Hand & Lock’s Expert Embroidery Guide: Throughout this film, many references have been made to various embroidery techniques & processes. Below, the Hand & Lock team have put together this helpful guide to recap on each. Each process chosen for this project was carefully considered and utilised to replicate the 18th century waistcoat design chosen by Bernadette and her team, as closely as possible. ‘Hand Guided’ is a form of machine embroidery that requires a person to physically control the machine, and manually manoeuvre the fabric under the needle as the machine sews, creating fluid embroidered shapes. The beauty of hand guided, is that it has an organic aesthetic and often the embroidery artists individual style is evident in the work. ‘Digital Machine embroidery’ is a modern, computerised technique which requires expertise with both digital embroidery design softwares and complex machinery. Digital embroidery must be carefully designed and rigorously prepared to ensure a successful outcome where the two elements work seamlessly together. Experienced digital embroidery designers are able to manipulate their stitch files to mimic the effects of hand guided or hand embroidered stitching. ‘Hand Embroidery’ is an umbrella term that covers many of the highly specialised techniques mentioned, all of which are created completely by hand. These include: ‘Goldwork’ is the ancient art of highly decorative embroidery using metal bullion wires. Bullion wires are tightly wound metal springs that come in long lengths. It is another umbrella term that has many more specific techniques within it. The main Goldwork techniques we have used in this project are: ‘Cutwork’- is a process where bullion is cut down to size and the embroiderer can use it like a 'flexible bead', passing their needle and thread down the centre of the spring to stitch it onto the fabric. ‘Essing’- is a technique where the bullion wire is manipulated by the embroiderer, stitching it down at angles to create curved shapes. ‘Passing’ - is a thick goldwork thread made of a cotton core wrapped in metal. It can be used like a normal thread and stitched through the fabric, or it can be worked only on the surface and 'couched' down. 'Couching': is the method of laying materials on the surface of your fabric, and stitching over them to attach them down. 'Embellishment': refers to the application of beads and sequins. 'Silk shading': uses colourful silk or cotton threads, in long and short stitches to create blending. You can try all of these hand embroidery techniques for yourself with the Hand & Lock X Bernadette Banner Embroidery Kit. The kit includes a panel of pre- machine embroidered fabric for you to work on top of! If you would like to find out more about Hand & Lock, including their bespoke embroidery services, ready made products, and worldwide embroidery classes, please visit: handembroidery.com/
You have made me so deliriously happy with the project in this episode! The 18th century is my all time favourite, and I sewed both my wedding gown and three bridesmaids gowns in a mid 18th century Scottish style. I'm obsessed with both my machine embroidery and hand stitching goldwork. You have put all my special interests into one episode, thank you! It is my dream to have access to a multi needle machine with a larger hoop. I'd love to know how much the cost for their digitization from the photo, and stitching it out turned out to be.
Your accent is slowly morphing into an English one 😊 even tho you’ve always spoken beautifully, it’s becoming much more English now. I’m no dialect expert, but my mom and her side of the family are American and my dads side are from the south of England, and I live in Ireland, so apparently my mongrel accent (I was raised either one side of the pond or the other for 18 years) is now Irish, which I don’t mind because I’m too English to pass as an American when I’m over in PA, and I’m too American to pass as English when I was in England 😂
Embroidery played a big role in organ transplants. Alexis Carrel, the French doctor on who first developed the ability to sew veins together went to the embroiderers and spent along time learning many of the different tiny stitches and practicing till he was able to do several hundred stitches on a small piece of cloth then he moved to working on animal tissue.
That's so cool! Mentally saving this for my "art and STEM overlap and inform each other" arguments :D (currently my go-to is architecture and civil engineering being like functional art and creativity)
My spouse is an obstetrician/gynecologist, and when he was in residency, I taught him how to cross stitch. He does it more than I do now, and I have heard through various people (friends who have had him as their physician and told me of their own volition about being treated by him) that his surgical stitches are very neat.
