Victorian Embroidery

[LoriAnn]

Pinterest

There is something called the "1 Year of Stitches" project, where you challenge yourself to stitch a little something every day on the same hoop, creating a ongoing stitch diary of sorts.

While I'm late to the party, I thought I'd modify this a bit by creating my own little sampler for 2017, practicing the basics using some era patterns. Not all of my hoop will be era-appropriate ~ I've seen some cute bunny images that I can't ignore ~ but when a design is, I'll share it here.

I've seen this design more than once in the pages of Godey's. Is it me, or is it strongly echoing the Confederate arm braid?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/12/d0/8b/12d08b115370bea5620b6bd4b22fea97.jpg
Paging @Shannon Wolf. This is all your fault.

 

[kholland]

I've seen this design more than once in the pages of Godey's. Is it me, or is it strongly echoing the Confederate arm braid?

I had to do some following of the "maze" but it is slightly different then the Confederate braid. Some sort of variation, Lori.

 

[LoriAnn]

I had to do some following of the "maze" but it is slightly different then the Confederate braid. Some sort of variation, Lori.

Yes. It seems the middle has been manipulated into a heart. Or...two hearts, with one upside down. In any case, I'm wondering if this was inspired by the arm braid. Or did the design exist prior, and the arm braid came later? I may have to do some net surfing on this later.

 

[LoriAnn]

Dopey me. I forgot to mention in my original post that if anyone else would like to contribute, please do!

I kind of assume you guys know that already, but I'll go ahead and say it just in case.

Also, if another design you've stitched ~ say a cute little puppy or a wicked sugar skull ~ happens to make its way into a photo, I'm not going to complain.

 

[AshleyMel]

I have often wondered about the Confederate braid! It does look like it could be a variation of a theme, maybe??? My daughter taught herself to embroider. Such skill! I love seeing these old patterns!

 

[LoriAnn]

I figured the uniform experts here would have some answers: Sleeve Braid/Gullions

The Austrian Knot

Ah. Now that I know the design existed prior to the Civil War, now I'm wondering if the Godey's pattern was a little nod to the Confederacy. (Doh. Scratch that. Reading the linked thread and learning Federal officers had the design as well. Darn. I kinda liked my idea better. )

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

(Doh. Scratch that. Reading the linked thread and learning Federal officers had the design as well. Darn. I kinda liked my idea better. )

Well, it was regulation for the Confederate Officer Corps. ( the number of braids in the Austrian Knot corresponded to rank).

For the Federal officers, a few used it as a fashion statement.

Custer is the first one that comes to mind.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

One example of Custer's Victorian era embroidery/sleeve braid :

I like his collar too.

The Confederate Generals could never match Custer when it came to the latest in Men's fashion.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I figured the uniform experts here would have some answers: Sleeve Braid/Gullions

The Austrian Knot

Ah. Now that I know the design existed prior to the Civil War, now I'm wondering if the Godey's pattern was a little nod to the Confederacy. (Doh. Scratch that. Reading the linked thread and learning Federal officers had the design as well. Darn. I kinda liked my idea better. )

Godey's really was knocked for not recognizing a war was taking place- and lost readership but this is too much to be coincidence, isn't it? Well, her contributing editors may have slipped things by Hale in frustration, who knows? When the war is recognized, there's a stray Union soldier, having wandered into a fashion illustration. Be cool to think someone was on the ball, after all.

We're so used to looking at all these men wearing uniforms- it's easy to forget they were embroidered! Looking at these sleeves- you just want to say " That is crazy! " They're actually ridiculously beautiful.

 

[LoriAnn]

We're so used to looking at all these men wearing uniforms- it's easy to forget they were embroidered! Looking at these sleeves- you just want to say " That is crazy! " They're actually ridiculously beautiful.

I wonder if the larger, more elaborate designs ~ like the arm braid ~ were sewn on. (As opposed to traced on and then filled in by hand with satin stitch or something...cause that sounds crazy. Even Libbie didn't love Custer that much. )

 

[LoriAnn]

And so it begins.

Two Godey's designs I found via Pinterest (didn't get the publication month or year though ~ will try to do that in the future).

Practiced my split stitch on the braid. Practiced stem stitch, split stitch, and two fill stitches (the flowers) on the Lily of the Valley design. As you can see, my first fill stitch didn't really work out. I like how it took me TWO blossoms to figure it out. "Huh. That looks weird. Maybe two of them will make it look better. Sure."

