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Challenges Entered: Can't Quite Prove It, Wool Applique Cushion
Projects: Applique Pillow with Phoenix Design & Applied Wool on Wool Applique with Chain Stitch Edge
Applique Pillow with Phoenix Design
A mostly applied applique wool on wool pillow with gilded leather couching and silk sewing thread. To be used in our household encampment as our household device is the Phoenix.
If you are interested in Historical Applique please feel free to join the Facebook Groups: www.facebook.com/groups/historicalapplique/ It is a good place to find me if you have any questions / comments. Full documentation can be found here.
Based on the Tristan Hanging in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Gripenstedt-pällen (also called the Jesse Wurzel or Nordsteimke Hangingfrom Braunschweig) but also greatly influenced by the trove of Scandinavian examples with gilded leather couching.
Before starting design and construction I investigated the sizes of various wool applique with gilded leather works. I also managed to find some really good high resolution images of the Tristan Hanging that gave me the opportunity to investigate the techniques used in detail.
I drafted the design using period images, from scrolls and heraldry. I gilded a sheet of parchment and cut it into 1 - 2mm strips. I cut out the shapes needed - first in paper and then in wool using the paper as a template. I had to sew 2 pieces of the base fabric together as I was using second hand wool from clothing. I pinned the wool pieces to the base wool fabric. Where the gilded strips form the outline for a single piece of fabric I used the same stitches that couched down the gilded strips to sew down the fabric. Where the gilded strips form the outline between two pieces of fabric I sewed the fabric together first and then couched the leather strips over the joint. I used various methods to apply the leather strips - some are sewn down through the leather at the edge. Some are edges tucked under either adjacent wool pieces or leather strips. Some (especially corners) are left unsecured. Most corners are constructed of 2 pieces of leather strips, but for some I twisted and manipulated the leather to form the corners. I first applied all the outline leather strips and then added more strips for extra detailing, both on the design and on the base cloth. I finished by stuffing the pillow and sewing it up with a ladder stitch.
Applied Wool on Wool Applique with Chain Stitch Edge
Full Documentation with pictures can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1686Lo2sHuZd-WHvjwnfTaAwwuFdbmwOFfWQMUTL7pPM/edit?usp=sharing
If an Applied Wool on Wool Applique has some form of an embellished edge (rather than just being sewed down and having nothing extra on the edge), that embellishment is couching. The coaching might be in the form of a cord, yarn or even gilded leather strips, it might be in a matching color, contrasting color, or even several colors, but it is always couching. (I have seen a few examples of linen applique with an embellished edge that is not couching, but never wool). This was my conclusion after 10 years of research and examining at least 350 different pieces of applique (wool, linen, cotton and leather). This is not what I wanted my conclusion to be!
Almost 10 years ago I made my daughter a beautiful new wool coat. I added some beautiful applique designs on it. Because, personally, I think applique looks more finished with an embellished edge and because the embellishment gives the edge extra support for longer wear. I added a couched wool yarn to the edge. Within the first hour of my daughter wearing the coat for the first time at an event, she ran past a tree, snagged the couching and turned the coat into a drawstring bag. It was bad - she had basically ripped out or gathered up the entire couched edge.
Since I knew that I could not change the nature of my child, I would have to change the nature of my designs, so I went back to the drawing board. I searched and searched and searched. I kept coming back to the same thing. Looking at Mamluk decorations of fabric in the 10th to 15th century in Egypt there are a few very distinct themes. On the one hand we find a lot of counted stitch examples. However focusing on the non-counted stitch examples there is a fair amount of applique and there is a fair amount of chain stitch works.
Chain stitch would be the perfect edge to an applique design. It could be nice and bold to enhance the boldness of applique designs. If worked in reverse chain stitch it is easy to do and easily adapt to follow both the curves and points of the applique. Because it is a nice wide stitch it would strengthen and support the exposed wool edge. AND I have found so many examples of chain stitch in the same area, in the same time frame and on the same types of fabric examples as applique. Surely they must have done it, they must have … only I could not prove it.
