Angels stitching

[Podolyanka]

Wonderful story, Mabel. Thank you for sharing.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Angel I'm so glad it helped and helps!

[Angel]

Woo hoo my Qsnap frame finally arrived and my fabric can now be properly tensioned! I'm so happy! This should go so much faster now!

The cuffs are finished, this is my neckline.

[karen4bells]

So happy that you have the q snaps now and are able to stitch a bit more easily!! This project really is a nice one and your stitching looks great!!

[Serinde]

Excellent!

[Angel]

@Serinde, I got that elizabethan stitches book a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing, thank you so much for the recommendation. I haven't had time to read much of it yet though but it will come in really useful I have often wondered about some of the historical techniques and this book does answer a few questions.

It has almost killed me though! There's a bit talking about how fine the embroidery is and how by todays equivalents it would be like working on 36ct... I put my linen at 52ct but my eyes go wappy trying to count it so it could be higher even than that. I was having a drink when I read how 336ct may seem excessively fine by todays standards and promptly began choking.

[Serinde]

I must get my book back after lockdown -- loaned it to the Loudoun's stitchers! I wonder if they "counted" at all back in the day? If the linen was so fine it wouldn't have been possible, but they were so experienced that they knew the stitch sizes, perhaps? It is a fabulous book, though, and I'm glad you acquired a copy. One day, I'm going to go through all the curious, lost stitches. Holly stitch, for one. Dunno why. Like the name.

Jacqui Carey is also an expert at Japanese braiding, which I'm also interested in these days. Her books are clearly written and well illustrated.

[Angel]

I know the linen undergarments would definitely have a visible grid for counting on, but from what I've seen in the examples of the book and surviving extant garments you can usually see the grid. It's when they then use wool and velvets that the count begins to vanish, but I haven't seen any examples of that in the book and I've not seen any examples of counted work on those fabric types.

[Serinde]

It would have been unusual to stitch directly on velvet because of the value of the pile. So "slips" were used (appliqué, in effect). This also allowed several people to work on a single project more easily, of course. I also seem to remember that working people's cloth was either wool or later a combination of wool and cotton, but wool was always the warp, as they didn't trust cotton to be as strong. The remarkable weaves they could produce with wool we've mostly forgotten how to achieve! Not as fine as the finest silk, but remarkably light.