Whitework Embroidery in America
Weldon's Encyclopedia of Needlework defines Whitework as: "White embroidery so called from its beginning worked on white material in mercerized cottons... It gave the first idea of lace and may be looked upon as the mother of all lace work."
This doesn't tell me a lot. So, white silk on silk isn't whitework? Hm.
Erica Wilson describes it as white thread on white ground fabric. This, I like.
Whitework embroidery is a term that came about as a result of the French influence of the 1700s. (That's not to say that whitework didn't exist before then.) There are some methods and techniques which are more associated with the term whitework, and these are the ones I hope to explore more fully in the future.
It's been conjectured that it may have begun in Egypt. Such lovely and fine fabric naturally belongs in that climate! International trade brought this gorgeous fabric to light. Eastern muslin fabrics were so sheer they were almost invisible, which caused no great stir in the nunneries of Europe. (sarcasm)
Nuns wrote their own histories with a needle, and where the fine muslins weren't available, the soft and strong linens that were available were used for depicting any number of biblical stories and symbols for use in the church, white being a symbol of the purity of the Virgin.
"The soil of Flanders and the Netherlands seemed particularly suitable for growing flax. So excellent was the Dutch fabric that up until the 18th Century the word for the strongest linen was simply "Holland" or "Holland cloth." --Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book.
Though not as fine as the muslin, the nuns learned to withdraw some of the linen threads from the background fabric for a lighter look. This form of open and drawn thread work led the way to "Reticella", where connecting bars made from buttonhole stitches were used across the surface of the linen, and the background was cut away and discarded. This was also called "cutwork".
Weldon's Encyclopedia of Needlework defines Whitework as: "White embroidery so called from its beginning worked on white material in mercerized cottons... It gave the first idea of lace and may be looked upon as the mother of all lace work."
This doesn't tell me a lot. So, white silk on silk isn't whitework? Hm.
Erica Wilson describes it as white thread on white ground fabric. This, I like.
Whitework embroidery is a term that came about as a result of the French influence of the 1700s. (That's not to say that whitework didn't exist before then.) There are some methods and techniques which are more associated with the term whitework, and these are the ones I hope to explore more fully in the future.
It's been conjectured that it may have begun in Egypt. Such lovely and fine fabric naturally belongs in that climate! International trade brought this gorgeous fabric to light. Eastern muslin fabrics were so sheer they were almost invisible, which caused no great stir in the nunneries of Europe. (sarcasm)
Nuns wrote their own histories with a needle, and where the fine muslins weren't available, the soft and strong linens that were available were used for depicting any number of biblical stories and symbols for use in the church, white being a symbol of the purity of the Virgin.
"The soil of Flanders and the Netherlands seemed particularly suitable for growing flax. So excellent was the Dutch fabric that up until the 18th Century the word for the strongest linen was simply "Holland" or "Holland cloth." --Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book.
Though not as fine as the muslin, the nuns learned to withdraw some of the linen threads from the background fabric for a lighter look. This form of open and drawn thread work led the way to "Reticella", where connecting bars made from buttonhole stitches were used across the surface of the linen, and the background was cut away and discarded. This was also called "cutwork".
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