Embroidery & Decoration In Scotland and Ireland of the 15th and 16th Centuries

Embroidery & Decoration

In Scotland and Ireland of the 15th and 16th Centuries

Written and illustrated by Jennet Jowan Truro (© 1990, Janet Cornwell)

...with thanks to the many fine authors mentioned in the Bibliography, and, of course, their sources, and all our handcrafting ancestors

done for
SYMPOSIUM ON THE TEXTILE ARTS OF 15TH AND 16TH CENTURY IRELAND AND SCOTLAND, March 11, 1990,

presented by the Society for Creative Anachronism, Kingdom of Caid, Office of Sciences. Distributed with permission of the author.

Needlework and Decoration

Attempting to recreate or even describe the "soft crafts" of this time and place has proven to be a real adventure, as we are hampered by a sad lack of surviving examples as well as by a scarcity of good contemporary description. Nonetheless, enough bits and pieces of information have been recovered, both from these areas and from the rest of Europe with which the Renaissance Scots and Irish traded, that it is possible to make a good guess as to the tools, textiles and techniques most favored by these folk.

The Four Cultural Areas

It is necessary, in dealing with Scotland and Ireland, to realize that there were in the 15th and 16th centuries essentially four culturally different, though interrelated, geographical areas.

• Ireland had remained essentially Celtic since that people conquered the island around the 4th century BCE. The Romans never got there. The Vikings raided widely and founded the few towns to be found in Renaissance Ireland, but never fundamentally disturbed the customs of the country. Visitors from Europe fund the Irish sophisticated, savage and fascinating.
• The English monarchs had frequently declared themselves Lords of Ireland, but they had really established control only over a small area called the Pale, near Dublin. It had the character of a colony; as near as it was to England, it ha its own styles and systems that were distinctly un-English.
• Highland Scotland was colonized by Gaels from Ireland around 400 CE. These people seem to have absorbed certain aspects of the native Pictish culture, even though they obliterated most evidence of it, and maintained close ties with their own Irish cousins. Western Scotland was also affected by several centuries of occupation by Scandinavian lords. Poverty and lack of roads inhibited the spread of goods and ideas here, though trade centers such as the Orkney Islands showed an interest in the new.
• The Scottish Lowlands in the south, on the other hand, had never bee truly Gaelic--speaking, their early British-Celtic peoples having been fought and walled off by the Romands, and then replaced first by Danish and Anglo-Saxon immigrants and finally by Anglo-Norman feudal lords. This area was more commercial than the others, maintaining close trading connections with France and the Netherlands and following their styles.

Each of these areas had customs of its own, though of course they all had some trade and communication, as well as less friendly relationships, with each other. Each defeloped its own decorative styles, thought many of their implement and resources were the same.

For Historical Re-Enactment Use...

For those who simply would like to add a bit more realism to their portrayal of theatrical or historical re-enactment characters, the text and illustrations here should be sufficient. Regional differences will be mentioned so the reader may determine which items pertain to which historical characters.

Those interested in studying specialized and decorative textile work are recommended to the fine and fascinating books in the Bibliography (some in print, some available in local public and university libraries, and some available by arrangement with private parties in various historical groups. and from there to the original sources and museum pieces which may found, especially in the British Isles. There is a great deal to be learned and shared!

EMBROIDERY

We have few samples, descriptions or pictures of Scottish and Irish clothing and goods of 1400's and 1500's, but many show or mention embroider on clothing and houshold goods. Thus we know that embroidery was practiced in all four areas, though to different effect.

TOOLS:

Few needleworking tools have survived since four or five hundred years ago, as useful things tended to be used until worn out, and not protected or hoarded. We do have some pictures, examples, and descriptions specifically from Scotland and Ireland. Information from England and the Continent also gives hints of what else might have been available, especially in the Pale, and the Scottish Lowlands. In the Gaelic-Speaking areas the people wer both quite poor and far from trade routes, thus not likely to take new tools or methods even when they were known elsewhere. Where tools were needed and unavailable, they were often improvised.

