Linen collar and cuffs in blue

Recently I have been working on some projects for friends, one of which is a set of collar and cuffs for a linen shirt.

The pattern was adapted from a design in the sixteenth century publication Modelbuch aller art.

I traced the design out on tracing paper and traced it onto the linen with water soluble pen. Ink would have been used to draw or trace out designs in the sixteenth century, but I find that many of the old patterns have inconsistencies in them (probably due to the woodcutting and printing techniques) and so water soluble pen allows for a certain amount of adjustment during the embroidery process.

I did a couple of 'test' motifs on the linen that I had to work on. The one on the left is done with two threads of DMC floss worked in a double running stitch, and the one on the right is two threads of DMC floss worked in chain stitch.

I wasn't happy with either, so I compromised with three strands of DMC floss worked in double running stitch. The centre of the flowers is satin stitch in gold DMC floss.

The back of the finished pieces

Knots are usually avoided on the back of embroideries, but I do knot on pieces that are likely to be subjected to vigorous or machine washing.

The completed panel. You may notice that the blue of the flowers is slightly darker than the blue of the vine

The completed pieces after ironing

After completion, I passed the work onto a friend who used them to complete a linen shirt.

The shirt was made by Toni Abrahams, and photos of the finished shirt are courtesy of Phil Abrahams.