Shaped Lilac Coif

Here is another one of my early attempts at an Elizabethan shaped coif. It is embroidered in DMC cotton floss on a cotton base fabric. The embroidery is predominantly stem stitch. The spangles are silver gilt, attached with four threads. Sewing spangles on with three stitches is more common, but there are extant examples of Elizabethan embroiderers securing spangles with four stitches. I suppose that, like me, they wanted their work to stand up to lots of washing and use.

The design is my own, but the motifs are all taken from period model books and extant embroidery examples from the sixteenth century. There is a line of commercially made cotton bobbin lace around the front of the coif, ornamented by small pearls. The coif is lined to prevent hair oils from affecting the embroidery.

More detailed information about Elizabethan coifs can be found in my earlier post on the red striped coif.

Thank you to Heather for the lucet cords.