Currently a first semester vet student. When I was in undergrad and part of the pre-vet club, I attended a suture practice lab, where the current vet students taught the pre-vets how to do suture stitches. I have been doing cosplay and crafting for over 15 years (mostly hand-sewing, when I needed to sew anything), and I already knew most of the stitches, if by another name. Now that I'm in vet school, I've noticed many of the upper semester students practicing their suturing skills by suturing into fabric that's pulled taught in an embroidery hoop. Suturing is just hand-sewing with tools as an extension of your hands. When I was working as a vet tech, I assisted in many spays and neuters. One was a great dane puppy who was getting spayed and a gastropexy at the same time--which is when the vet sutures the outer wall of the stomach to the inner abdominal wall, so that the stomach doesn't flip over, which can happen in large and giant breed dogs and is life-threatening--and I noticed that the technique the doctor used was essentially just an invisible seam between the two tissue walls.
I almost cried when Singh said "everything I am is because of them." That's genuinely so beautiful to have a craft handed down through SO MANY generations and to have that knowledge essentially be sacred. So many different techniques discovered through the passing of the craft and tradition being perfected over the years and knowing this knowledge is only given because hundreds of years ago someone decided to pick this up and pass it on... All the way to him. That's so incredible, I can't help but tear up at that kind of magic.
The Japanese have a saying for passing down knowledge from generation to generation, they call it 'a thousand year experience'. 'Do they know what to do? 'Oh yes, they have a thousand years' experience.'
£6 -8k seems extremely reasonable considering the amount of work involved and the materials, especially when you consider what a modern 'designer' creation might cost.
After watching this I feel that this is way beyond what modern 'designers' will ever get to... Lots of respect to all the craftspeople out there who make these works of art possible.
This was fascinating to watch! I have sewn for 65 years. A couple of tips to help the "burn" at the base of your neck at the back that we get from looking down at a project for hours, and the pain in the wrists after hours of intense needlework. #1- go to a bowling alley and buy a pro bowler's wrist guard. These are less $ than the "medical supports" and work much better. They have a metal support inside that helps decrease inflammation. #2- Buy one of the "heating pads" for your shoulders with the jelly-filled kind that can be either heated in a microwave or cooled in the refrigerator. They look like a short cape covering your neck and upper shoulders. Use this cooled if your neck is painful, or warm if you feel tense. #3- Keep a fine grid emory board in your sewing kits with a small salt shaker filled with either baby powder or pure cornstarch. The file will keep nail or rough skin smoother and avoid snagging sheer or silk fabrics & smooth out snags on thread spools. Use the salt shaker of cornstarch to sprinkle hands with to protect work from oils and sweat. Hope this helps somebody in their creations. We must never forget to have a Band-Aid and Neosporin available for any knicks or scratches that may occur after hours of sewing. #4- I always keep a small bottle of lubricating eye drops in my sewing kits to use for eye dryness and strain. These work wonders!! Have FUN ladies! Thank you for the wonderful video
I’m a hand embroiderer and beader. Mostly I embroider denim vest and jackets.. one project will often take nearly a year… I am 67 and have been doing this since I was 15.. Embroidery is a passion of mine.. usually I have several projects in various stages of completion.. My days are filled with music, and creativity..
@@Yidhra23 .. I started by embroidering my own clothes, simple flowers and vines, with a little beading.. in the seventies.. I have embroidered, beaded and sequinsed, some stage clothes for a few musician friends over the years.. At the moment I am making soft sculptures of mushrooms, embroidered, beaded and sequinsed as gifts for my children.. My daughter thinks I should have a gallery.. but…. I just want to sit in my studio listening to music and create whatever I want…. The most popular thing I make are my Christmas ornaments.. They are crocheted and beaded.. I do not do commissions anymore…. I’m nearly 68 and am enjoying being retired..
