Jacobean embroidery

Embroidery style popular in early 17th century England

Embroidered linen jacket c. 1614-18 Sketch of a portion of the base or terra firma from an 18th(?) century curtain.[1]

Jacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the 17th century.

The term is usually used today to describe a form of crewel embroidery used for furnishing characterized by fanciful plant and animal shapes worked in a variety of stitches with two-ply wool yarn on linen. Popular motifs in Jacobean embroidery, especially curtains for bed hangings, are the Tree of Life and stylized forests, usually rendered as exotic plants arising from a landscape or terra firma with birds, stags, squirrels, and other familiar animals.[1][2]

## Origins

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Early Jacobean embroidery often featured scrolling floral patterns worked in colored silks on linen, a fashion that arose in the earlier Elizabethan era. Embroidered jackets were fashionable for both men and women in the period 1600-1620, and several of these jackets have survived.

Crewel work on cotton and linen twill ground; stem stitch with long, short and coral stitches and French knots, 1630s V&A Museum no.T.124-1938

## Designs

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Often based on tree of life imagery, curving branches with large flowers were a typical design. Early crewel embroideries exclusively used wool thread on linen (modern crewel embroidery encompasses a broader range with the only requirement being extensive use of crewel stitch variations).[3]

## Legacy

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Jacobean embroidery was carried by British colonists to Colonial America, where it flourished. The Deerfield embroidery movement of the 1890s revived interest in colonial and Jacobean styles of embroidery.

### Gallery

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* Pattern of a slip with flowers taken from a 17th-century embroidered curtain[2]

* Design of a leaf from a bed curtain dated 1659, worked in blue, green, and yellow worsted wool yarn on linen.[1]

* Sketch of a leaf worked in indigo, brown, and light green[1]

* Portion of a 17th-century hanging "with a conventional representation

* Embroidered wool-work curtain of the 17th or 18th century[2]

## See also

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* 1600–1650 in fashion
* Crewel embroidery
* Margaret Laton's embroidered jacket
* Christopher Shawe
* Oes

## Notes

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1. ^ a b c d Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth and A. F. Morris Hands, Jacobean Embroidery, Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor, Keegan Paul, 1912
2. ^ a b c Christie, Grace: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London 1912
3. ^ Nichols, Marion (1974). Encyclopedia of Embroidery Stitches Including Crewel. ISBN 0-486-22929-7.

## References

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* Christie, Mrs. Archibald (Grace Christie), Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912, online at Project Gutenberg
* Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth and A. F. Morris Hands, Jacobean Embroidery, Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor, Keegan Paul, 1912

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacobean embroidery.

* Surviving Jacobean embroidered jacket as the Museum of Costume
* Jacobean Embroidery, by Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam and A. F. Morris Hands, 1912, from Project Gutenberg

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Embroidery

Styles|

* Assisi
* Bargello
* Berlin work
* Blackwork
* Broderie anglaise
* Broderie perse
* Candlewicking
* Clare embroidery
* Counted-thread
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* Suzani
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Stitches|

* Backstitch
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* Sashiko
* Shisha
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* Tent stitch

Tools and materials|

* Aida cloth
* Embroidery hoop
* Embroidery thread
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* Yarn

Regional

and historical|

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Embroideries|

* Butler-Bowden Cope
* Bayeux Tapestry
* Bradford carpet
* Great Tapestry of Scotland
* Great Tapestry of Scotland: People's Panel
* Hastings Embroidery
* Hestia tapestry
* Magna Carta (An Embroidery)
* Margaret Layton's jacket
* New World Tapestry
* Overlord Embroidery
* Oxburgh Hangings
* Prestonpans Tapestry
* Quaker Tapestry
* Scottish Diaspora Tapestry
* Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments

Designers

and embroiderers|

* Emilie Bach
* Leon Conrad
* Beryl Dean
* Shahin Ebrahimzadeh-Pezeshki
* Kaffe Fassett
* Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty
* Constance Howard
* Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum
* François Lesage
* Ann Macbeth
* May Morris
* Jessie Newbery
* Mahtab Norouzi
* Tetiana Protcheva
* Charles Germain de Saint Aubin
* Mary Elizabeth Turner
* Dimitri Vlachos - Castano
* Kathleen Whyte
* Erica Wilson
* Lily Yeats

Organizations

and museums|

* Embroiderers' Guild (UK)
* Embroiderers' Guild of America
* Embroidery Software Protection Coalition
* Needlework Development Scheme
* Royal School of Needlework
* Wemyss School of Needlework
* Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum
* Han Sang Soo Embroidery Museum

Related|

* Appliqué
* Crochet
* Knitting
* Lace
* Needlework
* Quilting

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