Man's Elizabethan Nightcap

A man's embroidered Elizabethan nightcap that I made in 2010.

The base fabric is cotton-linen blend and the design is adapted from period sources and worked in black silk thread. The spangles are gilt metal, sewn on with three stitches of sewing thread.

Blue Floral Elizabethan Coif Update

In between other projects I have been working on my blue floral Elizabethan coif. Here is how it is looking:

There is still some seeding to be done. Then I need to decide whether or not I will add spangles. I am also (as an alternative to spangles) considering adding some red or orange highlights.

Elizabethan Hairstyle Accessories

Here are the photos of the items that I use to do my Elizabethan rolled hairstyle. The only things I have left out are the beaded bun cover, the hairspray, and the headbands I wear behind the rolls. I like this particular type of comb as the extra teeth help to hold everything in place and reduce movement.

The bun clips came from The Undertailor (http://www.facebook.com/TheUndertailor?fref=ts)
I use two of the combs on either side of my part to make the rolls.

And here is the finished style:

In this photo, I have added pearled pins on the rolls and a hanging pearl in the part. Using the barrel curler means that I don't need to tease my hair to make it stay in place.

Elizabethan Small Coif Progress Update

I have still been plugging away at the blue Elizabethan small coif pattern. Here is how it was looking today:

Partlet neck pieces

I have been laid up in bed over the last couple of weeks and haven't had much opportunity to do anything much. I have been picking away at a couple of simple partlet neck bands for my planned Elizabethan partlets. I plan to make two, with the cut away front, and trim them with the blue and white bobbin-style laces that I picked up on Etsy and posted about recently.

The bands aren't finished or even rinsed properly. I plan to add some extra supplementary decoration when the main embroidery is done (although I haven't worked out what yet.) The designs are both period designs that I have used in the past; simple and easy. They are done in chain stitch because I like the raised effect.

I went for a subtle effect with the blue flower pattern. The stems are done in a sort of 'junior navy' colour cotton and the flowers are done in navy. But the difference is so subtle that you really can't see it except in bright daylight, which is disappointing.

Sweete bag embroidery

Last night was the big Royal event where all the gifts and articles were presented. Although I was a little disappointed that I didn't have anything new to wear, I was really pleased that I got all my gifts and projects finished. 

The event was really wonderful. The hall was so beautifully decorated it took people's breath away, and the courts were beautifully done and really moving. The hard work of the populace of my Barony paid off, and the pieces that I worked on were really well received.

Here is some embroidery that I worked to go on an Elizabethan sweete bag. One of the newer members of my Barony did the design, and local artisans all worked one or two bags. The completed embroideries were sewn up into bags and filled with nougat and sweets to be given out to the Ladies of the Rose. They seemed to be quite delighted by the presentation, although I admit that I was slightly distracted by looking at their beautiful garb!

Polychrome embroidery with satin stitch, chain stitch and french knots

Elizabethan Hair

I have hair that will just not stay in place when I style it unless I use so much product that it looks like I am wearing a shiny helmet! My hair has a lot of movement in it, and lots of little 'fuzzies' that pop out around the hairline, especially near my ears. In the past I have done an Elizabethan style hairdo by crimping my hair with my old 80's crimper, and then backcombing and spraying it into place. It works fairly well, but doesn't give much height or support ornaments.

This week my Awesome Sister solved my problem. She curled my hair with a three prong barrel curler. The curls added a lot of body, which gave me the idea to try an Elizabethan hairstyle. It was just a test, so it is not perfect, but it only took about ten minutes after my hair was curled. I did a centre part, and then a part from ear to ear. I pulled back the back part of the hair with a clip, and brushed the front forward over my face. Then I put one of those 'hair riser' combs on either side. I drew the front part of the hair firmly over the combs, and secured it behind the combs with a couple of long bobby pins flat against my head. Then I drew all the hair into the back part and secured it into a ponytail in the middle of the back of my head. I added a little hair donut that I previously made out of a sock, and arranged the hair over that. I tucked the ends in and used the bun clips I got from The Undertailor to secure the bun. I added a fancy bun cover and some pearled pins. I did a light spray of hairspray at the front, and then added more jewelled pins and a drop pearl. Then I put on a beaded headband (behind the combs).