@@erebuspanda4653 learning to embroider is a wonderful skill and art.. I encourage everyone to find a creative expression.. My 8yr old granddaughter enjoys sitting with me and learning…. She says it’s like magic, that she can make pretty things with needle and thread…. My daughter also enjoys creating beautiful things.. My 12yr old granddaughter has developed her own style now, and loves making accessories for her clothing.. my Eldest grandson enjoys working with papier-mâché….
When my dad was in hospital during WWII, the support staff brought around all kinds of things like magazines, cards, etc. And embroidery supplies. Bored, my dad took up chain stitch. I remember tea towels covered with crazy colored fighter aircraft - and a whole set of dragon pea jackets he did for himself, mom, and their then only child, my sister.
My grandpa also learned to embroider sometime during WWII, and kept it up for the rest of his life. I inherited a small selection of his embroidery floss from my grandma, but being a dumb teen at the time, didn’t keep the little Army-issued pamphlet of stitches I also found in the box, which as an adult, I now regret, because of the history it represented. My grandpa did lovely satin stitching, and although I didn’t know him super well, I do love having that family connection via the hobby.
I love these stories. Embroidery was a big thing for people who grew up around WWII and my great grandmother would pursue the craft for the rest of her life. We have these adorable linen towels for each day of the week, one set with cute animals, the other with people dressed in traditional European garb. I wish we could have more of her work, but I inherited her kit.
I could FEEL the tension when Heathcliff was cutting out the pattern. My heart is always in my throat whenever I cut out any fabric. I can’t imagine doing it on something so precious.
All my life I was taught that any handwork was a "nice hobby", yet I have persisted with my knitting, weaving, sewing, embroidery and others, knowing inside myself it's true worth, especially in these days of fast fashion. How wonderful to see there are still people who also know it's worth and value and appreciate what goes into it. Thanks to Bernadette and her team for these programs! It's validating for so many of us.
I am a self taught hand embroiderer who specializes in silk and metal thread embroidery. This was exquisite to watch. It reminded me of the time I was part of a team of embroiderers replicating the coronation tunic of Roger II of Sicily under an extreme time crunch. I was tasked with the front panel of the bottom border and it took one SOLID month for me to complete. I would embroider from the time I got up until I went to bed, only taking any significant time away from it to cook and eat meals. The ex did the dishes and laundry because I had no time for it. I took only 2 days off during that entire month. It was insane, but the tunic in the end was glorious.
This is better editing than a lot of full budget documentaries I've watched. Its tough getting regular people on camera to tell a story, and do it well. Great work!
As a beadwork artist - one aspect that makes this unimaginable and so valuable - is the repetitive muscle injury that comes from repetitive movement like embroidery. Over days/hours of stitching, your wrist tendons can become injured beyond repair.
@unfeathered It's such a balance. I would bead for hours until I had to wear a brace for weeks to help my tendon heal. I didn't value my wrists until it was difficult to write, clean or do anything with my hands after the injury. But I had to decide - bead a little less and a little slower, or destroy my wrist and never create again.
whenever my family goes back to bangladesh to visit family my mum will spend a good chunk of her time shopping for saris and salwar kameez for herself and me. even mid-range commercially available garments can have exquisite hand embroidery on them, and my mum has many gorgeous pieces with yards and yards of hand embroidered detail. also, we still buy most of our salwaar kameez in pre-embroidered panels! we call them 3 pieces (the body, pants/skirt and the dupatta/scarf) the embroidered materials are taken to a tailor who will cut out the pieces and make up the garment to your size. i consider myself lucky to be exposed to this sort of work from a young age, especially now living in the west and being surrounded by fast fashion. as an adult i've become really interested in textiles and fashion history and part of that is due to this channel and bernadette's unwavering passion, thanks for another fantastic video!
