Jacobean embroidery

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

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

Legacy

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

• 
  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

• 1600–1650 in fashion
• Crewel embroidery
• Margaret Laton's embroidered jacket

Notes

1. 1 2 3 4 Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth and A. F. Morris Hands, Jacobean Embroidery, Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor, Keegan Paul, 1912
2. 1 2 3 Christie, Grace: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London 1912

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacobean embroidery.

• 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

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

Embroidery
Styles	Assisi Bargello Berlin work Blackwork Broderie anglaise Broderie perse Candlewicking Canvas work Celtic cross stitch Counted-thread Crewel Cross-stitch Cutwork Darning Drawn thread work Free embroidery Goldwork Hardanger Machine Needlepoint Quillwork Smocking Stumpwork Surface Suzani Whitework
Stitches	Backstitch Blanket Buttonhole Chain stitch Couching and laid work Cross stitches Embroidery stitch Featherstitch Holbein Parisian Running Satin stitch Sashiko Shisha Straight stitch Tent stitch
Tools and materials	Aida cloth Embroidery hoop Embroidery thread Evenweave Perforated paper Plainweave Plastic canvas Sampler Slip Yarn
Regional and historical	Art needlework Bunka shishu Brazilian Chikan Chinese English Indian Islamic Jacobean Kaitag Kantha Kasuti Korean Mountmellick Nakshi kantha Persian Opus Anglicanum Rushnyk Ukrainian Vietnamese Vyshyvanka Zardozi
Embroideries	Butler-Bowden Cope Bayeux Tapestry Bradford carpet Hastings Embroidery Hestia tapestry Magna Carta (An Embroidery) Margaret Layton's jacket New World Tapestry Overlord embroidery Quaker Tapestry Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments
Designers and embroiderers	Emilie Bach Leon Conrad Kaffe Fassett Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum François Lesage Ann Macbeth May Morris Jessie Newbery Charles Germain de Saint Aubin Mary Elizabeth Turner Teresa Wentzler Kathleen Whyte Erica Wilson Lily Yeats
Organizations and museums	Embroiderers' Guild (UK) Embroiderer's Guild of America Embroidery Software Protection Coalition Needlework Development Scheme Royal School of Needlework Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum Han Sang Soo Embroidery Museum
Related	Appliqué Crochet Knitting Lace Needlework Quilting