UPDATE: An easy-to-print PDF page of this pattern is now available at the Embroidery Patterns link, above.
Still crunching along on my strawberries band on the Clarke’s Law sampler. But last night I stumbled across this simple and sweet little pattern while web-walking through various museums’ on line collections, and I had to graph it up.
This chart was inspired by a photo detail shot of a coif and forehead cloth in the Manchester Art Gallery’s collection (thanks to Needleprint for calling my attention to their website). If you head over to the Manchester Art Gallery website and search on item 2003.63/2 you’ll find it. The photo itself is copyright and can’t be reproduced here.
The description cites the original as being linen, embroidered with silk, with the stitching being worked in back, buttonhole and knot stitches. It also notes that the original was worked on the diagonal. I particularly liked the one unit offset in the repeat arrangement of the sprigs. It brings life and movement what might otherwise be a very static pattern.
It’s unclear in the original where the stitches cited are placed. From the photo it looks like little accent dot to the lower right of each flower is a group of four knot stitches as shown in the upper row of my charted repeat. The holes in the cloth where the stitches have eroded seem to support this (if the dots were formed by straight stitches, there would be a fifth stitching hole in the center of the dot unit). Still, I present an alternate interpretation in the lower row, using a group of 8 straight stitches in a diamond shape to define the dot unit. This pattern would also look nifty if spangles were sewn on in place of either the knots or the straight stitch diamonds.
Enjoy!
String-Or-Nothing 