That is so cool! When I was in school, one of my classmates was a Bangladeshi woman who owned an embroidery house and was planning to use her degree to continue expanding the business for her employees. It was a wonderful experience. The work she and her team did was so beautiful. I love your story! Thank you for telling it ❤
I often think about the placement of the buttonholes when making my own. Either embroider around it or use less embroidery in that place etc. This was very scary to look at! OMG!
I remembered your flat used to be landlord white, and now it's library green. The green suits this episode so perfectly and I don't know why it took me so long to realize it's turned green. I'm so happy you collaborated with Hand & Lock and once again with Maayankraj Singh. Mr. Singh always brings such wonderful information that I wished I had learned in history class.
Seeing goldwork fills me with such an unfortunate rage, my mother used to do stunning goldwork embroidery and then her embroidery which she was sending to an exhibit was stolen in the mail. She's never done goldwork since. It takes so much time and patience that I just do not have, but it's lovely hearing more about embroidery in historical fashion.
Dear Lady I am sorry for your loss.You know it was priceless or it would not be worth removing .Years after we are gone ,it will appear and be appreciated,knowing many people will appreciate your mother’s sacrifice!
oh no! That's why I'll never show anything I make, ever. I know someone whose mother hand sewed and showed quilts for years, but had one stolen. It's kind of gross, too, since the people who stole it were likely part of the community and knew the endeavor it was to create. I'm so sorry for your mother. :(
I love that you don't shy away from the subject of colonisation and exploitation, because they have been integral in forming the garment industry into what it is! it's really refreshing and it makes your videos more real and relevant. I think it would feel shallow if you left it out.
I! AM! CRYING! I've been doing machine embroidery (and I started learning hand embroidery recently) for about 20 years and NOT ONCE have I heard someone I know in this industry speak so reverently about what goes into creating embroidery. THANK YOU so much for this video! And for introducing me to Hand & Lock :D Although I suspect my wallet will have reason to not appreciate that part lol
I feel like most people mostly think of logos and badges and patches when you talk about machine embroidery. But there is SOOO much that goes into it. The digital work is very time consuming too.
What happens onscreen at 5:27 is amazing: someone is handling a page of swatches (?), and when they turn it around, its appearance completely changes. In my field we call that a spatially-varying bidirectional reflectance distribution function (SVBRDF), and it happens with materials like wrapping paper and colored foil, but to try to make something of it deliberately must be wild.
In fabric it's called "changeant" or "two tone" fabric. And it requires all the pattern pieces to be cut in the same direction, or else you get one panel of your garment that is colour A while the rest is colour B, and vice versa. Of course, you can play with it by cutting different pieces mirrored or on the bias etc.
Bernadette, have you ever given Sashiko a glance? It's a Japanese sewing/embroidery craft that looks incredibly relaxing (probably once you've sold your soul to the goddess of needlework...)
Look for a video from The Stitchery on sashiko! She spent a good year and a half learning and practicing it. It's not a comprehensive video, but it's a great place to start!
Thank you so much, Bernadette, for this brilliant video. My sewing teacher was also the last Belgian embroideress using gold and silver thread. She gave me an initiation in embroidery, using 18th century technics. It completely changed my vision of what clothes could be. Your video reminded me of her. It's very interressant to see the combination of traditional techniques and modern technology. Obviously, creating a 18th century waist coat was and still is a work of colab. Seeing so many talents working together is joyful to me. Thank you again ! ❤ Christophe from Belgium.
I am 70 and am completely enamored with these types of videos you provide! I've been embroidering for over 65 years but NOTHING is even close to this! ❤
I am 71 and started when I was 15 with my grandma's old collection of threads in an old plastic box. lol It dosen't seem that long ago and at the same time seems ages ago. I agree with you. This is way beyond what I have ever done. This video is wondersful.
I can only imagine what the spangles and sequins would look like under candlelight. people must have looked like they were glowing at late night parties in their fancy dress.