Also, apparently in my head, those blossoms look like hearts.

My apologies to the long dead artist, embroidery experts, and fans of Lily of the Valley everywhere.

(ETA: I just realized that I didn't weave the braid appropriately. I was concentrating so hard on my stitches, it didn't even dawn on me to do that.)

 

[LoriAnn]

Third era design in progress, via Godey's in 1861 (month unknown).

I'm channeling Bob Ross. "And we'll put a happy little berry there..."

I have no idea if those are supposed to be berries, but there ya go.

 

[LoriAnn]

Okay so I'm up late (bad), but I'm looking up era embroidery patterns (good) and I'm getting silly (even better).

Found this on Pinterest. It's not an era pattern but one from the 70s featuring the ladies of Godey's. I like her because this would definitely have been me back then. Dressed, as far as one can tell. A flower in my hair. But eyes closed because I stayed up too late the night before ("Oh my God, why do I DO this to myself?"). Stumbling to the kitchen table with all the coffee. All of it is mine. And there's probably chocolate in it.

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[LoriAnn]

Not totally done, but done enough to post a photo.

* Godey's pattern, 1861, month unknown at this point
* Decided my wonky satin stitch gives the petals some texture. Yeah. That's it. It's a design element.
* Stitched on the inside of the flower petal outline because I thought it would give the edges a ruffle-y look. I also thought I would screw it up otherwise.

(Looked up to see if "ruffley" was a word and saw this. Not what I was going for with the petals.)

* Practiced stitching outside the outline on the leaves. More wonky stitches. This may never get better.
* There were circles. I assumed they were berries. I have no idea if this combination actually exists in nature.

 

[LoriAnn]

Well, after reading about needle cases, now I want to make this. Perhaps include some era embroidery.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find the person who finally succeeded in getting me to join Pinterest (stepping over piles of waiting laundry) and punch her in the face.

 

[LoriAnn]

Wee, guess who's on Pinterest again? While looking up whitework (and I just learned what that was), I saw this pattern for a "Gentleman's Braces".

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I had no idea what braces were. Come to find they were a type of suspenders: Victorian Braces

"Braces were the perfect gift for a young lady to embroider for her fiancé, or for a wife to create for her husband."

I had wondered what women ended up doing in terms of embroidery for their men. I couldn't have guessed this!

 

[LoriAnn]

And here's that whitework I mentioned:

Victoriana.com

 

[18thVirginia]

Not totally done, but done enough to post a photo.

* Godey's pattern, 1861, month unknown at this point
* Decided my wonky satin stitch gives the petals some texture. Yeah. That's it. It's a design element.
* Stitched on the inside of the flower petal outline because I thought it would give the edges a ruffle-y look. I also thought I would screw it up otherwise.

(Looked up to see if "ruffley" was a word and saw this. Not what I was going for with the petals.)

* Practiced stitching outside the outline on the leaves. More wonky stitches. This may never get better.
* There were circles. I assumed they were berries. I have no idea if this combination actually exists in nature.

View attachment 125824

Nice work.

 

[LoriAnn]

Nice work.

Thank you, 18th Virginia. It's tough sometimes to look at my work close up like that. From some distance, it looks waaay better.

 

[LoriAnn]

After practicing the French knot, I decided to see what Google had to say about French knots and Victorian embroidery. Found this smoking cap, with its loads of French knots (site claims it's dated in the 1860s)!

According to 1860-1960.com:

"This antique Victorian era gentleman's violet french knot embroidered smoking cap dates from the 1860s. It is hand stitched and made of a black velvet fabric, with colorful wool yarn french knot hand embroidery work done in a purple violet flower and gold, ecru leaf pattern design."

Having no idea what a smoking cap was, I continued to Google and found this on Victoriana.com:

"A smoking cap or lounging cap was popular as informal gentleman's wear from the late 1840s through the 1880s. They were originally worn to keep the head warm in drafty rooms but continued to be in style long after improvements in heating eliminated their necessity. The smoking cap was the perfect gift for a young lady to embroider for her fiancé or for a wife to create for her husband."

So off to Pinterest I went!

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This was listed as being Civil War era smoking cap. Whether or not that's true, I appreciate that, whatever he's wearing whenever he's wearing it, he insisted on pom poms.

Here are my own humble French knots from this afternoon:






That smoking cap I linked to must have taken forever!