The Water

So I have been making waves (literally -- figuratively? Visually). I decided to use couching for the infill of the water, mostly because the directionality and undulation of each wave can be conveyed using this stitch, but also because each stitch should catch the light and one can see the glint and glitter of these myriad pinnacles aglow -- much like the refracted patterning that freckles the surface of the water. Moreover, this stitch provides the smoothest blending of shades, which helps to create flow.

First I connected each of my waves using a slightly lighter shade of blue. This allowed me to define the contours of each wave, providing a trajectory for the ensuing rows. Gradually, I filled in the gradients of each wave from the top. from the top. Next I added a dash of white to form the reflection of the moon (whose symbolism during the Elizabethan era I will get into later) I intend to work up in the corner of the piece. Next -- more couching.



Unsurprisingly, I found out that this is a technique that has not ultimately been preferred by 16th  and 17th century ladies for reasons relating to time and effort. By far and away, this is the easiest stitch to lay -- but it is the greatest of tediums to fill in large swaths of fabric. As textile curator George Wingfield Digby has noted in his discussion of Elizabethan embroidery, "the techniques which depend rather exclusively on the use of metal thread and couching are hard on the hands of the worker and uninviting to the amateur, who could always find much more agreeable forms of embroidery with which to be occupied" -- in fact, Digby even describes the way in which a minimal use of couching is often an indicator of domestic, as opposed to professional, embroidery (1963:34). I suppose that all sounds fairly reasonable -- if you're getting paid for your efforts, maybe you don't mind couching as much -- let's hope that you're being paid by the hour. Perhaps this speaks to my level of boredom (or my proficiency at this stitch and this stitch only).

Finally, my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to try a new stitch, so I raced ahead of myself (there's plenty of time to finish couching in these waves yet!) and furnished one wave with a tuft of French knots. The outcome was rather pleasing  -- although I was unhappy with the shading from the bottom I had done, so I plucked that out (lesson learned -- let the bulk of the wave be teal and not blue) but kept the waves.

So. Couching. :/

 But French knots so yay! :D

Sources Cited

Digby, George Wingfield
1963 Elizabethan Embroidery. London, England: Faber and Faber Ltd.