Elizabethan Whitework Coif

Some time ago I made an Elizabethan Whitework coif as a contribution to the Queen's Gift Basket.

Some extant examples of coifs from Patterns of Fashion 4 are below:

Below are some of the plates from Patterns of Fashion 4 that inspired this piece. They are a hood and a coif embroidered predominantly in chain stitch.

These are the designs that mine was adapted from. I left out the cutwork because coifs are so good
for a 'bad hair day' and having cutwork reduces their usefulness in this area!

I toyed with the idea of adding eyelet or buttonhole stitch grapes, but decided to leave it plain. This way, the coif suits people who don't like the over-the-top, more-is-more Elizabethan design ideal.

The embroidery finished and lawn lining sewn in

Flowers and leaves embroidered with silk in chain stitch on a linen ground

The coif waiting to have the knotted gather put on top

Close-up of the knotted gather that adds a 'pouf' to allow for a bun

How this piece sits varies greatly with the head of the wearer. On me, it looks like a cross between a coif and a linen hood. As it is a gift piece, that doesn't matter. But it did inspire me to change the pattern I use for making my own coifs. The next one will have the gathering tube further back at the back of the neck. Hopefully this change will mean that I can wear the new style behind my Elizabethan padded hair-do.

The hand-sewn central seam

Commercially produced lace was hand sewn into place and a line of
decorative running stitch added

Thankyou to Heather once again for the beautifully worked lucet cords.

Please see my previous coif posts for information on the background of coifs and how they were worn.

Keeping things moving

In order to keep things moving in between finishing projects, I thought I might start posting pictures of previously finished articles, plus 'progress' shots of things that I am currently working on. (I use the term 'currently' very loosely here, as some of the in-progress items haven't been touched for more than a year!)

This is a close-up of the embroidery I did on a wide collar partlet in 2007 or 2008. I was inspired by the portrait of Katherine Parr in a belted loose gown (image here: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Catherine_Parr.aspx). I made the gown in a red cotton jacquard but machine sewed the trim. I was happy with the gown when it was finished, but the trim ruined it. So that is in the to-do pile too, waiting to have the trim stripped and re-sewn by hand. (I HATE re-dos!) It is true what they say about putting the effort in to hand sew to 'get it right'. In fairness, I was up against a huge time deadline for this gown.

I didn't want an exact copy, just a loosely inspired piece. I was happy with the way the partlet came out. I used  a pattern from a sixteenth century pattern book. It is a woodcut, and some of the angles are a bit wonky but I decided not to correct them; I like them the way they are. The embroidery is in a very pale DMC cotton. In period, silk would have been preferred, but my budget usually doesn't stretch that far. I couldn't afford linen and had to use a fine cotton for the body of the partlet. It is hand-sewn except for the internal shoulder seams. They are french seamed so you can't see  the machine stitching.

I also made a necklace to go with the outfit, which I was very happy with.

Hopefully one day I will have a photo of the finished re-done outfit to post. I really like the aiglets that I made out of metal beads to go with this one. I also made a wired and pearled white coif. The only thing that I haven't made yet for this outfit is a smock with the gold around the cuffs and the black velvet hat. I have the fabric, but I need to choose a design that will go with most of my outfits.