I really enjoyed this video. The comment that 18th century embroiders were limited by the daylight reminded me of a scene from one of the Little House books. Twilight came and Ma, Laura & Carrie had to put away their knitting and sewing, but Mary, being blind, didn't have to because whether there was daylight or not didn't affect her. I'm reading the little house books to my niece.
Mary being blind and still doing needlework is one of the things I remember the most about Little House on the Prairie books. I always wondered how she would manage learning to do needlework without seeing it
@@LittleDizzyGirl i imagine without vision the tactile senses can become very accurate with practice. I've tried hemming in the dark before, which actually wasn't too hard, since it was already pinned down and so I could feel the straight edge with my fingers and follow along the line. but I did stab myself several times!! lol
@@LittleDizzyGirl Mary & Laura had learned to sew when they were very young so it was probably lot of muscle memory for Mary after she went blind when she was a young teenager. Laura writes that Mary always had a very good memory, she impressed her Sunday school teacher at the blind institute at how many Bible verses she'd memorized. That's in both the novel and Laura's autobiography that was finally published several years ago, complete with editor notes about almost everything. Including the first black person they, Laura & Mary ever saw, the doctor who treated the family for malaria, events that happened to a 2 or 3 child being remembered by an adult. Both her parents and Mary had passed by the time she started writing her bio, mainly for her daughter but for daughter to hopefully get punished. Carrie was either not born yet or was a newborn, she was actually born in Indian Territory (Kansas or Oklahoma I'm not sure) so she wouldn't have any memories of living there since they left when she was a few months old. If you love the little house books, you'd love Prairie Girl her autobiography. Some of her life was definitely not kid friendly. It ends with her marriage to almanzo, who she called Manly and he called Bess because his oldest sister ( not in the novels) was also named Laura & Manly thought it would be too confusing to have his sister and his girlfriend, eventually his wife by the same name
This is a lovely illustration of how much of a communal effort making a single item of clothing really is. Culturally we're taught about how we're supposed to be Independent and Self-Sufficient, and this is distilled in people who want to live off the grid (some with... better intentions than others). To a lesser extreme, and motivated I'm sure primarily by curiosity, every now and then I see someone on RUclips showing how they've made their own linen from seed to thread (...I don't *think* I've yet seen anyone who's grown/retted/spun enough to weave it into cloth) and it *is* fascinating to watch, and I'm as much LEARN ALL THE THINGS!!! as the next person... but realistically we can't be *experts* in all the things so *we need other people*. And seeing so many people come together for such an amazing project is just as beautiful as the final piece.
I couldn't agree more. It's such a loss to us as individuals and to our sense of community, to be reliant on a village/town/community is how we all thrive and have everything we need. I love that Bernadette offers us a glimpse into how that used to play out and the things that can be made with working together.
ugh i absolutely love 18th century embroidery. one of my fav waistcoats had entire rural farming scenes along the buttons interspersed with little bees and butterflies!!
to everyone asking, i saw this waistcoat on display at Skaill House in the Orkney islands!! I cant find any pictures of it online :(( i dont think theyve digitised the collection
Here to vouch that hand stitch embroidery takes FOREVER! I make texture art and embroidery is one of my favorite crafts because of all the different stitches/knots that you can use. I’m planning on designing and embroidering my wedding dress 😅 pray for my hands y’all… and my sanity lol
I was so happy to see Heathcliff got to go to L&H with you! New Human! Greetings Mia, love your ink! The cutting stress as Heathcliff started was Real. The button hole chisel nearly broke my soul. Beautiful work all round, thank you for sharing!
3:06 This video is reminding me of the criticism of what Alia Bhatt wore to the Met Gala, so many people (youtube fashion critics who say they know about fashion history but barely even know anything about it from before say the early 1900s) were saying she wasn't going on theme, and I was so confused, because she mentioned Indian handiwork and craftwork that has been used for centuries and was starting to die out and how they tried to use a lot of it in her sari, like so much of the designs of embroidery and beading that we think of when we think of European fashion actually came from India
oh my goodness! The way the sequins sparkled at the end was like the cherry on top. I'm also glad you were able to include the cause of the riff between India and Britain in that part of history. Greed, not art, indeed killed the men. This was such an interesting documentary about embroidery! Well done!