I am very pleased with how it all turned out. I took the ornaments out, but kept the bun and clips in for the whole day to see how well the style would last. It felt unusual, but didn't hurt or feel uncomfortable, and the clips didn't slide around or drop. All in all, it is a style that I could comfortably wear for a day. I will have to be careful getting into the car with the combs in though!

Elizabethan coat ideas

Here are some ideas for the other option that I am considering for my upcoming event - Elizabethan coats or 'frocks'. The advantages with this option are that I have several that are mostly finished, I am familiar with construction techniques, I have ironed out the kinks in my pattern, I have completed loose under-kirtles that are ready to wear, and I can make a low-necked version to help keep me cool. The disadvantage is that I really need to wear a hoop to make this style look it's best on me, and that is not a hugely practical option.

I absolutely love this one below from http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/images/Cooke,Mildred(BBurghley)01.jpg One day I would like to make a complete outfit based on this portrait.

 

Catherine Carey 1562 - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Carey

 

 

Hans Eworth's Portrait of An Unknown Lady c 1565 - shafe.co.uk

Portrait of Katherine Parr - luminarium.org

Portrait of Bess of Hardwick as Mistress St Lo (1550s) - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bess_of_Hardwick_as_Mistress_St_Lo.jpg 

Portrait of Elizabeth Benlowes 1569  - modehistorique.com

Portrait of Mary Hill (1567) - kate meersonhistoricals.com

Portrait of Anne Russell, Countess of Warwick (c 1565) - lookandlearn.com

Portrait of An Unknown Lady (1567) - larsdatter.com

 

Anne Browne, Lady Petre (1567) - larsdatter.com

Mary Throckmorton, Lady Scudamore (1615) - threadtraveller.blogspot.com.au

Portrait of Lady Dacre by Hans Eworth (1547) - larsdattar.com

Portrait of Theophila, wife of third Earl of Worcester (1567) - larsdatter.com

Portrait of the family of Lord Cobham - myartprints.co.uk

Elizabethan Coif Pattern

Here is an embroidery design that I was playing with over the Christmas break. I know I don't actually need a new Elizabethan coif, and my 'to do/finish' pile is huge, but there is something infinitely more appealing about starting an exciting new project than working on something that has been dragging on for months! Plus, I think I like designing more than actual embroidering.

I definitely need to tweak the coif body pattern to suit my face a bit better, and you can see that there are gaps where I need to add motifs. But it has potential! I still need to decide whether to work it in monochrome or polychrome non-counted embroidery.

Red Monochrome Elizabethan Coif

Today's post is about a monochrome Elizabethan coif I made in 2010.  The main inspiration for the piece came from the following extant linen, silk and metal thread example shown in Janet Arnold's 'Patterns of Fashion 4' (below).

I used the same sort of scrolling stem design, but added different motifs. I pored over Patterns of Fashion, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlocked, and all my reproduction sixteenth century pattern books with Elizabethan-style motifs, and picked a variety of motifs that I thought went well together. I kept a reference as I drew up the pattern so that I would have a record of where the motifs were sourced from.

I traced the design out in water soluble ink. For this project, I remembered to keep a record of how long the stitching took. The picture above shows approximately fifty hours of stitching (not including pattern design, tracing out etc.)

The stitching was done predominantly in double running stitch because I need practice in that stitch.

When the embroidery was done, I washed the coif in a gentle wool wash, rinsed, and gently blocked the fabric on a clean towel.

Here is the piece ready for metallic threads and spangling

The ground fabric is a lovely mid-weight linen, and the stitching was done in red DMC cotton floss and silver metallic thread. The spangles are a silver gilt metal and were sewn on with three stitches.

The back of the piece showing knotted and woven threads

In previous posts, I have gone into a great deal of detail about construction and design of coifs in Elizabethan times. Please refer to the post on my red striped coif for more information.

As you can see, I knotted AND wove the thread ends in on the back of the piece. I was not sure how the recipient would choose to launder the coif, and I wanted it to be durable.

There are small areas of other stitches, such as seeding, speckling, satin, stem and running stitch.

