The Tudor Revolution

Museum Number  T.12-1948 , Victoria and Albert Museum A few years ago I posted some research on monochrome English embroidery. This was the kick off of a hand project I have been carrying around and working on periodically. In February of this year I finished my coif. This coif is made of the finest linen I could find and embroidered with silk died using period techniques which I purchased at Pennsic War. The extant examples were made from linen ground fabric and silk embroidery thread. Most of my embroidery was done using stem stitch  or satin stitch. The edge was treated with a long and short button hole stitch similar to that seen in some smocks and shirts of the time rather than with lace.  My design was inspired by a Schole-House for the Needle , and two extent coifs. the design was transferred from paper to the coif using a period method of pattern transfer called prick and pounce. the little dots were then inked using a fabric safe pen. I assembled the ...

While at Pennsic I had took a class from Mistress Amy Webb of the East Kingdom. She used a term I had not heard before - English monochrome embroidery. Mistress Amy went on to explain that this embroidery has a few characteristics: Stitches are worked in a single color of silk thread. Sometimes gold threads are used to create interest. Stitches used are varied including stem stitch, satin stitch, and double running stitch  Images were taken from English country gardens Stitches are not consistently reversible or counted We have several extant examples of women's coifs embellished with English monochrome embroidery in museums around the world, but very few are seen in the portraiture of the time. If you think about it critically, coifs are more personal (intimate) articles of clothing. Unless the sitter was being painted in a birthing bed, or another intimate setting, there probably wont be a painting of them wearing an elaborately embellished coif. Portraits were usually d...