There is something so genuinely touching about looking at the comment sections on these videos and seeing how many different types of people they attract 🥺All people from different walks of life connected by their love how (historical) crafting and all things attached to that
I have had a Husqvarna Designer sewing machine for many years and I absolutely LOVE doing embroidery. People may ask me “where did I buy my garment. It is so satisfying to simply say…I made it. Lucious watching jaws drop. Your type of embroidery does have WEIGHT to it.
This was a beautiful exploration! Also, I'm glad you touched on it at the end mentioning the role that modern machines can play in maintaining this art. Knowing how to set up a machine to get the result you want is an art in and of itself, knowing your machine's limits and how far you can push it with various materials etc. The waistcoat turned out amazing, kudos to all involved!
The quality of this production is amazing and nearly as great as that absolutely fabulous waistcoat. This channel has come so far. I can't really believe I can watch something like this for free on RUclips. Applause to Bernadette and the whole team. You are amazing.
B, your videos are now so high in production values that they are setting new standards on RUclips. They are in fact high value invesigative documentaries. Amazing stuff, congratulations. And love.
Thank you for this piece. Over 50 years ago, I took up embroidery as a lark and became mildly obsessed. Over the years I studied various regions of folk stitches and yes, even delved into Regency application, hellbent on conquering. Somewhere in my closet of old memorabilia, I have a Levi denim jack I used as my sampler.
I once covered the tops of two Levi jackets in pearl buttons, one in gray pearl for me and another jacket in white pearl buttons for my mom. They were quite heavy to wear but well worth it. They were sold when I moved and downsized, I hope whoever has them appreciates the hours and hours I spent getting each button to sit in exactly the right spot. 😊
i love the seeing this channel evolve. i remember searching hand sewing seams and finding my first bernadette banner video. now we have these well made excellent documentaries. beyond the second to none content itself, chefs kiss goes to editing. this content just keeps getting better. I thank you for it♡
I’m so thankful for this sort of video. I love seeing a spotlight shone on craftspeople whose work I wouldn’t ever have otherwise seen, and I love the opportunity to learn about modern connections to historical techniques and clothing.
I've always loovveed embroidery, and every time I see Christine (Sewstine) put out a new video I am envious I don't have a machine embroiderer to make things with as much embroidery as she does because they always look incredible. I love doing it by hand, along with cross stitch, but it would be wayyy too much to do on this scale, particularly since in practice I am still relatively new to both embroidery and sewing garments. I'm so glad you finally made this video because its incredible.
The fearful music playing when he had to cut it out was so real. Always the scariest part! Loved seeing the different techniques and cultures in this video.
I worked with a Tajima embroidery machine for over eight years. I loved that work because even though the machine did most of the work there was so much craftsmanship involved.
Wow, so impressed with this latest vid, Bernadette. Very well edited, loved the music and, of course, the story you told. One of your best to date. Way to go!
One of my favourite historical fiction books specifically has to do with embroidery! One of our main characters is both a phenomenal embroiderer AND designer of embroidery patterns but doesn’t perceive herself as an artist BECAUSE it’s such a ‘common’ thing. So THANK YOU for this video, its so lovely to get to see so many hands on examples of what and how she would be doing things! (The Lady’s Guide To Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite is the book, an absolutely lovely Sapphic book!)
Gives me such an awe and appreciation of mine and my husbands wedding clothes. We wore stuff that was hand embroidered in India and the detail and the beauty and the incredible fine work on it. Cannot believe we were able to have access to that level of craftsmanship and wow I love this waistcoat in the video. Beautiful.
