathryn Goodwyn
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Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:50:04 -1000
From: Jennifer Riddle
Subject: Re: HNW - Bullion knots
At 04:06 AM 5/12/98 -0500, you wrote:
>was wondering if bullion stitch would be appropriate for this time period.
I can tell you that they definitely were using it then. Here's what I have
on it:
Time period Item Region
----------- ------------- ------------------
Late 1400s-
Early 1500s Orphrey Band France
First half
of 1500s Orphrey Cross Bohemia or Germany
Second half
of 1500s Velvet Border England
I have also found references to it earlier than that.
Hope this helps!
Jennifer Riddle
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From: Lori Martell
Subject: Re: HNW - Netting
>I have been wondering about this, too, however, since I've seen a reference
>or two to something called "mezzo mandolino" in the Italian renaissance,
>and there's a portrait of Eleanora of Toledo where she seems to be wearing
>a partlet of some sort of netting-like stuff.
Do you happen to have the full title of the portrait? :)
Here's what I have on alternative names of netting and its close relatives:
" Network, and it's close relatives, are known by various names: netting,
lacis, caul lace, darned netting, darned lace, spider work. During the Middle
Ages it was called Opus Araneum, Ouvrages Masches, Punto Ricamato a Maglia,
Lacis and Point Cont=E8. Other names include R=E8seau, R=E8zel and R=E8z=
euil, Hollie Lace, Opus Filatorium, and Mod=E0no."
Documentatble sources that I have follow (thanks to the help of the SCA-ARTS
list folks):
1) There is a preserved crispine or hair net in Dress in Ireland by Mairead
Dunlevy dated to 11th or 12th century Dublin.
2) There are period illuminations of hairnet-making in a great article by
Robert Wyss, Die Handarbeiten der Maria,= in Artes Minores: Dank an Werner
Abegg (Bern: Verlag St=E4mpfli, 1973), pp. 113-188.
3) There is a 12th-13th century embroidered silk mesh hairnet edged around the
bottom with a brocaded tabletwoven band found in the St. Elisabeth Church in
Marburg, Germany (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, N=FCrnberg, Inv. Nr. Gew. 2980). See
Hans Stegman, Katalog der Gewebesammlung des Germanischesn
Nationalmuseums, II. Teil: Stickereien, Spitzen und Posamentierarbeiten (N=FCrnberg:
Germanischen Museums, 1901). It is also mentioned in E. Crowfoot, et al., Textiles
and Clothing, c.1150-c.1450 (London: HMSO, 1992), p. 131.
4) I think there was also some fine remains of netting found in the 13th
century royal Castilian tombs in Burgos, Spain (Museo de Telas Medievales,
Burgos). See Manuel Gomez-Moreno, El Panteon Real de las Huelgas de Burgos
(Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1946).
5) Medieval Finds from Excavations in London #4:Textiles & Clothing, c.
1150-1450, Crowfoot, Prictchard, Staniland, pages 145-149, show selected
surviving hairnets, netting needles, with very complete descriptions, also
check Dress in Ireland by M. Dunlevy, there are one or two pics of crespins
{hairnets} there also.
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