Jacobean embroidery

Back in the early summer, I visited Boston Manor House which is near to where I work.  Whilst I was there I saw a flyer for a study day about Jacobean embroidery and I decided to book a place. The day took place last Friday and I really enjoyed it. In the morning we had a talk about the development of embroidery in England and in the afternoon we worked on a small piece of Jacobean blackwork. The day was presented by Juliet Braidwood, a historical seamstress. The talk was fascinating and Juliet had lots of slides to show the changes in clothing and embroidery style. She had also bought examples of the embroidery that she had stitched to illustrate the talk. The first two pieces are very neat and instead of stitching diagonally across the bias you will notice that the stitches are stepped. This stops the fabric pulling out of shape. Although it is generally called blackwork it is often done in a range of colours.

Early embroidery tended to be geometric shapes but as time went on you get flowers, animals and birds. The shading becomes important in giving the embroidery shape.

Juliet explained that when embroidering cuffs the double running stitch was used. This makes the embroidery on the front and the back look the same and very neat.

Juliet showed us some of her gold work embroidery she was working on to create a jacket. I love the animal motifs

My embroidery piece is a unicorn. It is quite small but it will still take me a few more hours to complete. I'll show you when it's finished.

I enjoyed the day  a lot and if there are any other study days I will try to attend. I also want to revisit the Victoria and Albert museum to see the costumes they have in their collection.

Take care

Lyndsey