Embroidered Purse

I recently entered the Ice Dragon Pentathlon Arts and Sciences competition in the Kingdom of AEthelmearc.  I decided to summarize my entries in the next few posts.  I'll post links to the complete documentation at the end of each post.  

This pouch is modeled after several reliquary pouches from the late 14^th and early 15^th centuries embroidered in brick stitch.  These pouches are mostly traced to production in areas now part of modern Germany, however, some are labeled as originating in Italy.

Reliquary bags were used throughout the medieval period to store various relics reputedly from saints, apostles, or other religious figures.  These bags might be kept individually or stored inside small altars or ornate crafted reliquaries, as seen in the portable alter commissioned by Countess Gertrude of Braunschweig from Lower Saxony ca. 1045.

Although modeled after religious devotional items, this pouch was created for a secular purpose.  Cloth purses are seen in many medieval manuscripts in the late 14^th and early 15^th century.  Most are in use by women, often worn between the layers of her clothing. The style of these purses is consistent with the extant examples of reliquary pouches: a small drawstring bag with tassels and a string to hang (presumably from a belt).  Pouches in illuminations often appear to be of a solid color with no embroidered pattern and several examples from excavations in London reveal pouches made of patterned material, but no embroidery.  Despite these unadorned examples, it can be surmised that women of means would possess pouches with rich decoration similar to alms purses from earlier in the 14^th century decorated in the Opus Anglicanum technique.

Examples of women with small drawstring purses from the Tacuinum Sanitatis

Design

I took initial inspiration for this pouch from an extent example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).  Master Richard Wymarc (m.k.a.  Timothy J. Mitchell) has already recreated this bag and I used his resource, “A Stitch Out of Time: 14th and 15th Century German Counted Thread Embroidery” as a starting point for my piece.  As the author was fortunate enough to view the piece up close, I relied on his observations for some design decisions.

My inspiration pieces: from the V&A (top) and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (bottom)

I chose to keep the original dimensions of the pouch (approx. 3 3/8 inches square).  I wanted to use the same pattern of German Brick Stitch, but chose to alter the color combination to match the colors of my husband’s SCA heraldry.  I kept the green and the white the same, but changed the original areas of blue to black, and red to yellow.  I did not want the yellow to be washed out next to the white and chose a bright yellow that would give enough contrast in the finished piece.

Although this piece in the V&A does not include a drawstring, there are holes in the upper band indicating the presence of a drawstring originally.  I wanted to include a drawstring and a cord to hang the pouch from a belt similar to another example in the V&A.   My final design of the cords and tassels came from an example in the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (RICH) in Brussels (Object #10152670).  This example shows a hanging cord, separate drawstrings with small tassels, and two multi-colored tassels at the bottom corners.  The catalog image also gives a very detailed view of the side seam construction.

Materials

The examples in museum collections indicate a linen ground for the embroidery.   I chose tightly woven white linen (Alba Maxima) that is close to even weave, but not marketed as such.  I used white because I did not want a darker color to show through the white linen embroidery thread. 

For the white embroidery, I chose white 100/3 linen thread.  This thread is a fine even spin that has a similar thickness to the silk embroidery thread used in the piece.  For the colored embroidery, I selected to use Au ver à soie Ovale flat silk thread in yellow, black, and green.  This type of silk is known as a reeled or filament silk thread.  It is not tightly spun and as a result, I could cover a larger area without the ground showing through.  It also gives a luxurious sheen to the piece.

There is little information about the linings of extant purses other than the material being silk.  In some cases, this is because the lining has not survived.  I chose to line the pouch in red damask silk.  

The Turk’s Head knots are made from silk gimp, a type of cord.  I made the gimp following a tutorial from Medieval Silkwork.  The core is three strands of natural colored linen thread and I wound yellow silk around it until I had a length of about 50 cm.  This gave me enough cord to form two small Turk’s Head Knots.

Construction

Bags of this type were typically one piece, with the front and back embroidered as a seamless unit and then folded along what becomes a side of the pouch.   I chose to have the fold for this bag along the bottom for visual symmetry. 

I used a rectangular embroidery frame to hold the fabric at an even tension.  

The embroidery was completed using the technique for brick stitch as described by Mitchell in Section 2: Recreating the Style.  From his close examination of the extant pieces, he has determined the most likely course of the thread by the grouping of warp and weft in the ground fabric.  

I worked the white linen embroidery first and then filled in the colored silk sections.

After completing the embroidery, I attached the silk lining.  I decided to sew the long edges and form a tube of the lining and embroidery.  I then turned it right side out and folded the bag horizontally along the center line.  This placed the raw edges at the mouth of the bag and provided a clean side seam.

I finished the seams using a technique originally described on the blog MedievalSilkwork by Machteld.  I chose to use both yellow and green thread for this technique and integrated the ends into the tassels at the bottom corners.  