So what could I prove? A very common use for applique in Mamluk Egypt is Heraldic Badges. Heraldic Badges can be found with Wool on Wool Applique, Linen Applique, Applique with couching, and Applique without couching, but also various forms of embroidery. Fragment 1972.120.3 at the MET (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452400) is one of the best examples of wool on wool applied applique Mamluk badges. It is worked in various colors of wool, all with couched edges, sometimes a single thickness and sometimes a double thickness.
Compare this with Fragment EA1984.35 at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/object/EA1984.35). Here the badge is part of a tab and only the outline is embroidered. It is done in a chain stitch.
Fragment EA1984.86 at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford - (http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/object/EA1984.86) is an even better example. The heraldic badge is embroidered with red and yellow silk. The infill areas of the embroidery is done in a long - short stitch, but the outlines of both the overall badge, the different colored segments and the diamond and cup is done in chain stitch. Thus one thing for the body and chain stitch for the outline.
Fragment EA1984.63 at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/object/EA1984.63) is a further example of the interconnectivity of the couching / chain stitch in the time period and region. The blue colored infill area is couched down (laid work) and is then outlined in chain stitch.
We therefore have 3 different examples where the edge of the design was outlined with chain stitch. It would therefore not be too much of a stretch to imagine further examples of chain stitch outlines, maybe even an applique example with a chain stitch outline?
Mamluk Egypt is not the only area where we find an interconnectivity between applique, couching and chain stitch. In the Scandanavian example of the Textile Fragment with Unicorn, Deer, Centaur and Lion - 2011.430 at the MET (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/479598) we find applique with couching, applique without couching and, chain stitch embellishments all on the same item.
So for 10 years I ended up having to make peace with my ‘one-step-from-period’ practice. I made a lot of applique works, coats, bags, tunics and many many applique circles as largess. And never did I enter it in competitions, because I was always aware that it is in fact not a provable period practice. (and somehow, despite the chain stitches not being any more difficult to snag than couching, my daughter never had a problem with any garb with chain stitch decorations, so the practice worked to fulfill the required task)
MAJOR PLOT TWIST: In February 2021 I agreed to teach a class in Applique. In an attempt to make the 350 pieces of applique that I have found in various museum catalogs accessible I created a Facebook group and uploaded the photos and the links to the groups. This meant I had to access all the museum websites. And there it was EA 1993.40 (https://collections.ashmolean.org/object/239770) a small little scrap of fabric, badly worn. At first glance it is not clear that this is applique. But if you look closely it is clearly wool on wool applique with a chain stitch edging. How had I missed it for all these years?
I think the biggest irony for me is that this collection (the Newberry Collection at the Ashmolean Museum) is the reason why I have always considered that having an applique design with a chain stitch edge is not only possible, but probable. It is, in fact, in the very collection that I had used for years to almost prove my theory. I had just never looked close enough.
So don't give up on your interpretations - and never ever give up on your research. The link might just be out there somewhere.
Amalie von Hohensee wrote on May 30th, 2021
These projects are so cool!!! And yes, the "plot twist" at the end of your "Can't Quite Prove It" portion is fascinating. Your work is lovely - thank you for sharing!
Jenevra de Carvalhal wrote on May 29th, 2021
I love this so much! I had secretly hoped someone would either have a reader give them research they hadn't discovered yet, or find it themselves. You made my dream come true. This is the definition of perseverance and excellent scholarly research. Thank you so much for sharing your years of effort and for inviting us all to join your group.
Ibrahim al-Rashid wrote on May 29th, 2021
I also really love those moments where you find firm evidence for something that you were pretty sure was the case but couldn't quite prove! Great work.
Benika Stancil wrote on May 28th, 2021
Everyone is most welcome to join the Facebook group. It is set up as to be of use to all.
Sarah Davies wrote on May 27th, 2021
First, the phoenix is spectacular (and close to my heart, since my heraldic device is a black phoenix). Just fabulous.
Second, brava on your discovery! I've had similar experiences, including one just a few weeks ago. That is the mark of a true scholar. Can I join your Facebook group? That is a true labor of love.
Isabel del Okes wrote on May 26th, 2021
WHAT A TWIST!! The write up of your "Can't Quite Prove It!" was exciting and thorough and delightful at the end. And I am in awe of your beautiful pillow. The use of gilded parchment is so cool. Thank you!
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