Surprise, the friend who originally asked me to make her a pocket is part of the Society of Creative Anachronism! I don’t play actively anymore, but that’s how I met this friend over 20 years ago. I made her pockets for her elevation to Laurel.
This is the documentation I wrote for her:
A pair of Pockets, a gift for Her Excellency Mistress Beatrix Funteyn
Hand embroidered and sewn by Lady Saraswati Amman
General Notes
For my convenience, I purchased two different pocket kits; more details below.
Materials
- Pocket A: linen outer pockets, cotton lining
- Pocket B: cotton Aida front, linen back and lining
- Cotton tape
- Wool embroidery floss
- Poly sewing thread (“all purpose”)
Stitch types
- Back stitch
- Split stitch
- Satin stitch
- Bayeux stitch
- French knot
- Bargello stitch (aka Florentine stitch, flame stitch)
Pocket A
Kit purchased from PennyRiver on Etsy. The kit is based on English and American examples from between 1765-1795.
Pocket Components
- Printed pattern front, made of 100% linen [it’s printed in yellow, some of which may show through]
- Cotton lining and linen back pieces
- Cotton tape
- Printed cotton binding strips
- Wool thread
The embroidery pattern is based on a fragment of 15th century Italian woven silk and velvet from the Victoria and Albert Museum..I put the pattern into Photoshop to expand it/clean it up a bit, then transferred it to the fabric with carbon paper. I let the pattern tell me what colors it wanted to be.
Yellow bands: Satin stitch
Red pomegranates: Bayeux stitch
Blue flowers: Split stitch
Crown: Split stitch
Green Leaves: Back stitch, split stitch, and satin stitch in a few places
Badge: silk floss in back stitch
Direct link: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O186103/woven-silk/
Ascension number: 716-1907
Pocket B
Kit was purchased from At The Sign of the Golden Scissors online shop. I also purchased a ton of wool embroidery floss from this shop. The floss was sold in grab bags, so all different manufacturers, including English ones. Their products are aimed at 18th Century living historians/re-enactors. The majority of their patterns are from the 1760s-1770s.
Pocket components
- Crewel wool embroidery thread
- Cotton Aida for front of pocket
- Linen fabric for lining and back of pocket
- Cotton tape for binding
- Linen tie
The embroidery pattern is Bargello stitch, aka Florentine stitch or flame stitch. While more commonly used for upholstery and shoes, I thought it looked really neat and would be fun to try. Since I have so much embroidery wool, I thought it would be a good way to use different colors and just have some fun.The pattern is based on the Fibonnaci sequence; I thought it was funny, while also being easy to keep track of.
Examples:
Sampler, c. 1770s, possibly English: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O364215/sampler/
Maniple in Flame stitch, c.1700-50, possibly Italian: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119436/maniple-unknown/
Pin cushion embroidered by Martha Edlin, c. 1660-70, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O11075/pin-cushion-edlin-martha/ [See photo below]
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