Category: Ebook

Vintage Fallahi embroidery from Sinai

16/1/2023

Apart from my passion for medieval goldwork embroidery, I am also interested in all kinds of folk embroidery. I particularly like the geometric cross-stitch patterns of Fallahi embroidery found in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Palestine. A couple of years ago, I bought my first vintage Bedouin dress from Egypt and last year, I bought a second one from the same source:). I love dissecting these dresses and their very colourful patterns! And since I was without a proper internet connection for so long after we moved house in November, transcribing the cross-stitch patterns was one of the few things I could do as the software does not require an internet connection. So, let's unravel the mystery of another vintage Bedouin dress!

Front of the vintage Bedouin dress

Back of the vintage Bedouin dress

The dress, or thob, is 130 cm long and measures 125 cm across the arms. The dress originates in the Sinai (Egypt) and was once worn by an adult Bedouin woman. The satin stitched dark-blue hem differentiates the dress from Palestinian village dresses that do not sport such a hem. The Bedouin travelling lifestyle and the fact that this geographical area has seen a lot of political upheavals makes attributing precise provenance to the dress impossible. Over time, too much mixing has happened. However, certain characteristics do point to the Western part of the Northern Sinai, possibly Al-Qantara: wide neck opening, the use of many bright colours in simple geometric patterns of which some are based on the carnation.

Worn cuff area of the vintage Bedouin dress.

The dress has been patched many times. Especially in the cuff area. These dresses took a long time to decorate and were thus highly valued. Instead of throwing them away when they were worn, they were repeatedly patched. Recycling, upcycling and mending are usually the norm in pre-industrial societies.

Remains of the white waste canvas used to do counted cross-stitch on a non-counted fabric.

As most of you know, embroidering on black fabric is really hard. Especially for older eyes :). Therefore, the Bedouin women tacked a piece of waste canvas onto the black cotton satin or polyester fabric. In the picture above, you can see a few white canvas threads left in the embroidery.

Needle booklet and biscornu

The cross-stitch patterns and bright colour combinations found on the vintage Bedouin dress are perfect for decorating needle booklets, pincushions and the like. I used three of the five patterns found on the dress to make a small needle booklet and a cute biscornu. For the stitching, I matched the original floss colours to the closest DMC stranded cotton equivalent. My fabric is a piece of 40 ct natural coloured Zweigart linen (I dyed some black in my washing machine).

You can find a 39-page eBook with more pictures and all embroidery charts of the five geometric patterns, three loose elements and a decorative border in my webshop. Due to the fact that I am legally forbidden to sell to UK residents (with the exception of Northern Ireland), the eBook is not a direct download. However, after receiving your order, I will try to send it to you via WeTransfer as quickly as possible. Please keep in mind that I might be in a very different time zone than you are; I do tend to sleep from time to time :). When you decide to embroider the patterns from the eBook, please share your endeavours on Mastodon!

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Silken Saver Packs

18/6/2018

6 Comments

Upon request, I have included the original sampler in my ebook on the early 17th century silk embroidered linen vestments from Tyrol. And to celebrate the release of my ebook 2.0, so to speak, I have put together some great saver packs!

There is the flower sampler saver pack which includes the ebook and all the materials to make your own flower sampler with all 8 flowers.

Then there is the popular Carnation saver pack which includes the ebook and all the materials to stitch your own Carnation. The Campanula saver pack includes the ebook and all the materials to splash out on your own copy of the Campanula! And last but not least, the Tudor Rose saver pack with the ebook and all the materials to make your own version of this timeless classic.

The ebook is a 2-part PDF download for which I will send you a link. The material packs ship for only €3,70 each world-wide. I am also offering two workshops at my studio in Bad Bayersoien where you can stitch a flower of your choice under my tuition. In short: more than enough opportunities to learn this fascinating and beautiful historical silk embroidery technique from Tyrol!

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Ebook finished and a winner!

11/6/2018

10 Comments

Wow, thank you so much for all who entered my give-away! Seventy comments were left on last week's blog post. The flower with the most votes turned out to be the Carnation, followed by Campanula and Tudor Rose. So glad I asked my blog readers for their favourites as I had never thought that the humble Carnation would win. But, more importantly, who won the give-away and will be the proud owner of a copy of the ebook on 'Early 17th century linen vestments from Tyrol: Historical background, where to find and instructions' and the kit of her choice? Drumroll please!

And the winner is: Jackie Ayres who voted for Viola. Congratulations!

Carnation embroidered linen vestments from Tyrol

Campanula embroidered linen vestments from Tyrol

Tudor Rose embroidered linen vestments from Tyrol

If you weren't the lucky winner, don't fret! You'll find my new ebook for sale in my webshop. One Euro of each sold ebook will be donated to the Museum in Brixen where the chasuble that inspired me to this ebook is housed. You will also find embroidery kits for the Carnation, Campanula and Tudor Rose there.

So what's in the ebook? Besides the historical background on the silk embroidered linen vestments from Tyrol, you'll find a list with museums where you can find these gorgeous pieces of embroidery. In the second part of the ebook, you'll find the eight flowers of the Brixen chasuble as a line drawing and with instructions so that you can stich your own. Furthermore, there's instructions on materials used, stitches used (three youtube videos) and where to find the materials used. Not fond of silks? No worries. The line drawings can be used for other types of surface embroidery too! How about using them in a crewel piece? Or go wild with stranded cotton and all sorts of filling stitches. Anything goes as long as you are having fun with needle, thread and my ebook!

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Historical Embroidery News...

Vintage Fallahi embroidery from Sinai

Silken Saver Packs

Ebook finished and a winner!

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