Tricia Wilson Nguyen of Thistle Threads
Eve and the Garden of Eden Etui
In the 17th century, it became vogue to cover a valuable psalm book, Bible, or other devotional with an embroidered cover. They were equally made by individuals for their own use or by professional embroiderers by special order. Many featured the liberal use of gold threads and other valuable embellishments such as small freshwater pearls. Often these covers featured coats of arms and personal or religious iconography in their design.
This project, a small box (about 6" x 4") which is a faux binding, is intended to be an interpretation that brings a few new materials back into use. The top “cover” can be folded back to place objects in the “book,” making it an ideal etui for your needlework tools. The front and back designs contain a cartouche with Adam and Eve at the apple tree being tempted by the serpent. The flora and fauna of the Garden of Eden surround the cartouche and wind around the faux binding. The majority of the embroidery is worked in counted tent stitch in silk, with accents in gold and silver threads. The class will focus on the use of a variety of specialty reproduction threads from the 17th century.
Threads such as silk gimp, a silk-cored thread wrapped with silk to make a smooth cord, crenulated gold plate, and a variety of gold purls and silk purls will be couched down on the counted work, providing a rich look to the “binding.” Thistle Threads is having new trims fabricated for the class, thus bringing a few new materials back from the past to enhance the period look of the project. Class time will be spent discussing how to handle and couch down these materials to the fabric and how they were manufactured; examining pictures of period pieces to understand the materials, techniques, and objects that inspired the project design; and working on construction techniques for the box and doing a bit of embellishment to the silk fabric to imitate page bindings. The project is designed to provide a good introduction to gold threads to the newcomer as well as new materials to work with for the advanced.
To follow Tricia’s journey of seeking out and working to create these new materials for the Garden of Etui project, visit her blog www.thistle-threads.com/blog. She will also have photos of the project in progress, along with photos of the reproduction silk gilt and metallic fibers for the projects.
Project Photos: In Progress–Etui Front and Spine
Project Photos: In Progress–Etui Details
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