Blue Scholehouse chemise panels

Today's post relates to one of my earlier chemise projects. I saw the image (below) of the goddess with an embroidered chemise, and decided that I wanted one.

Queen Elizabeth I with Three Goddesses by Hans Eworth -http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizagoddesses.jpg

I decided upon a motif from Shorleyker's 1632 Pattern book 'A Scholehouse for the Needle' -

Image can be found at feelingstitchy.com

The motifs were embroidered in stem stitch in a blue DMC cotton floss. In the image below, the fabric is draped over my ironing board, which makes the ground fabric look slightly checked. It actually isn't checked; the ironing board cover is showing through the fabric.

Although both sleeve panels are complete, I never made this chemise up because the ground fabric seems to be a poly-cotton blend. I find that poly-cotton doesn't wear well, doesn't last as long as natural fabrics, and is a bit of a fire risk with candles and other flames. When I started this project, I was on a ridiculously tight budget. Now, although I am still on a tight budget, I will pay the extra for natural fibre fabrics. I have learnt the hard way that it is false economy not to.