Applique Research

One of the supporting projects for the expert panel is to be an example of "couched cord around applique."  I've played with a couple of ideas for this project, with none of them really "sticking."  Then, I heard about the heraldic display challenge for Mudthaw.  Heraldic banner -- that's it!

Applique is great for banners and hangings.  It is a great way to cover a large area of fabric with a design, and is (or can be) quick to do.  Because of the usual "up there" nature of the display of banners, it is also usually a less "fussy" form of embroidery.  (Applique can also be very very fussy, but that's not what I'm going to be doing).  It is also a form that spans centuries.

So, I started looking at banners with applique and couched cord.

There's this Spanish banner at the Met.

Banner, Spanish 1596. Met Accession No. 58.172 Gift of Melvin Gutman

And then there's this long Spanish one at the Boston Museum of Fine Art.


For quite a while these two pieces were vying for the place of honor as the "inspiration piece" for my project.

Tab from a banner
Ashmolean Accession No.  EA 1984.134

However, there is another group of applique that really sings to my heart -- several pieces of Egyptian work like this one at the Met and this one at the Ashmolean.

Fragment, 13th-14th century Egypt. Met Accession No. 1974-1131

Fragment Late 14th to Mid 15th Century
Met Accession No. 1972.120.2

Fragment Late 15th to Early 16th Century
Met Accession No. 1972.120.3

Those examples do not have the couched cord around the appliqued figures, but this and this one at the Met do.






My final design is a bit of an amalgam of these.  It will be a banner of linen on linen, using mostly white or off white.  To use SCA heraldry, there will also be blue and gold -- as the final banner will display the household badge my husband and I registered.

This weekend I'll be pulling out fabrics and getting the pieces cut.  I may have to actually fabricate cord from silk threads, but we'll see.  This may mean another trip to Fireside, but since I'll be heading there Saturday for the final shopping for my class the following weekend, that's not a problem.