Escarbuncle Blackwork

Submitted to the Ice Dragon 2011 Needlework Category

Escarbuncle Blackwork
Summary
What is it? A set of blackworked collar and cuffs with a composition of escarbuncles and crosses. The garment decorated by this blackwork is a shirt like those worn by men of the English middle- to upper-classes during the middle of the 16th century. The pattern was adapted from a repeating geometric border design found in a 1524 modelbook. Materials used in this project include handkerchief-weight linen (64 count) and YLI silk embroidery floss (one strand). Embroidery was completed using a double-running stitch.

Who would have used it?

How was it made?

Extended Documentation
Introduction Fashionable from the reign of Henry VIII through the early 17th century, blackwork is the monochrome embroidery of black silk on white linen, likely originating in Moorish textile patterns of the mid- to late-15th century. Its popularity during the era is originally attributed to Katherine of Aragon, who was said to have encouraged its use among the English upper and middle classes. During the 16th and early 17th century, blackwork was used to decorate items as widely varied as the visible portions of both mens and womens undergarments (e.g., shirts, smocks, coifs, caps, & partlets), household textiles (e.g., pillows, wall-hangings, & sheets), and ladies exterior garments or portions of exterior garments (e.g., sleeves, stomachers, & jackets). This type of embroidery was often completed by domestic embroiderers (either the lady of a household or a servant employed for the task), who created their own patterns or used designs printed in model books of the era1. Two unique types of blackwork are found during the 16th century. The first is characterized by elaborate free-form designs involving spiraling outlines of stems, leaves, and flowers, which are diapered with geometric fillwork and created using a variety of different stitches
1

Needleworkers guilds and professional embroidery workshops also flourished during the latter half of the 16th century.

(e.g., stem, chain, braid, couching). The second, often seen on the edges of undergarments (e.g., cuffs, collars, smocks), is characterized by counted, repeatable, geometric designs which are often fully reversible and created using a single or double running stitch. My project is of this second type. It adorns a mens linen shirt which might have been worn by a member of the merchant class or an upper-middle-class gentleman during the middle of the 16th century. See Appendix A for several period examples of shirts of this type which are decorated with counted blackwork. Design The repeating, fully reversible escarbuncle-&-cross pattern was adapted from a design found in a 1524 modelbook (Ein New Modelbuch, Johan Schonsperger), as cited in Plate 45, Pattern 2 in The New Carolingian Modelbook (Iothanthe dAveroigne, 1995; see Appendix B). Although the original design was charted using a 1:1 square-to-stitch ratio, I had to scale up the design in order to incorporate the diagonal portions of the escarbuncle motif. This task was complicated by the fact that diagonal stitches cover more distance than stitches which travel with the grain of the fabric. After some trial and error, I settled on a 3,2:1 ratio, where each stitch along the grain covers three ground threads and each stitch across the bias covers two ground threads2. In an effort to better achieve the dense, delicate look of blackwork found on the collars and cuffs of extant garments and shown in portraiture of the era, I also doubled the pattern height-wise. The final design is charted in Appendix C. Materials During the 16th century, finely woven linen undergarments embroidered with black silk were highly desirable and a sign of social status. My garment is made of the lightest modern fabric I was able to obtain: white handkerchief-weight linen with a 64 thread count. To create the delicate, lacy gestalt noted in blackwork of the era, I stitched using one strand (6-strand skein) of YLI 100% silk floss. Because of the high thread count of the fabric and the potential for damage to the weave during stitching, I used a fine, sharp embroidery needle. During the extended creation process, the fabric was held on either a wooden roller embroidery frame or a modern spring frame, depending on my own current portability and space limitations. Method I stitched this pattern using a fully reversible double-running stitch. This stitch is also sometimes called a Holbein Stitch3 or a Spanish Stitch4. Because my blackwork is
This stitch density is appropriate for the era; dAveroigne indicates that extant counted blackwork ranges between 1835 stitches per inch. The current project was worked approximately 22 stitches to the inch.
3 2

Hans Holbein painted a number of Tudor-era portraits which show what appears to be repeatable, counted blackwork on the cuffs, collars, and sleeves of mens and womens linen shirts and smocks.

backed by plain linen as part of its placement on the garment, it was not strictly necessary to work the design using a double-running stitch. However, I personally find the doublerunning technique to be easier and more economical, and to produce a superior result when compared with a traditional backstitch. Appendix D shows a simultaneous comparison of the back and front of the design prior to the needlework being turned into a collar. Conclusion Material costs for this project were negligible (~$10). However, this project represents more than 150 hours of work conducted over nearly a years time. As a modern lady with a mundane day job, completing this item gave me a strong sense of how precious needlework of the period must have been to the wearers of the garments it decorated. In general, I was quite pleased with the final product overall and feel that it has a strongly period gestalt and will add elegance and style to any late Tudor or early Elizabethan ensemble. That being said, however, for my next blackwork project, I would like to attempt to use an even higher quality of linen. Although I counted carefully, close inspection of design elements show small inconsistencies in width; these flaws are due to unevenness in the fabrics weave. In addition, I feel that I need to work on finding less obtrusive means of covering the tails of my stitching. There are a few places in my work where running the tail under the stitch causes the line to appear slightly more heavy, which detracts from the overall appearance of the piece.

Bibliography Arnold, J. (2008). Patterns of Fashion 4: The cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women, c. 1540-1660. Hollywood, CA: Quite Specific Media Group, Ltd. dAveroigne, I. (1995). The new Carolingian modelbook: Counted embroidery patterns from before 1600. Albuquerque, NM: Outlaw Press. Digby, G. W. (1963). Elizabethan embroidery. London, UK: Russell Square. Geddes, E., & McNeill, M. (1976). Blackwork Embroidery. NY, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. Holbein portrait drawings. (1985). NY, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. Schonsperger, J. (1524). Ein new modelbuch. Zwickau, Germany.

Due to an (likely erroneous) historical association with Katherine of Aragon.

Appendix A

Portrait of a young merchant, Holbein, (1541) Portrait of a court official, Holbein (1534).

A boy s blackworked linen shirt collar, c. 1535-1550. Picture from Arnold (2008).

Man in a Red Cap, Holbein (1532-35). 5

Appendix B

Original pattern, found in Ein New Modelbuch (Schonsperger, J.), cited in The New Carolingian Modelbook (dAveroigne, I.), Plate 45, Pattern 2

Appendix C

New (altered) pattern which includes the escarbuncle motif

Appendix D

Scan of back and front of piece before it was sewn into the garment. Note the complete reversibility of the pattern, as created by a double-running stitch.