I would love videos discussing 1) What is an "embroidery household" like? What ia their daily routone? How and wjat age are younger family members taught the craft? And 2) Please try to talk to the woman who did rhe "Game of Thrones" embroidery. How much machine? How much handwork? How were the designs for each noble house designed? Fascinating video, and I love the black cable-knit? top youre wearing here.
You could have looked up who the woman was. Her name is Michele Garragher immensely talented. She has several books re the GOT embroidery, very beautiful work close up. Michele does classes with the Costume Symposium where you can learn stump work, gold work, surface embroidery to complete a project. She is Irish and a very interesting lady. I was lucky enough to work with her on 2 seasons of HOTD in the costume department.
In the village where I grew up, women spend about two hours a day embroidering clothes for the family. This would be in the afternoon when all their other work (hauling water, cooking, washing clothes in the river) would be done. Mostly women sit on the porch and chat. Not to romanticize village life, but I think most women enjoy this activity a lot. I know it was my mother’s favorite part of the day.
I'm 68 yrs old, and I'm not completely sure when I learned embroidery. I know we had to do an embroidered tea towel in 7th grade as the first project in sewing class, but my mother probably started me at a younger age. Mom sewed a lot: swag curtains for the living and dining rooms, clothing. I was an odd size - my waist was much smaller than what was "normal" for my large hips - I had to grow into my eastern European hips! So I made all my pants up through high school and made matching vests through the early 1970s. I learned crochet, a little knitting and macrame. By the 1980s I joined the SCA and was sewing clothing for other members and creating Tutor English and Slovak gowns for myself. I self taught or learned from others various handmade lace and embroidery techniques I used for my outfits - very time intensive and period appropriate. After getting carpal tunnel, I purchased a home embroidery machine and have done pictures of designs with up to 70,000 stitches on one piece. Yes, I have used metallic thread and it is a royal pain!
I can never find the words to explain just how beautiful I find this craft. Not only the embroidery but the hand stitching and the energy and care that goes into every part of a well made garment. I hope some day I am fortunate enough to move further from fast fashion and closer to something that represents that authentic human creation aspect that is lacking in department stores and what is readily available near many people.
Oh that's pretty interesting period I didn't know that the parish sequences or the pairs of season two episode I believe comma I didn't know that they hand painted the designs on the material period I was given to believe that they did all of the costume work by hand the same as they did for Season 1.
Designers will use Sari fabric for waistcoats and dress embroidery. It's not uncommon for them to custom order pieces from India. There are still embroiders in the US but sadly many places were closed or moved out of NYC due to large rent increases. As you can tell the hours needed to make such a garment the wages are higher in the US as well. It is awesome to see the place in India where they have been doing this for centuries. I've been lucky to find some thrifted embroidered saris over the years and marvel over the beautiful gold work and embroidery!
I absolutely loved to see this embroidery and how the different techniques work together~ I just received my kit this week and am beyond excited to start work on it! 🥰
I’m was raised by my grandmother more than 60 years ago. She was a seamstress and she taught me sewing and embroidery that she learned from her mother at the turn of the century. It takes forever but it is beautiful on shirts , skirts
What a wonderful video. Quality and skill everywhere! The digital designer, the machine operator, the hand embroiderers, the research, the sewing, the editing! I felt emotional at the end thinking of all the hours people spent on needlework and creating clothing. I knit, crochet and sew, I don't imagine anything I make will be an heirloom but it does make me feel connected to my ancestors.
Update! The busk arrived yesterday and I'm almost done! I'm working on sewing both sides of the busk in and attaching the front pieces to the rest of the garment. After that all that's left is to finish sewing on the edge tape, put the eyelets in on one side (I've already done the other) and finish the flossing at the top and bottom of the boning channels on the second side! I'm so happy with how it's turning out!
