Stitch Your Peas!
Tricia wrote this post for us:
Today we excitedly added peas to one of the pods that are on the jacket to make the instruction sheets. The bottom of the pod is stitched in silk detached buttonhole and then two gold spider web peas are added on top. Here you can see me practicing the spider web pea in a corner to try to get the right size. With the spider web stitch using a thick thread, you need to make the legs really long to end up with a smaller circle. I had to try it a couple of times to get the right size. The peas looked really, really bright on the silk. We had alot of squealing in the room as passersby saw the peas. Very cute. 
We had a question from a curator the other day as to why we were stitching the gold last and not first. Apparently there is an unfinished piece in their collection that has only gold on it. Having not seen the piece, I can’t comment on that piece. I can comment on this jacket and why we are working in that order, along with many other pieces I have viewed. There are several clues that lead us to the ‘gold last’ argument. First, the leaves and peas all have gold worked directly on top of the silk. Second, almost every vine end or calyx (as in the foxglove or peas) overlaps the 
silk work, showing that it had been done last. Another point from experience – filament silk catches on raised gold stitches so much that it becomes impossible to work. And we have already shown that much of the silk worked on the original was hand twisted filament in a medium – loose twist, which would have caught on the gold plaited braid as each buttonhole was worked. Just wanted to document our thinking process for those who may have wondered.
Tricia
blog as documentation helps us, too, when we later try to reconstruct the decision-making process jmh
Tags: gold, motifs, pea pods, peas, silk, spider web stitch, Tricia
August 8th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I just have to say that I was lucky to get to see the goldwork that Tricia (and Wendy) have done this week and the sparkle in person is just gorgeous. And yes, after all of the braid and gold the pailettes will be added on top. Put on some lace and in the right light this jacket will blind people. (Okay, as an aside — there is still work to be done on the jacket and all of the bling will make any differences in stitching unnoticed, so please come stitch!).
I was lucky to be stitching today, even if I didn’t get to work with gold. I finished up several bits and pieces and it’s nice to see things coming along. Just adding final touches to pieces makes it feel like progress is being made. I did the last bit of silk work on the piece where the braid is started and just seeing the gold under my light was wonderful.
I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done!
August 8th, 2008 at 7:54 am
The milestones keep rushing by, so lovely when it all falls in place
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And what type of item was the curator asking about? Researching caps and coifs I’ve noticed there are several examples of goldwork and black silk embroidery where the gold looks very well done, and the black silk more amateurish (the cap in the MFA is an example). We know caps and coifs could be purchased with the designs already drawn on them, perhaps they could also have been purchased with the expensive goldwork pre-done for the home embroiderer?