The piece after metal spangles were added

Below are some close up shots of the stitching. You can see that the metallic silver thread was added in a single running stitch in the centre of the stems.

The images below are scanned from 'Patterns of Fashion 4' and show extant sixteenth and early seventeenth century English coifs.

The centre top seam is sewn and then gathered  for about a third of the distance to allow for a bun or hair taping

This picture shows the gathering stitches at the crown of one of the coifs

This image shows tapes tying the coif in place in front of the bun or hair taping

I added a lining to the coif to protect against hair oils. The lucet cord ties were hand made by Heather.

I will post more pictures of the finished article next time!

                                   

Shaped Lilac Coif

Here is another one of my early attempts at an Elizabethan shaped coif. It is embroidered in DMC cotton floss on a cotton base fabric. The embroidery is predominantly stem stitch. The spangles are silver gilt, attached with four threads. Sewing spangles on with three stitches is more common, but there are extant examples of Elizabethan embroiderers securing spangles with four stitches. I suppose that, like me, they wanted their work to stand up to lots of washing and use.

The design is my own, but the motifs are all taken from period model books and extant embroidery examples from the sixteenth century. There is a line of commercially made cotton bobbin lace around the front of the coif, ornamented by small pearls. The coif is lined to prevent hair oils from affecting the embroidery.

More detailed information about Elizabethan coifs can be found in my earlier post on the red striped coif.

Thank you to Heather for the lucet cords.

Speckled Holly Leaf Coif

Today's post is on a coif that I started a really long time ago and only finished in about 2010. I had grown disenchanted with the project because the pattern was not cut in an accurate way. For a long time I debated about whether I should continue the embroidery or whether it was a waste of time to finish the garment if it was not accurate.

The finished coif

In the end, I modified the pattern to make it more accurate for the sixteenth century and decided to finish the garment. The piece was good practice in speckling stitch, which was popular with Elizabethan embroiderers for adding depth and texture to monochrome embroidery. I found it quite a tedious and time consuming stitch also, but I liked the end result.

Here you can see the original coif pattern modified to make it more accurate for a sixteenth century English style coif. Note the join down the middle of the garment. I have never seen an extant coif with a join, but that was the only way to modify this coif from it's original 'Jorvik hood' style shape into a more appropriate shape.

There are many examples of floreate patterns in extant English monchrome and ploychrome embroidery from the sixteenth century - the Elizabethans loved them! I particularly wanted a holly pattern and was inspired by patterns from 'A Scholehouse for the Needle' and the images below.

The spiky leaves from this Elizabethan man's nightcap in the V&A Museum (c1600-1629/Museum # 814-1891) reminded me of holly leaves  although I suspect they are supposed to be thistle leaves.

A really excellent collection of images of extant coifs can be found at the Blackwork Guild 'Blackwork Headwear' page - http://www.theblackworkguild.com/COSTUMES-MEMBERS%202.html

Stylised holly design in silk and gilt from a sixteenth century English coif in the V&A Museum collection

The finished coif worn by a model with very short hair. It does fit better over a bun or hair taping.

Spangles were attached with three stitches, and the centre seam was decorated with chain stitch. All the embroidery was done in DMC cotton thread with two strands of black. Cotton floss and fabric were used for this project instead of silk and linen to save money. The spangles are silver metal. 

Centre top seam decorated with chain stitch.

The centre top seam was decorated with chain stitch and the edges with a slanting whip stitch. In period, an Elizabethan braid stitch would most likely have been chosen for the top centre seam, but when I tried it, it just didn't fit with the embroidery. If I started this project again, I would make the embroidery design more crowded and full. When I drew this design out, I was less familiar with Elizabethan style than I am now, and I think I was looking at the design with a modern eye. It needs a lot more spangles and have less bare areas.

I gathered the central seam in an approximation of the same technique that I used on the Red Stripey Coif (posted previously). It doesn't look quite right due to the adjusted shape of the coif. The main embroidery stitches used were stem and speckling stitches, and a funny little knot I use in lieu of french knots. (It is close to a colonial knot.)

The finished coif is lined with a light cotton lining to protect the embroidery from hair oils etc. The lucet cords were hand made by Heather - thank you Heather! Also thanks to Alisondre who helped with some of the speckling stitches.