The Nightcap and Horse Trading
Tricia writes tonight:
To answer the questions posed by Jill’s blog last night, here is the Glittering Nightcap. Remember back when I wrote about the development of Gilt Sylke Twist and mentioned “horse trading’? Well the Nightcap was part of that deal. To make sure that we could get the thread made, I offered to design a teaching piece and several kits/magazine projects that would use the thread so the volume of thread would be enough to get it off the ground. The Nightcap is the first of these projects. It used every one of the eight colors made (that is the seven for the jacket and a purple). It was taught three weeks ago at A Gathering of Embroiderers in Williamsburg. Thirty lucky and trusting ladies took the class and were able to get some gilt sylke twist. I say trusting because they all signed up for the class sight unseen as the project was finished only a few days ahead of time. Normally I don’t cut it so tight, but since the thread didn’t come until a month ahead, I had to embroider around the clock to get it done.
The nightcap is about 50% sized and fits over a needlework tools etui pyramid made from silk. It was fun to see the gold thread added to the gilt sylke twist and see how they play off each other. I add a few extra fun pictures here of a ‘family member’ wearing the cap before the last side seam was finished. My two sons also wore it to model for mommy. These embroideries were originally stitched with these threads to ‘move’ and so it was fun to see how they looked when worn.
So if you hear a rumor that ’someone’ has some GST, you know how. I was honoring my horse trading agreement!
Tricia
Jill here. Not only did Tricia use all the colors of GST, she also twisted two colors of thread together to transition between green and yellow in some of the leaves. This project is just too beautiful.
Tags: , gilt sylke twist, nightcap, tiger, Tricia
March 4th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
That is so beautiful Tricia. Where will the magazine projects / kits be available from - do you know yet? I would love to get one. Also do you still have the sample kits available to order and could you ship to the UK (obviously I will pay all costs)?
Thanks
Alison
March 4th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Alison - Sample kits will be available for a long time. You need to email Kathy at kroncarati@plimoth.org for a sample kit. We are happy to ship to England - home of this wonderful embroidery! Even if you can’t make it across the sea to embroider, you can contribute to the project by donating by buying the kit and sending back your sample to be used in the display to allow the public to see and touch the embroidery closer.
I can’t tell where the first project will appear as that is being finalized, when the editor is comfortable promoting the project, I will be happy to mention it on the blog.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Absolutely stunning work!
March 5th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I was one of the thirty who had the opportunity to take the class–and it was a delight! For those of us who have worked on the jacket, it’s almost like having a little bit of the jacket at home with us. I was in the first group, before the thread was here for the jacket, so it was doubly sweet to have the opportunity to finally use it.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Beautiful cap, Tricia! I’ll be keeping my eye out for the release of the kit / pattern / etc. It is stunning.
I’m afraid I may have committed a faux pas… A friend who attended the class in Williamsburg sent me a snippet of the GST. I blogged about it - all positive, I assure you! If I wasn’t supposed to, please accept my apologies.
I’m anguishing over whether to test stitching with it and risk losing my five inches!
I have never seen such a beautiful thread! It surprised me that it was so fine, size-wise, but I like it even better for that. I’ve had many readers e-mail me and comment on the GST. Among some of them, there have been some expressions of “shock” about the rumored price of it (apparently @ $25 for a 35 meter spool), but I try to set them straight! Think about it:
People pay anywhere from $8 - $40 for a YARD of Mokuba ribbon (crazy).
If you bought 7 skeins of 5-meter Soie d’Alger (35 meters), you would pay retail at least $22.75. It’s rare to find it cheaper than $3.25 in retail shops.
35 meters of Soie Ovale would cost a person around $10… then you have to add the gold. For a gold this fine (as far as the size goes), imagine real Japanese gold, size 1 (perhaps even smaller)…. and you’d have to pay about $25 - $30 for that amount. But you wouldn’t come close to a product like the GST! The gold is stiffer than Japanese gold - it’s a tiny fine wire… the average person out here couldn’t find anything suitable to “hand make” this thread.
People buy Caron Collection Rachelette (a man-made, nylon thickish thing with a fake gold cord running through it)… they pay on average $3.50 for 5 meters - so, 35 meters would be $24.50. There are certainly fewer applications for Rachelette than for the GST.
My point is this: the rumored retail cost of the GST is worth it. 35 meters of thread goes a long way. This is a unique, gorgeous thread that will withstand the test time, unlike many threads on the market today. Someday, people will be looking back on our age saying, “Wow, look at this thread! They retained (or revived) some of the beauty of ages past… they obviously had good taste.”
I’m not sure they’ll say the same thing about Rachelette. But they will say it about the GST. Embroiderers today will buy this thread! I am sure the horse trading will pay off.
There I go again. I think I’ve outstayed my welcome. Tricia and crew - thank you for your amazing and wonderful work!
March 5th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
How lovely! Even though I have no project that really *needs* this stuff, I find myself craving it so bad…. Congrats on getting this out there!
March 6th, 2008 at 9:17 am
It was such a treat to see the cap in progress, and now the final product; Stunning! (and the model is cute too
). Thanks so much for sharing. I’m always fascinated by your posts on thread analysis Tricia, keep them coming please!
March 6th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I can’t wait to see and try this thread. A friend loaned me a hat he recently purchased. I believe it’s from India (no tags) and not too old (no wear). It uses a cotton thread twisted with a metal wire and couched down and handmade spangles. I posted a couple of photos on my blog, http://moonsilk-stitches.blogspot.com/2008/03/elephant-hat.html. The similarities to your recreation work really struck me.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Marjorie -
The blog link didn’t work. I would love to see these photos!
Tricia
March 7th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Tricia,
Take the . (period) off the end of the link and reload the page and you’ll see a wonderful cap with elephants on it!
Robbin
March 10th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Sorry about that. Try this: http://moonsilk-stitches.blogspot.com/2008/03/elephant-hat.html
From the comments it appears that it’s Thai. Marjorie