Found Another One!

I have a somewhat odd obsession: attempting to match surviving mid-19th century stitched artifacts to period published patterns.

And I've found another one!!!

The ubiquitous "Mrs. Jane Weaver" has presented us with a "Head-Dress for Breakfast" in the October 1864 Peterson's Magazine, described as follows:

Take a simple square of white tarleton, trim with narrow black ribbon, and pin it quite forward on the front of the head; and you have the head-dress complete. 

And I've previously created my interpretation, based on the original artifact, several years ago.

This is a case of finding something completely off topic while researching a specific topic; it seems to happen nearly every time I leaf through my Godey's and Peterson's, one of the reasons I prefer to take the time to go page by page, as opposed to doing an online search.



Here's the original artifact, the resemblance to Mrs. Jane Weaver's depiction is striking, although not identical; the maker altered the materials and colors to suit her needs.



And here's my interpretation, again altered a bit to suit my needs. Complete details here.

High Flying Eagle

My head is in the clouds about this new find - a patriotic eagle!

I have a bit of an unusual hobby: attempting to pair up extant mid-19th century artifacts with the period publications that supplied the pattern. It's even better when I can manage to purchase the item, like the nightgown I recently received.

The yoke of the nightgown is adorned with extravagant  braidwork in an eagle design - a very popular motif during wartime, the Civil War specifically.

Here's the pattern, as published by  W. F. Sherwood & Co. of Chicago Illinois, circa 1865, in a mmanufacturer's sample book of embroidery and beading patterns - Sherwood's Impression Powder and Perforated Patterns, For Printing all Kinds of Designs for Braiding, Embroidery and Beading.

The entire pamphlet is available at the Antique Pattern Library, a fabulous site with hundreds of publications from a large variety of eras - all for FREE - although donations are accepted and encouraged.

I found it interesting that the nightgown was in Canada; the seller was not able to provide any provenance for the garment having purchased it at a "jumble sale". It would be lovely to know if the nighty was created in the States and migrated to Canada or did the pamphlet itself do the traveling?

The maker did not use the suggested cuff pattern and used a different motif (not in the pamphlet) of what appears to be a dove taking a nosedive on the back yoke - possibly some type of political comment?

I've been  in progress on my own nightgown for quite some time now, using a Sherwood design, although not the eagle pattern - maybe some year I'll be able to share that with you!

Natural Dyes - A Workshop

The earliest written description of the use of dyestuffs dates to 2600 BC and until the mid-19th century when William Henry Perkin invented the first synthetic dye, all dyes were derived from plants or animals.

I recently attended a workshop presented by Shanna Robinson, a professor at North Central Michigan College,  on natural dyeing. We left the two hour class with a silk scarf, naturally dyed.

Most natural dyes need a mordant to fix the color to the fiber and increase lightfastness. Mordant literally means "to bite". The mordant is the chemical link that fixes the dye to a substrate by combining with the dye pigment to form an insoluble compound. Our scarf was saturated with three different mordants - ferrous acetate, titanium oxalate and a chalk solution. Each mordant produces a variant of the single dye color and even more variants were the mordants overlap.

Due to time constraints (each mordant must dry completely before applying the next), Shanna had applied two of the mordants and we added the last.

We prepared the dyes while the final mordant dried. Two dye bathes were prepped, one using coreopsis which will give yellows, oranges and browns, depending on mordants and the pH of the dye bath.

And a second with weld, which gives yellows.
 

The plant materials were weighed, added to water and allowed to simmer.

The plant materials were strained out.

And the scarves went in!

A good rinse at home, to remove excess dye:

Here's my coreopsis dyed scarf - it's pretty obvious that mordants have a huge influence on the final color!

The workshop was intended to be a brief overview of natural dyeing, not an intensive, "now you're an expert" experience and that goal was well fulfilled. I learned enough to be intrigued about the potential for using the techniques in my own fiber work - it's always great to add new possibilities!

By the Yard Extra

This was a very interesting show: 10 different artists with 10 varying visions of surface designed textiles.

The techniques were wide ranging - weaving, dyeing, machine and hand embroidery, image transfer, even stamping with the end of a branch!



I was really pleased with my final piece and loved how it looked on display.

I felt the need to create a little something "extra" - an "art to wear" vest made from the applique scraps!

I used an 1860's paletot pattern as my base, then block printed and embroidered and added a wild fringy collar.



The show ends tomorrow, but the vest lives on!

By the Yard

I was invited to participate in a show called "By the Yard" and it has a really unique concept: Artists can create textile yardage and that yardage can than be used to create other works.

We were asked to create a minimum of five yards of a surface designed textile - all other parameters were up to the artist.

My concept was inspired by my daily walk to work each day through a cedar forest; I’m calling it “Essence of Cedar”. I've attempt to capture the effect of light being filtered by the dense tree boughs, the texture of the bark and the lichens growing on the trees and the minimal color palette – greens, orange, browns and grays.

The base is taupe striped gauze; that has been  block printed with a stylized cedar bough pattern in both green and orange to represent both living and dropped boughs.

My print block was pretty low tech - craft foam cut to shape and glued to a worn Plexiglas quilt ruler. The clear ruler proved to be a great idea, as I could see where I was placing each print and it helped keep me semi level. I wasn't terribly concerned with very precise placement, as the result was intended to be organic.

I then appliqued the stylized cedar trunks by placing the printed gauze over my tree pattern and overlaying a second piece of gauze that had been sponge printed, then I hand stitched the pattern and cut away the excess.

The tree trucks were than embroidered with merino wool for added texture.

And embroidered lichen was added.

Done!

As usual, I started with a plan that had to be altered a bit, but I'm pleased with the final result - I've even created something with the scraps, to be revealed soon!

If you're in the area, stop by the show and enjoy all the other work in the gallery too.