Whitework Ecclesiastical Embroidery Pattern
Whitework Ecclesiastical Embroidery Pattern: This past week I had the honor of helping a friend do some handwork on some very special linen pieces. I’ll be sure to share the information about the project in a few days. The project is steeped in history and was a great deal of fun. And it happened just by chance…or perhaps it was meant to be. But more on that later.
The fun part about Ecclesiastical Sewing is that the field is vast. There is a never-ending variety to the list of projects. Whitework on linen makes up a large portion of the variety when it comes to sewing for the church. Yet it often gets overshadowed and neglected in the glitter and shine of gold and silk shading used in hand Ecclesiastical Hand Embroidery.
One of the challenges with doing whitework Ecclesiastical Embroidery is a lack of design variety. The other challenge is knowing which hand embroidery stitches work well for whitework.
Restoring Vintage Ecclesiastical Embroidery Designs
I have recently acquired a nice assortment of vintage Ecclesiastical Hand Embroidery Designs. Many of the patterns are over 130 years old. The designs are wonderful, but the image quality is very poor. Slowly over time, I hope to make some of these wonderful designs available for others to use for Ecclesiastical Embroidery. The process is very long and time-consuming to take the vintage patterns and clean them up in a computer program for use as a pattern hand embroidery pattern. When the topic of whitework came up and this design appeared from among the treasures of old this weekend, it moved to the top of the pile to get updated so it could be shared with others. It took the better part of the afternoon, but the end results were nice.
The above design is actually three vintage Ecclesiastical Embroidery Designs combined into one. The lines are simple, and the design is suitable for whitework, but could also be used for gold and silk Ecclesiastical Embroidery. Suitable embroidery stitches for whitework would include stem stitch, outline stitch, padded satin stitch for the letters, or outline stitch with seed stitch fill. Chainstitch is another commonly used stitch for whitework in Ecclesiastical Embroidery.
Gold and Silk Thread Embroidery with Vintage Ecclesiastical Designs
For those wishing to try the IHC design with gold and silk threads, you can work the border with Japan Gold. Pad the IHC letters in the center and work them with purl-pearl, bullion, or check thread cut to length. Once the center of the letters is complete, outline them with a gold twist #3 or a similar thread. Satin stitch the flowers in colors and add tiny spangles to the dots at the ends.
The design is a vector drawing, so it should be easy to adjust the size up or down. This would be suitable for use on a pall, or other linens. For vestments, it could be used on a stole, burse, or as a Bible marker for a few ideas. The IHC could be replaced with an Alpha Omega, Chi-Rho, Mariam symbol, or Cross. But please remember, this is a Vintage Design. That means, with many designs from ages past, there are imperfections. The designs are not always as perfectly symmetrical as the modern designs. These were all drawn by hand. There were variations; and yet despite the lack of perfect symmetry, the designs were still lovely and would stitch up perfectly fine. Just be sure to understand the differences, and discrepancies, and consider that part of the beauty.
I hope you enjoy this hand embroidery design: 0001 IHC in Diamond Frame.
Solo Dei Gloria
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Whitework Embroidery for Church Linens
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Trial Run at Marking for Whitework
Hand Embroidery Design for Altar Linens