Skandynawski haft pe┼ény.pdf

WCoB Competition Documentation – Scandinavian

Figure 1 – Basis for Project - 14th century voided work wall hanging, Iceland

Background

I have chosen the above wall hanging worked in laid and couched work as the inspiration for

this project. It was made in the 14 th Century in Iceland, and originally resided in a church in

Hvau, Northern Iceland. It now resides in the National Museum in Denmark.

The panel shown is 60cm high and approximately 180cm wide. Both the top and bottom of the

wall hanging have suffered damage over time.

It is made of a black woollen ground fabric with the pattern worked in laid and couched work,

the pattern worked in reverse, that is, the design has been left void and the background has the

stitching. The outline couching is done in a thicker thread than the rest of the piece.

There are many surviving examples of

early Scandinavian embroidery,

including 11 (of 18) from Iceland

worked using the laid and couched

technique 1 . The predominant form of

stitching is laid and couched work,

referred to as resfilmur in Iceland.

Figure 2 – Process of Laid and Couched Work or resfilmur

This stitch is created by laying a set of

ground threads, that work from one side

of the pattern to the other. Over these

threads, in the opposite direction, are

laid another set of threads at regular

intervals. These cross threads are then

held down by a series of couching

stitches. The whole process results in

an area completely covered in thread

(see Figure 2 for an illustration of how

this stitch is worked).

1 The remaining 7 extant items (mostly altar frontals) are worked in a variety of techniques including pattern

darning, stem stitch, appliqué and split stitch.

Jane Stockton – Barony of Mordenvale, Kingdom of Lochac – jane_stockton@webcon.net.au

The predominant materials used in Icelandic

embroidery of the time were wool thread on

wool or linen ground fabrics. Wool

materials (both thread and ground fabric)

tended to be of domestic manufacture while

linen was usually imported. Very little use is

made of silk thread, even in items for

ecclesiastical use. Wool thread was used

most extensively, even when working

stitches such as cross stitch and straight

darning ( glitsaumur ).

Figure 3 – This 16 th Century altar frontal from

Draflastadir Church in northern Iceland shows

resfilmur used to cover the entire linen ground in

wool thread.

Another characteristic of Icelandic

embroidery, especially resfilmur is the

practice of completely covering the ground

fabric with stitching. In the most famous laid

and couched embroidery, the Bayeux

Tapestry, on the figures and other design

elements are worked, the the linen ground

being left plain.

Pattern

Rather than recreate the entire piece (which due to

its size would have taken too long and not been of

practical use), I chose to use one roundel 2 as the

basis for my design, which would then become a

cushion 3 . Because I was using only one roundel, I

had to adapt the pattern. I dropped the inter-linking

ring at each side that joined each of the roundels

together. I added a repeating foliate border. This

pattern was taken from the top of the wall hanging.

Although the pattern is partially missing, I feel I

was able to extrapolate with a fair amount of

accuracy from what was there originally 4 .

Materials and Techniques

Figure 4 – Design for cushion cover

I used a black wool/poly blend fabric as my ground material (I was unable to get 100% wool

fabric). I used DMC Tapestry wool in white for the ground threads and DMC Medici wool as

the couching threads. It was usual at the time for a thicker wool to be used as the base thread

and a thinner wool for the couching, so I have used the same technique. The pattern was first

outlined in the thicker thread using basic surface couching. The background was then laid with

the thick tapestry wool and this was then couched down with the medici wool.

For the construction of the cushion itself I looked at examples from before and after the period

of the extant piece used as the basis for this project. There is a surviving cushion/pillow cover

from the excavations at Mammen in Denmark which gives some idea of general construction

2 p. 259 Bridgman, H and Drury, E “Needlework: An Illustrated History”, (New York: Paddington Press, 1978)

3 I chose a cushion because it is both practical and also something that was commonly found in all homes

throughout most of the Medieval and Renaissance period before the advent of upholstered furniture.

4 This repeating foliate design is also seen in several other surviving pieces from this area, from both before and

after the time of this example.

Jane Stockton – Barony of Mordenvale, Kingdom of Lochac – jane_stockton@webcon.net.au

of a cushion/pillow. Although this grave find is from several centuries earlier, the basic

concept of a cushion or pillow has not changed greatly in the last thousand years.

