Beautiful Embroidery: From Pattern Book to Fashion Magazine

Historical collections demonstrate the variety and diversity of embroidery used for decorating dresses, waistcoats, vestments, bonnets, gloves, even shoes and bags – from modest geometrical patterns on batiste collars to sumptuous gold or silver ornaments on coronation attires.

They were commissioned in professional workshops or made individually by hand, according to a pattern book or own ideas.

Mixed materials
Various types of silk, wool and metal thread of different textures were employed for this purpose, and the patterns were created either using an entire spectrum of colours or in a monochrome manner.

Pattern books
Modern museum collections include various embroidery pattern books: textile ones showing a number of ornaments on a piece of linen, pattern sets included in books or as stand-alone prints, and those copied from popular magazines into notebooks.

Stories behind embroideries
Authors of embroidered decorations were only limited by fashion and their own imagination. For instance, embroidered ornaments on 18th-century men’s waistcoats were a chronicle of important events and popular subjects, not unlike present-day T-shirts.

Embroidered motifs disseminated quickly owing to pattern books printed since early 16th century. Floral and geometrical patterns, ornamental monograms and decorative borders may be found on embroidered samplers, which testify to girls' homeschooling.

During conservation, a fragment of the face of one of the figures was reconstructed: the missing piece of parchment mask responsible for the protrusion of the nose.

Work in process
This fragment of a chasuble with floral motifs is embroidered with woollen yarn.
Following wet-cleaning the embroidery and fabric is stabilized. Threads of the embroidery are arranged and straightened using entomological pins.

Small pieces of art
18th-century waistcoat embroidery sometimes resembled miniature paintings. The motifs designed by artists reflected fashionable trends and contemporary imagery: current topics, events and even protagonists of theatre plays.

This embroidered letter case was presented to King Stanislaus Augustus of Poland on his name-day by Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul from Warsaw. The monogram, and particularly the emblem, usually represented the main decorative motif of such objects.

These gloves made of thin, soft leather were most likely an element of female riding apparel. They are decorated with a delicate embroidered pattern showing a colourful bird-of-paradise perched on a branch with leaves – a popular 18th-century motif.

These shoes demonstrate the European fascination with the arts and crafts of the Far East. Owing to their fashionable shape and embroidered decoration made in China, they represented an extremely sophisticated accessory of courtly fashion.

Eastern ornaments were commonly seen in Western European decorative arts. The waistcoat at hand is embellished with geometrical motifs of fancy palmettes inspired by art of the Far East.

This is a rare example of monochrome embroidery on red satin. This intense colour is typical of garments worn in early 18th century. In the second half of the century, colours became more refined, and red was substituted with a warm shade of pink resembling the colour of a lobster.

This dress made of transparent white gauze is an example of early 19th-century court attire. It belonged to Queen Louise (1776–1810), wife of Frederick William III of Prussia. The garment is decorated with palmettes, flower baskets and small dots embroidered with white cotton thread.

This modest, white collar of a woman’s blouse is decorated with openwork, geometrical, white embroidery. Together with cuffs, it provided an elegant finish of a female outfit.

The 1920s fascination with folk art is visible in the patterns of decorative textiles created at the time. Folk motifs may also be found in printed pattern books.