threadwalker

I feel like I need to add some explanation. It occurs to me that people might wonder what journey of research and inspiration fueled this project and whether it's supposed to be entirely creative or represent something from the 15th century period. (See, I assume you have the same analytical process as I do and ask yourself the following questions even before embarking, which are: Is that a representation of how embroidery would have been utilized in the 15th century? Are those techniques appropriate for the application? What about motifs? overall design? supplies? etc)

Cut for long content

The sleeves were inspired by surviving museum textiles and translations of inventories, diaries, and letters from the mid 15th century from Tuscany. I cannot point to a few 15th century frescos and say, "I made that." Honestly, I'm pretty much done with replicating what I see in art. I've been doing that for almost 20 years now and it doesn't excite me. I want to make the things I read about that are NOT in the portrait museums which will challenge my understanding of the period aesthetic and speakes to the underlying message/role that clothing played in people's lives.

With that in mind, I've been doing a lot of reading. It feels like everything I've been reading for the last umpteen years has played a role in this project. There are tantalizing descriptions of how much work went into creating wedding ensembles in the 15th century which include details on how much was spent on pearls, gold, ribbon, silk, etc, how much was paid to the people who designed the garments, to those who embroidered the garments, how much was invested in the headwear, etc. There are period sketches of clothing concepts which reveal the opportunity for creativity in clothing especially when staged for a special event. There are surviving letters expressing opinions on preferred embellishment and exploring embellishment design. There are surviving woven and embroidered textiles that have motifs and samples of embroidery. Close reading will show you that Renaissance people were humorous just as we are now and enjoyed incorporating double entendre into art and clothing, keeping with the value they place on wit. Combine that book reading with my close encounters with textiles, including my recent trip to Prato, Italy, where I saw first hand some late 16th century clothing embroidery which was clearly a result of "speed embroidery" and not "anal retentitive meticulous attention to fussiness that couldn't be finished by a small team in less than a month". Then add into the mix the class I took in August on gold work from a professional artist who graduated from the Royal School of Needlework (yeah, that totally droolsome place in London), which has given me a hands-on appreciation for what you can wear, what you can't wear, and how much time it takes to do it. Throw all that in the blender with 20 years of noodling around with Italian costuming, my love of playing with texture and light in fiber arts, and the take-away lessons I got from my August goldwork class and I concocted this.

So with all that dancing around in my brain, I designed the embellishment to reflect:

*sumptuousness
*period motifs
*period bias towards working clever stories or double messages into custom art (e.g. heraldry, play on names, double entendre symbolism)
*available techniques
*available supplies similar to what's described in translations
*practical application of stitches (e.g. I did surface couching and not chipping because it's clothing; I mostly used techniques that allowed for fast application such as couching and avoiding meticulous, time consuming stuff like split stitch silk work)

The techniques were:
or nue (gold couched with colored silks)
"Gold work" which covers: surface couched passing gold, surface couched silver, surface couched gold twist
"Beading" which covers: couching pearls, garnets, green beads, gold beads, and the bent tubes in the flame set inside the laurel. There's also the layering of paillettes (the metal sequins). Embellished throughout are individually applied pearls, garnets, gold beads, paillettes, etc

Supplies:
Surface fabric: blue/gold cross shot silk taffeta
All the passing gold is 2% real gold
Gold Twist (also with some real gold content)
The silver also has a high metal content (10%? need to double check)
The pearls are real
The garnets are real
all gold beads are 10K gold plated
The green beads are glass*
colored silks used for or nue and some detail
Gold plated "bent tube" beads**

*This was available in period. It wasn't my first pick, but after weeks of searching for something semi-precious or better in that size, I had to punt and get glass.

**This is the only material that I have not identified as specifically available in period. They had the technology to make these, but I have not verified whether or not they did or whether these are similar to something else that was used. Knowing that, I incorporated them anyway in a mad frenzy of creativity when I saw how the light slid across them and created the illusion of flame. This was my one compromise to sticking to supplies that would have been available in period. I will keep reading and keep my eyes open on jewelery to see if there's anything similar that could be a fair piece of support. But I will add this insight which is using the beads to make the flame is my own double entendre: the flame represents my on-going quest for knowledge. By making the flame out of beads that I haven't yet documented, I've permanently afixed a reminder to myself that I still have more to learn, I will always be a student no matter how much I learn, and I've made it into the the symbol that represents that quest. It pleases me.

In the world of embroidery, where I occasionally have the unique opportunity to rub elbows with trained artists, paid professionals, EGA experts and teachers, RSN graduates and teachers, etc, I'm a novice. I took a goldwork class in August and started this project after Labor Day weekend. In less than 4 months, including design time and time to gather supplies, I finished a 200 hour project on time and in full while utilizing a new skill set and challenging myself to push my boundaries. I can see the areas that reflect an opportunity to develop better skill at handling my materials. With that in mind and with an honest assessment of where I am in the big picture of embroidery, I'm pleased with the results. At this stage in my skills and understanding of gold work and period aesthetic, I don't think I could have done better which in my opinion is the best anyone can do. Won't it be interesting to see what I make of this project 5 years from now? I'm planning on taking the finished sleeves to my RSN teacher and asking her for constructive feedback. I'm sure she'll have pointers and it may just come down to getting a few tips and then putting in the time. I'm currently 9,800 hours out from the mastery of 10,000... LOL.

The "rub" was that after finishing the sleeves, I still had to finish the outfit. You gotta know that I put my head down for a few minutes and just wished I had someone to hand it all off to. But I embraced my lack of staffing and now it's done.

One sleeve - while still on frame and then close ups:

Pelican of pearls with couched silver and garnets
sun flower with surface couched gold, garnets, gold beads
vines of gold twist and pearls

pailletes and surface couched gold (they were supposed to look like carnations in profile, but no one sees that except me).

Poppy, open and bud, or nue: gold surface couched with colored silks

laurel with a "flame" in the middle. (flame represents search for knowledge and skill)
surface couched gold, seed pearls, tinier sead pearls, gold beads (flame)