Heraldic Arts and Sciences: Beyond the Banner and Shield. Part 15, April 2006. Last Edit: 23 SEP 2006

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Making of the Copes: The project page describing the plan for the 2 sets of copes.

Kingdom Cloaks: The completed Kingdom Copes as worn by Sigfried and Gwyneth. The Heirs' set is expected to look the same but for the lable.

Other Sites, Supporting Documents, and References

V&A Featured Craftsperson: The microsite for medieval embroidery. Shows process from begining to end, very nice demonstration of 15th-16th c. English embroidery.

History and Techniques of Medieval Embroidery: Nice, broad spectrum site featuring many examples of historical works.

V&A Access to Images: Embroidered strips, patches, panels, slips abound across pre-17th c. items that can be embroidered. Some examples of embroidered things meant to be applied to other things: T.46-1972, T.5A-1988, T.378-1976, T.49-1972, T.33J-1955.

Heraldic Arts and Sciences:
Beyond the Banner and Shield
Part 15: An Embroidered Patch

The following project is not completely of my design. In fact, the only part of the design that is mine is the stitch pattern. This set of embroidered patches are a part of a very large project to construct copes for the Prince and Princess of Northshield. It took me forever to do them--in actual man-hours, never mind finding the large periods of time needed for slow-poke-needle me to get a significant amount of work done. Life is busy, after all. I'd get so much more done if I didn't have to work for a living.

That bit of digression aside, the effort it took me to get these patches done make them worthy of inclusion in this series. Embroidered goods were a luxury item in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and embroideries were often salvaged from older goods and reapplied to new goods or made separately to be applied to individual items. Such embroideries were used on items of clothing, linens, decorative hangings, heraldic banners, cushions--nearly anything cloth, from your cloak to your coffin cover.

This particular set of patches is silk embroidery on linen. I like the idea of the patch and have always intended to embroider one, featuring my own arms, to be applied to a green Tudor-era kirtle. However, this is probably the last embroidery project I will do for the Kingdom. It was a far larger project than I anticipated, and I believe I do better when my embroidery projects don't have deadlines.

(you may need to scroll down to see the work.)

The kit as it came to me. Linen cloth with drawn designs, brief instructions, and black, white, green, and blue silk threads. One of the difficulties I would have with the kit was an extreme shortage of black thread, a small shortage of blue thread, and the disappearance of the white thread. I blew a lot of time hunting through stores for thread before asking the ladies running the show for more.

On the frame and started. My personal habits as an illuminator took right over, and while I started the shield with the intention of working across evenly, I eventually fell into the illuminator's practice of working background forward.

About a year later. It was at this point that I'd run out of the blue silks. I came to realize just how slowly I work in this art, and I had to really fight my tendency to take very small stitches. I used to be amazed at the stitch count I'd see quoted in books describing historical embroidery; now I understand how the desire to use thread to make something as beautiful and lush as possible can drive your choices. For me, that unconscious choice found me making smaller and smaller and smaller stitches. Left unchecked, that tendency would have taken over, and I'd still be working on the patches.

The two patches, completed. I think they came out okay. I look forward to seeing them on the copes, and I hope I can get pictures of them once they are applied.