The example from Mammen is basically two squares sewn together 5 with seams decorated with

a fishbone or herringbone stitch. Since there are other design elements from Mammen that are

similar to the wall hanging I have used as inspiration 6 , I decided to use the basic construction

and decorative features found at Mammen to guide my construction of the cushion. As such,

after sewing the cover edges together I oversewed the seams with herringbone stitch (a practice

used before and after the making of the original 14 th Century wallhanging).

For reasons of practicality, I have made up my project as a removable cover rather than

something that is permanently closed. I have used a flap closure to keep the cushion insert in

place. While I don’t have any documentation for this as a practice used at the time, it is one

used in present times in Scandinavia. 7

Reflective Notes

When I do this sort of work again, I would try to get slightly thinner wool for the base threads.

While the tapestry wool gave a good basis, I found it a little too thick to work constantly

through the wool ground fabric.

Also, because I’ve never done this sort of thing before, I think I followed the printed

instructions too literally. In most diagrams that explain this type of work, it shows the couching

thread that holds the base threads down as going in between the base threads. I found that this

caused the ground fabric to show through the gap this created quite a bit. Next time, I might try

putting the couching threads through the base threads, which will hopefully fix the gaping

problem.

Figure 5 – Completed Cushion

5 The Mammen cushion is actually a square with the two ends cut in slightly with wedges at the side but still

roughly a square.

6 The acanthus-inspired border pattern I extrapolated from the original piece is extremely similar to the twisting

vine design found on articles at Mammen, which in turn seem to have been influenced by both Byzantine and

Anglo-Saxon designs.

7 There is a type of cushion called agedynor or travel cushion that uses an envelope slip to cover the insert. This

information was provided via email by Her Excellency Marienna Jensdatter, Baroness Ildhafn.

Jane Stockton – Barony of Mordenvale, Kingdom of Lochac – jane_stockton@webcon.net.au

Bibliography

Bridgeman, Harriet; and Drury, Elizabeth. (eds). – “Needlework, an Illustrated History” ,

(London: Paddington Press, 1978)

Geijer, Agnes. “Textiles and Textile Crafts in Scandinavian Countries” in A History of Textile

Art, (Pasold Research Fund in association with Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1979)

Gostelow, Mary. - “A World of Embroidery” , (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975)

Gudjonsson, Elsa. "Icelandic Mediaeval Embroidery Terms and Techniques" in Veronika

Gervers, ed., Studies in Textile History: In Memory of Harold B. Burnham , pp. 133-143.

Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1977

Gudjonsson, Elsa. “Islandske Broderier og Broderersker I Middelalderen” in Förändringar I

kvinnors villkor under medeltiden Uppstser framlagda vid ett kvinnohistoriskt symposium I

Skálholt, Island, 22.-25. Juni 1981 (Reykjavík: Rit Sagnfrædistofnuar 9, 1983)

Østergård, Else. “Textilfragmenterne fra Mammengraven“ in Mammen: Grav, Kunst og

Samfund i Vikingetid , edited by Mette Iversen (Moesgard: Jysk Arkeologisk Selskab, 1991)

Schuette, Marie and Müller-Christensen, Sigrid. “The Art of Embroidery” (London: Thames

and Hudson, 1964)

Stanisland, Kay. – “Medieval Craftsmen: Embroiderers”. (London: British Museum Press,

1991).

Priest-Dorman, Carolyn. “Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs” 1997

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikembroid.html accessed 26/12/2003

Credits

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their assistance with this

project:

Her Excellency Marienna Jensdatter, Baroness Ildhafn for her translation of articles

(from the Danish) concerning the extant piece this project is based on.

Lady Ragnvæigr Snorrasdottir (of the Kingdom of Drachenwald) for providing me with

a copy of an article concerning the textile finds at Mammen.

Poul Grinder-Hansen, Museumsinspektør, Nationalmuseet Danske for providing an

article concerning medieval Icelandic embroidery and also a copy of the catalogue

record for the original wall hanging.

Jane Stockton – Barony of Mordenvale, Kingdom of Lochac – jane_stockton@webcon.net.au

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