Renaissance embroidery

[gem]

Keeping fabric taut in a hoop/frame has been the bane of needlewomen for millennia! So you are definitely not alone. I like a *ridiculously* taut surface to stitch on, though I CAN adapt to something looser... but I've been stitching for 30-odd years. It's a lot easier to work with something tight. Wrapping your hoop is a good start, and the linen bias should be fine (if a little thin, perhaps. Try doubling up/doing both hoops). You could also try mounting the entire design on stretcher bars (which I have never used, but which are inexpensive & will hold something permanently taut). I know a lot of stitchers who swear by their Q-snaps.

Also, just using a thicker fabric to learn on is a good step, too! I worked on heavier evenweaves (Lugana, Jubliee) for years before I was comfortable with the slippier linen... now I don't even really notice the difference. (But I will say that I find it much harder to choose appropriate fabric for surface embroidery than for counted work. I'm getting better at it, though!)

Second, yes--you need to better coordinate your pattern with your technique! First thing: IF THERE ARE GRID LINES IN THE PATTERN, it's a COUNTED design. Period.  Choose a fabric you can count on, and stitch over two threads. Making circles, etc look round is actually a *goal* of fine counted needlework, since the gridlike nature of the stitches means true roundness is impossible. (Ask me how long I've been trying to adapt the Santa Catalina embroidery to counted work. No, never mind, please don't. Sigh.)

And if you do go with a counted design, you won't be transferring your design onto the fabric (you work out the placement as you stitch... by counting.  See how that works?).

Also, I would make your stitches much, much smaller. Probably half the size they are now. The smaller the stitch, the tidier the work will look. I think you'd be happier re-tracing the design with softer lines (not so angular). In the same way that round designs are more challenging in counted work, angular designs are easier because the grid of the fabric helps support the straight stitches and crisp corners.

Is this making sense? I'm throwing a lot of information at you all at once, but I'm really trying to keep it relevant to your current task and challenges!

[Wickedvox]

Okay, I see what you're saying. But I'm working on basic cotton muslin and the weave is *really* tight--if I only went over two threads at a time the cross stitch would be *super* tiny, and I can't even distinguish between threads *exasperated sigh.* I'm missing something.  Some fundamental "duh" moment. I get that it's counted--start at the center and count out from the center of the design; each grid is a stitch not an increment of measure (which is what I did, so I don't understand why they're so big, except where I fudged it because all of a sudden things weren't matching); there's "X" amount of squares in a grid to an inch, but that doesn't matter(??)--should I be counting how many threads per inch of fabric? WHY IS THERE SO MUCH MATH?! Aaaaargh!! How am I supposed to embellish my costumes if I can't learn this?!  I need someone to physically sit me down and say, "look, idjit, this is how it's done."

Sorry to take up your time...

[gem]

Oh, here. I can make it super easy. Ready?

You can't do counted work on muslin. You just can't. Don't try it.

You need a fabric with visible holes. See this:



Versus this:


They're both linen. The top one is a needlework linen, sold for that purpose. The bottom one is garment linen (the black is actually machine embroidery; the red & green is my handwork). How can you tell if fabric is suitable for counted work? It will be sold by the thread count (ie, 25-count, 36-count, etc. Those are threads per inch.).

For the two examples above... on the first one, I started with clean white fabric, and painstakingly counted each and every one of those tiny (34-to-the-inch!) threads, laying one stitch over every two fabric threads to form that octagon shape. For the second, I didn't count anything--just took my embroidery floss and filled in the motifs with satin stitch.

So I guess I would say, pick a starting point (either the fabric OR the design or...?) and let that dictate the rest. So. If you want to work on muslin, you'll need a design for surface embroidery, and you'll have to transfer that design to the fabric somehow (light table, window, iron-on, prick & pounce, etc), and you'll have to regulate the size of your stitches yourself.

If you want to do a counted design, then you need to choose a fabric you can count (you can buy needlework linen at JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's). I suppose this is where your waste canvas could conceivably come in--but I wouldn't recommend it for your first project, not when there are many FAR easier ways to get the look you're after. Promise!

Most of the patterns for blackwork that you can find online are for counted designs. A great example of surface embroidery (non-counted) blackwork is Silverstah's coif, which you can see on her website here.  Can you see the difference? It's very sinuous and free-form, unlike the angular, regular look of my first example, above. This picture is teeny-tiny, but it's a great side-by-side of two period portraits:



Counted on the left/cuff; surface on the right/sleeve.

So, to briefly re-iterate: What, exactly, do you WANT to make? Let's start from the very beginning (which in this case would be the end--the desired result), and get you off on the right foot!