The original bag has a strip of fabric around the top edge and I chose to use a strip of white linen matching the ground fabric and linen embroidery.  By comparing the total measurement of the pouch with the percentage of space the strip takes up, I determined it was at its widest 1/2 inch and at its narrowest 5/16 inch.  I chose to make my border 1/4 inch wide.  I attached this strip after I completed the side seams and attached the purse strings.  This concealed the raw ends under the linen and creates a neat appearance.  This border has no eyelets for the drawstring, which is simply threaded through holes made with an awl.  This is by design and is consistent with the extant examples from the V&A as well as the RICH.

Inside of pouch before the white strip is added to the top - in this image the purse hanger is tucked inside after being sewn to the inside edges.

The drawstring and cord were constructed from finger loop braiding.  I used green silk to make the cords:  a smaller round braid for the drawstrings and a wider flat braid for the purse string.   I made two sections of braids for the drawstring and wove them through the holes with the beginnings of the braids on opposite sides of the pouch.  When the two ends are pulled, the pouch closes easily. 

The tassels were constructed using a mix of green and yellow silk.  To construct the tassels I wound a strand of green and yellow simultaneously around a card until I reached the desired thickness.  I then tied a piece of green silk through the top of the cluster of threads and cut the loops that formed at one end.  A piece of white linen was used to tie the center of the tassel.  The tassels were then threaded through the corners of the pouch and tied off on the inside.  Another piece of white linen was used to tie the center of the tassel in order to integrate the ends of the thread from the side seams.

The knots are Turk’s Head Knots are constructed from the yellow silk gimp.  I used an online visual tutorial to begin the knots using a piece of card as the support.  I then worked them with my fingers to the desired size.

As in any large project, I would do several things differently. Here are a few:

Being a novice embroiderer, the back of the work was not as neat as I would have liked. At times, I had to double back if I missed a spot.

The flat braid I used for the purse hanger is not as flat as desired even after several attempts. There are several mistakes I noticed in the braid, which contributes to the braid rolling, but this was by far my best attempt with regard to tension.

I am pleased with how the Turk’s Head knots turned out, but working them down to the desired size from the initial card support was frustrating and time consuming. I ultimately decided to leave them off the drawstring, because I could not make them small enough to keep from slipping off the cord. I plan to attempt these knots in the future in order to find an easier way to make them small enough.

Bibliography

Literary

Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis, (New York: George Braziller) 1976.

Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London : 4 Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) 2002.

Geoff Egan and Frances Pritchard, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London : 4 Dress Accessories 1150-1450, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) 2002.

Tasha Dandelion Kelly, La cotte simple, http://cottesimple.com/.

Timothy J. Mitchell, “A Stitch Out of Time: 14th and 15th Century German Counted ThreadEmbroidery,” accessed December 5, 2012, http://wymarc.com/asoot/asoot.php.

Medieval Silkewerk, accessed March 7, 2013, http://www.silkewerk.com/.

Medieval Silkwork, accessed November 10, 2012, http://m-silkwork.blogspot.com/.

“Treasures ofHeaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe,” accessed February 16, 2013. http://learn.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/.

“Turk’s HeadKnot,” accessed March 2, 2013, http://www.animatedknots.com/turkshead/.

Objects

Bag, 14thcentury, linen embroidered in silk, 14.5 cm x 12.5 cm, Object # 8313-1863, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, accessed January 9, 2013, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115592/bag-unknown/.

Bag, 14thcentury, linen embroidered in silk, Object # 8699-1863, Victoria & Albert Museum, London,  accessed January 9, 2013, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O144713/bag-unknown/.

Bourse-reliquaire, 10 cm x 10 cm, Object # 10069247, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Bourse-reliquaire, 7 cm x 7 cm, Object # 10152662, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Bourse-reliquaire, 7 cm x 7 cm, Object # 10152670, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Link to the complete documentation in PDF:

Embroidered Purse

Pattens: Medieval Shoe Protection

I recently entered the Ice Dragon Pentathlon Arts and Sciences competition in the Kingdom of AEthelmearc.  I decided to summarize my entries in the next few posts.  I'll post links to the complete documentation at the end of each post.  

Pattens are a type of overshoe worn in order to raise a typical medieval shoe off the ground.  Medieval shoes were not waterproof and with no interior support or heel, it was probably difficult to walk in inclement weather.  Several styles of pattens were present in the 14^th and 15^th century and could be constructed of wood or leather.  According to Grew and Neergaard, pattens were not common in London until the late 14^th century and were used as a fashion accessory of the privileged.

My creation

Leather and Wooden pattens from the Museum of London

Design

This pair of women’s pattens is styled after a late 14^th century hinged design.  The base is constructed of wood and the upper is constructed of leather with a sewn decoration of silk thread.  

As the style of shoe I normally wear has a long toe, typical of the style of the late 14^th century, I chose to model the design of the wooden base after an example from the Museum of London that also has a long toe.  Using this design, I connected the two sole pieces with a strip of leather nailed into a recess and the seam. 

For the upper, I used a leather heel strap made of double thickness stitched together with a binding stitch along the edges.  I chose a heel strap with three anchor points to the wooden base.  I have previously worn pattens with only two anchor points and found they became uncomfortable over time as the leather stretched.  I am hoping this design will provide for support for my foot. 