Needles: In this time and place it wasn't easy to find good needles. Homemade needles were crafted of thorns, fish bones, bone, antler, ivory and shell. Bronze needles made by craftsmen survive, though many of them are large and fairly crude. For made by craftsmen survive, bthought many of them are large and fairly For coarse sewing where were awls. But the best needles, the ones preferred for decorative sewing, were made of steel. They were prized possessions, very scarce and expensive, and treated with extreme care. Metal needles might be made with a slight kink to keep the precious implements from slipping out of the work piece or out of a carrying case (Fig. 1).

An indication of the value placed on needles comes from the old Brehon Law of Ireland: one who wrongfully kept another's needle was fined a yearling calf for a common needle, a two-year old heifer for a needle used for ornamental work on mantles, and an ounce of silver for an embroidery needle.

Needles were usually kept in needle cases made of wood, bone or metal, often tubular, and threaded onto a ribbon or strip of leather. This had a small piece of fabric sewn to one end into which the needle was struck. Hung by its ribbon from the owner's girdle, the case slipped up to reveal the needle, then don to rest against a ring or stop. Needle cases matched their owner's station" great ladies might have had elegant, bejeweled, gold and sliver cases to hold their fine needles, where a countrywoman kept her bronze or bone needle in a wood or bone holder carved by her husband or son. (Fig. 2)

Bodkins, large, needle-like implements for threading ribbons, cords and laces through garments and purses, were used both by men and by women. They too were made of bone, wood, metal, or even tortoiseshell, and were sometimes very ornately engraved. Some had ear-spoons on the "eye" end. (Fig. 3)

Pins: Pins were made locally of the same materials as needles. Craftsmen also made individually forged pins of bronze, fashioning points using grooved bones and small files, attaching separately made coiled-wire pinheads with tin solder. (Fig. 4) Metal pins were being made in England before Richard III's time, but the finer French pins were preferred. In any case, they were expensive, but apparently easier to get than needles. 10,000 pins were provided for the young Mary Tudor. Some pins were very long and were used to hold draperies and the like together permanently; these were often paired with protective end covers that were sewn to the cloth. Pins were kept struck in pin cushions and pin-pillows made of the very best remnants of fabrics and embroidered work.

Scissors and Shears: Spring-type shears as well as scissors with pivoted blades were known to be in use in Roman times. On the Continent, fine scissors for "cutwork" were developed in the 16th century, but they were easily found in England after 1650. Thus it is probably that only Scottish and Irish ladies of the very highest rank would have used them for embroidery. Most people would have had small iron shears, probably with steel blades, kept in a leather slipcase. (Fig. 5)

Frames: Frames were used to hold cloth taut while embroidering. They ranged in size and materials from small, hand-held, nesting rings made of horn, to great standing frames made out of adjustable wood pieces, on which an entire pattern piece for a coat or dress might be worked. The wooden frames, usually held or rested hroizontally, were often adjusted by means of pegs, and the work piece laced or stitched to the wood. (Fig. 6, 8)

Thread Winders: Thread for embroidery was frequently kept on a thread winder, a small, geometrically shaped piece of wood, horn or bone. Very short thread pieces might be looped onto a stick or through a ring.

Couching Tools: Tatting-type shuttles were made in creating lengths of knotted thread for use in couching (see Techniques, below), though tatting itself was unknown at this early date. The shuttles were larger than tatting shuttles, being about two inches wide by for to six inches long, and they had more space between the sides to accommodate cords and homespun yarns. (Fig. 8)

"Broches" or spindles were used to handle gold or silver thread. The metal thread was wound around the spindle and slipped through a slit at the pointed end of the implement and thus applied to the surface to be couched. This prevented the hands from touching the metal and tarnishing it. (Fig. 9)

Pattern Sources: Pattern books came in during the early 1550's in Germany and Italy, and were well-known in England by the century's end. They were very costly, therefore pretty well restricted to use in court circles. Elsewhere patterns were handed down in tradition from one needleworker to another, often making certain stitches or arrangements particular to one family or locale. Examples might be stitched onto cloth strips for reference, the ancestors of the "sampler" as we know it.