[Wickedvox]

*Greatful sigh!* Gem...you just don't know...do you *know* how valuable you are to have around? Seriously, I'm in tears over here. It could be the Ambien, but I am eternally grateful to you for you time and patience. I'm literally throwing projects around my sewing room thinking to myself, "One of you SOBs is going down for eternity...who's it gonna be?! Huh??"

Okay, I want to do posies and hearts blackwork for the cuffs and collar of my smock. I downloaded the pattern from that great website of blackwork examples. Don't I have to use the same fabric as my project though? I'd like something like the left cuff, but I also love silverstah's coif. I figured the collar and cuffs would be quicker than the coif, but who knows at this point. How can you help my hot mess out?

And where do you live so I can bring you a cake.

P.S. You look like the woman in Santa Catalina. Seriously.

[PollyPoPo]

Couldn't help overhearing, Ladies. 

Just wondering about something Gem said about using a Sharpie to transfer design to a fabric.  I assume you use a super fine Sharpie point.  Does it show under/through the embroidery (particularly if thread is not same color as Sharpie)?  What happens when it is washed?  Does it disappear or bleed?

[gem]

Oooh, cake! My weakness! 

Honestly, though, Wicked--I've been where you are! Banging my head against a wall (hemp cord, anybody? Sheesh!) and totally perplexed at why something that seemed so straightforward to dozens of other seamstresses was completely eluding me. So I know how you feel, and I am delighted to help. I've had a needle in my hand as long as I can remember, but there's always something new to learn.

I think you'll find a counted blackwork project to be a little easier to start with, and here's A Secret: Zweigart's 28 count Antique White Cashel Linen (a needlework fabric you can get at Hobby Lobby, or that link takes you to a really nice online needlework store) is a perfect match color-wise to Fabrics-store.com's IL20 3.5 oz Bleached & Softened linen. This is what I've stocked up on for the Santa Catalina camicia. I have stitched straight on the Fabrics-store.com linen (I monagrammed this shift), so it *is* possible if a person is so inclined; the holes in the linen are visible enough to count... but it's EASIER to stitch on the Zweigart.

Needlework fabric is typically sold like quilting fabric--by "fat" measurements (a "fat quarter" is still one quarter of a yard, but instead of cutting narrow strips--9" by 54" like at a fabric store, they quarter the yardage like you would a sandwich; 18"x27". That's because for most needlework you generally want a more squarish piece instead of a long skinny strip.) How much will you need for a collar/cuffs? You got me. LOL Here's where your math will come in, I'm afraid. 

***
To answer Polly's questions: Yes, yes & no, nothing, no.  I use a super-fine Sharpie and a very light touch--and either a very light color (sometimes hard to find) that will be easy to cover with the stitches, or the same color as the embroidery. If I'm uncertain at all about how things will turn out, I'll use another method (pencil--but I find pencil sometimes  hard to see under my needlework lamp). The Sharpie doesn't spread through the fabric (or at least it hasn't so far on me), and it won't bleed. Mary Corbet (who is a far superior embroideress than little ol' I) recommends Sakura Micron pens (you can get them at any craft store), which have an even finer point than the Sharpie. 

HTH!

[isabelladangelo]

I use good ole pencil to transfer patterns.  It washes off easily after you are done with the embroidery and will also come off easily should you transfer the design incorrectly. 

[Wickedvox]

Okay, well, I'll try that embroidery linen.  Thanks for *all* your help Gem, I really appreciate it!

So just a research question then--were *all* pieces done in black work made with embroidery grade linen??

[gem]

My answers above refer to modern materials.  For information on period embroidery, here's what Jacqui Carey has to say in Elizabethan Stitches:

First, she stresses that period fabrics were all hand-woven, and that modern power-loom materials don't always replicate what was available to 16th and 17th c. embroideresses (who, she also stresses, were often professionals!).

Specifically, as to the ground fabric for embroidery, she says that linen tends to be plain-woven (a regular over-under weave), and a little finer than the examples done on silk. Interesting!

Also,

...Consequently [of hand-weaving] the grid structure tends to fluctuate within a single piece of fabric, making the stitch sizes inconsistent. Howver, many of the opulent examples are so fine, with the linen equating to at least a 35-count canvas in modern materials, that such variance is barely discernable.  ...Today, this might seem excessively fine, but one has to remember that textile skill was commonplace, and learnt from an early age. When this factor is combined with the importance placed on quality, it is not surprising that the linen count is so high, as this would provide the grid for more elegant needlework designs.

