Pleatwork Embroidery Hemd
I am currently working on making a new hemd to wear for Caidan 12th Night, complete with pleatwork embroidery. After searching around and conferring with my books, I've come up with a design and a plan.
Pleatwork Embroidery was very popular in German clothing during the first half of the 16th century. It can be seen in both menwear and womanswear during this time period. The variations are numerous; from high neck to low neck, with surface embroidery to applied trim and simple to incredibly intricate designs.
This portrait by Bernhard
Strigel is my primary inspiration:
Another portrait by Strigel of Bianca Maria
Sforza shows how intricate some of the designs are:
A Durer painting showing a hemd with what could be whitework
embroidery worked with the pleats as a ground
Here,a portrait of Dorothea Meyer shows a hemd
with possible couching and applied trim
And Holbein the Elder's Portrait of a 34 year old woman with a hemd
displaying trim and what is either darning or blackwork worked over the pleats
As a primary source, there is the hemd of Mary of Hapsburg. Cynthia Virtue Site at http://www.virtue.to/guest_authors/hungarian.html has pictures and describes the hemd as follows:
"The blouse's front and back are each made of three trapezoidal pieces. The pieces are 40 cm wide at the top, 60 cm at the bottom. They're attached to each other with 1 cm wide lines of silver embroidery in a blanket stitch. The two sides are widened further by two triangular gores, each 60 cm wide. The three front panels are gathered to a width of 21 cm, forming the front of the neckline. The gathered section is about 6 cm wide [Ed: I think they mean "deep" ie, width of smocking embroidery], secured by geometric satin-stitch embroidery in silver thread. The back sections are also gathered to 21 cm, with embroidery 1 cm narrower than on the front. The long, full sleeves are also assembled from three pieces attached to each other with silver blanket stitch. The sleeves are straight rectangles, 65 cm long, 122 cm wide, with the top sections gathered to 28 cm, and forming the sides of the neckline. The embroidery securing the gathers is only 3 cm wide. The neckline is enclosed in a 3 cm wide band. The wide sleeves are gathered to 24 cm at the wrist, sewn to a 1.5 cm wide cuff. The gathers are decorated with narrow silver embroidery in an interlocking half-circle pattern. The underarm gussets are 25 cm squares. The shirt's material is a closely woven fine evenweave linen.
And a closeup of the hemd: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92578357@N00/275981175/in/set-72157594339287838
Planning the Design:
So, I decided to use fabric from my stash because I am trying to pinch pennies right now since I know that I will get minimal hours come January. Unfortunately, the only linen I had was heavier than I wanted for my hemd. I did have quite a bit of Cotton Baptiste, so I opted to use it for the hemd. I made up a small sample starting with a width of 12 inches and pleated it up. I used half inch seam allowances, and the remaining 11 pleated up to 2 inches, so I will be using a ratio of 5.5 inches to 1 inch.
I then referred to the book "German Renaissance patterns for Embroidery, A facsimile copy of Nicolas Bassee's New Modelbuch of 1568," for ideas for an embroidery design. I then graphed it out on some paper and came up with this:
From there, I tried out the design using lattice and cable stitch to create an outline look for the design and I hated it. So, it's back to the proverbial drawing board. I also realized that the fabric was so limp that it made it
hard to work with, but since this fabric is my only choice, I will have to find a way to deal with that as well.
.
Pleatwork Embroidery was very popular in German clothing during the first half of the 16th century. It can be seen in both menwear and womanswear during this time period. The variations are numerous; from high neck to low neck, with surface embroidery to applied trim and simple to incredibly intricate designs.
This portrait by Bernhard
Strigel is my primary inspiration:
Another portrait by Strigel of Bianca Maria
Sforza shows how intricate some of the designs are:
A Durer painting showing a hemd with what could be whitework
embroidery worked with the pleats as a ground
Here,a portrait of Dorothea Meyer shows a hemd
with possible couching and applied trim
And Holbein the Elder's Portrait of a 34 year old woman with a hemd
displaying trim and what is either darning or blackwork worked over the pleats
As a primary source, there is the hemd of Mary of Hapsburg. Cynthia Virtue Site at http://www.virtue.to/guest_authors/hungarian.html has pictures and describes the hemd as follows:
"The blouse's front and back are each made of three trapezoidal pieces. The pieces are 40 cm wide at the top, 60 cm at the bottom. They're attached to each other with 1 cm wide lines of silver embroidery in a blanket stitch. The two sides are widened further by two triangular gores, each 60 cm wide. The three front panels are gathered to a width of 21 cm, forming the front of the neckline. The gathered section is about 6 cm wide [Ed: I think they mean "deep" ie, width of smocking embroidery], secured by geometric satin-stitch embroidery in silver thread. The back sections are also gathered to 21 cm, with embroidery 1 cm narrower than on the front. The long, full sleeves are also assembled from three pieces attached to each other with silver blanket stitch. The sleeves are straight rectangles, 65 cm long, 122 cm wide, with the top sections gathered to 28 cm, and forming the sides of the neckline. The embroidery securing the gathers is only 3 cm wide. The neckline is enclosed in a 3 cm wide band. The wide sleeves are gathered to 24 cm at the wrist, sewn to a 1.5 cm wide cuff. The gathers are decorated with narrow silver embroidery in an interlocking half-circle pattern. The underarm gussets are 25 cm squares. The shirt's material is a closely woven fine evenweave linen.
And a closeup of the hemd: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92578357@N00/275981175/in/set-72157594339287838
Planning the Design:
So, I decided to use fabric from my stash because I am trying to pinch pennies right now since I know that I will get minimal hours come January. Unfortunately, the only linen I had was heavier than I wanted for my hemd. I did have quite a bit of Cotton Baptiste, so I opted to use it for the hemd. I made up a small sample starting with a width of 12 inches and pleated it up. I used half inch seam allowances, and the remaining 11 pleated up to 2 inches, so I will be using a ratio of 5.5 inches to 1 inch.
I then referred to the book "German Renaissance patterns for Embroidery, A facsimile copy of Nicolas Bassee's New Modelbuch of 1568," for ideas for an embroidery design. I then graphed it out on some paper and came up with this:
From there, I tried out the design using lattice and cable stitch to create an outline look for the design and I hated it. So, it's back to the proverbial drawing board. I also realized that the fabric was so limp that it made it
hard to work with, but since this fabric is my only choice, I will have to find a way to deal with that as well.
.