The pattern for my heel strap

Decorated toe straps from the late 14^th century are common.  This embellishment could be painted, stamped, or stitched (the most common).  Since there are few remaining threads associated with stitched decoration, I inferred the pattern of stitching.  I modeled the design after an example of a strap from the late 14^th century with holes indicating a stitched design with diamonds.   A thin leather strip is attached between the nails and this strap acts a washer to prevent abrasion.

Materials

Leather

For the leather pieces, I used cow leather that is most likely Chrome tanned due to the thin gray line visible running through the middle of the flesh.  Vegetable tanned leather would have been the most common type of leather available in the late 14^th century. 

I used a linen thread coated in beeswax for the binding stitches holding the layers together as this type of thread is strong and the wax repels water.  Leather finds from medieval York also suggest the use of a plant based thread to sew leather, although the deterioration precluded the authors from specifically identifying a species.

Other

Tests have shown many examples of pattens during this time are wood from the family Salicaceae, which includes willow and poplar.   I chose to use poplar for the wooden base although I do not have the knowledge to identify the exact species. 

The thread I used for decoration is a red filament silk.  This silk only has a slight twist, which is consistent with an example of a shoe from the Coppergate excavation in York.   As the threads from the extant examples have not survived, I chose to use a red silk thread to mimic the red paint residue identified on other strap fragments.

Embroidered toe strap front (left) and back (right).

In extant examples, the leather is attached to the base using wrought nails.  I purchased the smallest wrought nails I could find with a rose head similar to the nail heads seen in extant patten fragments.  These purchased nails turned out to have too large a diameter and undoubtedly would have split the wooden base.  I ultimately used metal tacks that had a very similar appearance, but are much smaller. 

The buckle mentioned by Grew and Neergaard in Shoes and Pattens from the City of London Boy’s School site is cataloged in the Museum of London LAARC database.  There are actually two buckles cataloged from this site (Object 1023 &1090) and both are of a lead alloy although no images are available of the artifacts.  I chose to use small lead free pewter buckles from Billy and Charlie’s Fine Pewter Goods.

Construction

Leather

The leather straps are constructed of double thickness leather stitched with the flesh sides together.  The edges of the pieces are sewn with a binding stitch overlapping the edges.  Although the seam of the extant, hinged patten is of a single thickness of leather, I used a double thickness in order to achieve the proper effect and stability of the piece.

I used a round knife to cut out all the pieces.  My round knife is a modern design, but has a similar crescent shape to knives seen in illuminations of the time. The small flap in the toe strap was cut using a small flat knife.

I decided to sew the silk decoration through only one layer of leather to prevent the silk from being in direct contact with my shoe that would cause deterioration through continued wear.  Because of the lack of threads, the true pattern cannot be verified; however, Grew and Neergaard believe that a back stitch was used to form a continuous line instead of a running stitch.  I am inclined to agree and have used this technique.

I created all stitch holes using a flat awl instead of a round awl, as the holes seen in the extant examples are slanted, not circular.  I found this shape made sewing much smoother than with a round awl, as the needle passed through the leather more easily.

Assembling the Pattens

The wooden base was constructed using modern cutting and sanding tools. 

After completing the leather pieces, I attached the leather pieces to the base.  I used a round awl to create pilot holes before nailing the pieces to the wooden base.

I first assembled the two halves of the base with the leather strip.  The double thickness of leather sits within the recess leaving some space, but this allows room for the nails so they do not dig into the bottom of the wearer’s shoe. 

When attaching the straps, I used the nail holes from extant originals as a guide.  These pieces show two nails holes in the heel strap and three in the toe strap.  A tack was also used to secure the toe strap across the foot as seen in an extant fragment.

The thin ‘washer’ strip was attached at the same time as the leather straps.  I began at the back of the heel and worked my way around the patten.  I also inserted additional nails around the edges to help secure the strip to the edge of the base.

Bibliography

Literary

Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis, (New York: George Braziller) 1976.

Ian R. Carlisle, Quita Mould, and Esther Cameron, Leatherand Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York, (York: Council for British Archaeology) 2003, accessed February 2013, http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/resources/AY17-16-Leather%20and%20leatherworking.pdf.

I. Marc Carlson, “Leatherworking in the Middle Ages,” accessed October 2012, http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/leath.html.

Francis Grew and Margrethe de Neergaard, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London : 2 Shoes and Pattens, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) 2004.

Mendel Hausbuch, 1426-1549, Amb 317.2 °, Nuremberg City Library, Nuremberg, Germany, accessed February 2013, http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/.

Objects

Buckle; Patten, 1066-1485, lead, leather, wood, BOY86[1023]<197>, Museum of London, accessed February 2013, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/laarc/catalogue/.

Patten, 14th-15th century, Institut für Realienkunde , Regensburg, Germany, http://www.imareal.sbg.ac.at, accessed October 2012, http://www.larsdatter.com/pattens.htm.

Link to complete documentation in PDF:

Pattens Documentation