Partlet with Holly Berries

My first 'holly' project is going to be a partlet decorated with the holly design in one of Trevellyon's borders from his Miscellany. (I plan to register a heraldic badge that has holly on it, so there my be more holly themed items in the future.)

A page from Thomas Treveyllon's Miscellany from 1608

The base fabric is a lovely fine linen. The design was marked out with an iron-away Frixion marker. The berries are embroidered in two strands of red DMC 498 cotton, and the leaves and stems in two strands of green DMC 3818 cotton. I considered other colourways, but decided to go with realistic colours for this first project. In period, of course, silk would most likely have been used for this project. I have used cotton due to cost and availability issues.

The stems, leaves and berry outlines are being worked in split stitch, and the line across each berry is done in double running (Holbein) stitch.

When making partlets, I often do what is not recommended, and make up the garment first. I use a small hand-sewn hem on my Italian partlets, and I find having the centre front hem completed can be useful in ensuring that the design is perfectly aligned with the centre front edge of the partlet. If you decide to do it this way, you should be careful to ensure that the edges of the garment do not get stretched and warped by your hoop. I use a very small hoop and move it often, being careful not to stretch the linen base fabric.