...I will note, however, that her example of "excessively fine" fabric count is, in fact, very normal for modern stitchers! The linen I posted above (with the blackwork example) is 34-count, and fabrics in 36- and 40-count are readily available. One difference is that typically we stitch over two fabric threads, and she seems to be implying above that period needlewomen would have worked predominantly over one... but I'm not necessarily seeing that in the photographs.

The manufacture and names of fabrics have changed so much in 500 years that it can be really difficult to know, let alone replicate, exactly *what* they were working with. Linen, in particular, was once available in much, much, much finer weaves than it is today (I believe I read once that some of the period species of flax are now extinct, or at least no longer cultivated...?). For an even earlier example, picture Egyptian artwork with women in linen gowns that appear to be completely sheer. Our best evidence seems to indicate that the linen really was that fine, and we also know that the airy, floaty "silk gauze" used by Florentine women for their delicate partlets bears little resemblance to modern silk gauze (which is a stiff sort of canvas).

However, if a person were so inclined (as I have been in the past and may someday be again!), one could absolutely do fine counted work on modern garment linen. I'm sure that loads of costumers do this all the time! The key is really just being able to see the holes as you work, and choosing an appropriate grade of linen (not so fine your stitches come out too tiny--as you've noted happening with your muslin).  But as we say, we like Happy Beginners, so if you start out with materials that aren't going to fight you, you'll have a much better learning experience!

[gem]

You can see REALLY EXCELLENT photographs of extant period garments with embroidery in Patterns of Fashion 4 (the one with ruffs & undergarments). Which will be either inspiring or intimidating... or possibly both! LOL

[Wickedvox]

Wow! You know a lot! I must have really bad eyes, because I found some pieces of linen (most likely a blend) in my pieces stash and I was trying to see between the weave and I just go crosseyed.

And yea, intimidating is a good word. It's going to be a loooong road...

Thanks again for all your wisdom! Want to black work my stuff? Lol...only kind of kidding. 

[Wickedvox]

Sooooo....worked a heart from the posie design... yeah, it looks like a five year old did it lol.


I think I know what I did wrong. The right side actually looks better so I think I miscounted on the diagonal on the left side. I'm using the Holbein stitch. I started right in the middle, but the design has two rows, so I had to just pick one and go with it. Do I have to start *right* in the middle? Because I could have included a line down the middle of the heart as part of the whole journey if I had started in a different spot. If that makes sense.

The purple X is the middle--it's my first official cross stitch lol.

Opinions? Critiques?

[gem]

Huzzah!! You are well on your way!!

A little miscount is easy to frog (needlework term for pulling out stitches, from rip-it, rip-it ).

If you find you're having a lot of trouble with the counting, I suppose there's really no reason you couldn't (gasp! Sacrilege!) lightly trace the blackwork design onto the fabric with a pencil, you know, just to learn on... I think I once did that, as a very young needlewoman, with a sharpie and some plastic canvas....  (This thought has honestly never occurred to me before. It's just not the norm, to sketch out a design for counted work!) The nice thing about blackwork is that after doing a couple of the repeats, you won't even need to refer to the chart anymore!

Also, if you feel like your stitches get a little wonky with the Holbein stitch (it's easy to do), try changing your needle out--either for something a little bigger, so it nudges aside the fabric threads a little more, or for a sharp, so you can really get in there and pierce the previous stitches sharply. (FWIW, the project I'm doing now has totally resisted the Holbein stitch; I just cannot for the life of me get the crisp lines I like in my blackwork with it, using this combination of fabric/silk floss. Since the reverse won't be visible, I've decided not to sweat it, and I'm using straight stitch and back stitch.)

[Aunty Lou]

     My blackworked (Greenwork!) chemise, with strips of embroidery pattern down the front opening and down the sleeves, around the cuff, collar, and ruff edges, was done with the gridded pattern from the Elizabethan Blackwork site.
     I used a blue wash-out fabric marker or two, a ruler, and drew grids on my lightweight cotton lawn fabric.  The pale blue marker washes out completely, and when you mess up the grid, just a wet q-tip and a little time to dry will fix.  Before cutting out the chemise, I spent a winter of evenings stitching a sections, gridding a section, stitching a section.  (Could prolly stitch the pattern by memory...)  Yes, it took for-freaking-ever, no, it isn't perfect, but Gods! is it ever a cool-looking bit of garb!
     I say, use what you want to make yer chemise, experiment with any of the methods you've read about, and do it the way you find best.  We look forward to seeing the results!

[Wickedvox]

Thanks Aunty Lou! That is my fall back plan if I just can't get the swing of this. Or just some freehand embroidery and historical accuracy be damned lol! I'm a big fan of whatever works for you. I'd like to see your chemise...that sounds saucy doesn't it?