Periodicity- Research Applied. A Tudor Gentleman's Blackworked Shirt

Time for a new project. Inspiration came in the form of this painting - a beautifully blackworked shirt showing brilliantly against the gentleman's red suit. Himself also likes red...
The shirt design was, of course, simple (see? You only have to tell me 50 times...) The beauty lies in the details - in this case, in the embroidery. As the shirt is meant especially for Himself, I left off the ruffles (he will wear any amount of embroidery, but draws the line at flounces) and designed for simple collar and cuffs instead. I wanted a very dense, dark look, and I wanted to incorporate a cinquefoil, the main charge of Himself's device.

I began with the cinquefoil, and what was originally a plain vine; then filled in the empty space with the trefoil leaf. Next I wanted a very strong outline; I started with a simple chain and tinkered with it, expanding some of the links until I got a visual rhythm that was pleasing to my eye. Of course, my own personal OCD couldn't leave it at that - I went back and changed the original vine to a chain as well.

Next I had to work out the "turn" at the bottom of the front opening - it came to me surprisingly quickly, and I was really pleased with the results. Finally, because of the different sizes of the chain "links", the thread count of the fabric had to be determined, the design was adjusted, and every stitch of the embroidery was charted out ready to work.
Since this was to be an entry into our Kingdom Arts and Sciences competition, I wrote up a short historical documentation (and here I thought I was past homework and writing essays!) before setting to work.




The shirt itself is very simple, pure white linen and twisted black silk...










The embroidery stands out, sharp and dark....


And for one year, I had the honor of being the Outlands Champion of Arts and Sciences ....