Oh my goodness, I LOVED this documentary!! Absolutely loved it!! And the idea to provide a stitch-along version of the pattern? Amazing! I literally held my breath as the pattern was cut and it was hand stitched together. What beautiful workmanship, start to finish! Thank you so much for sharing!
Such a lovely video! I have been doing hand embroidery (though not nearly as elaborate as this) for most of my life. For the past 15 years I have enjoyed English Smocking and this spring, I naively decided to sell some of my dresses in a local art show. Most of my pieces took anywhere from 20-30 hours to complete so I was selling them at a very large loss. Even at a reduced price, the majority of the public, though fascinated with it, weren't willing to spend money "on something that little girls grow out of so quickly". Fast fashion has done a number on traditional crafts which is why I so enjoy watching your videos. It's so exciting to see that not all hand sewing and embroidery is lost to time.
This video is everything I could ask for - a skilled group of artisans who work together to create a beautiful project. I also can’t forget the research, filming, and editing that goes into making such an amazing video. I just wish that artisanal work and an appreciation for higher quality products was more accesible and enjoyed by the rest of society. However, I have no doubt that this video will achieve that. ❤
Actually, given the number of different videos coming through my feed I would say that the algorithm has been very busy. There is a market for these videos to be sure.
This was so joyful to see. 🥰❤ I’ve done needlework since I was a child. Learned from my mother and grandmother most of the arts of handcrafts - knit, sew, tatting, crochet, embroidery, quilting. Even now when I am sewing a garment I will sometimes incorporate embroidery and beading and special gold or silver threads into it just for that extra happy factor. It was such a pleasure to see the work and hear the passion from the embroiderers and also you and your cohorts. Wonderful video. ❤
My grandmother (1917 - '98) did embroidery by hand. We have a special, framed, piece that has every one of her grand kids first and last names with birth dates that go around the whole border of the cloth. "Grandchildren are the treasures of a long life is embroidered into the center." 🪡 She did other works, as well, including knitting. 🧶 During the depression she traveled around repairing garments for people along with her mother. 🧵
Just beautiful. I am sure you are well aware of Sarah Humpfry’s RUclips channel. She is the reason I started and fell in love with all types of embroidery. Her explanation of the history behind the technique and her excellent teaching skills really motivated me. You motivated me to do more sewing by hand.
i'm trying to wrap my head around the amount of time it took to embroider a garment vs the changing style of fashion. I can imagine just how excited someone would be to receive a new coat or dress with fashionable embroidery...just amazing.
What a beautiful video! It was lovely seeing Mia appear too! She was amazing on the sewing bee and she really stood out. This has made me itch to get all my beads back out lol
I appreciate the hard work and attention you gave this topic! Embroidery was the first thing I was ever taught by my great-grandmother when I was a babe and it's still an important skill to me to this day.
I'm not a crafter myself, other than doing some knitting when I was younger. I lack the creative urge - and skills. I was introduced to this channel by a crafter niece who has made some historical garments because she knows of my interest in history and historical garments. I subscribed and have been here for quite a while, appreciating and enjoying your work. This waistcoat project was next level. Every aspect from concept to finished creation was simply fascinating, with the collaborative process, the history and culture, the artistry and craftsmanship and immense amount if labour involved, all documented for our enjoyment and for posterity. The end result is absolutely glorious, a true treasure. Kudos to all involved.
This is a wonderful video! I don't know how she does it, but Bernadette continues to surpass herself video after video. This shows a true commitment to continual growth. And I greatly appreciate her dedication to bringing historically invisible hand work to light. I am also deeply passionate about preserving historical hand work and to supporting those artisans who continue to be committed to making their living through their hand crafts. My last hand crocheted art blanket has over 84,000 stitches in it, and it took about 700 hours for me to make it. So putting in over 140,000 embroidery stitches in 300 hours wold require someone immensely skilled.
Ive embroidered (mostly cross stitch) as a hobby for years now, and Ive really loved watching this video of all the labor that goes into more labor intensive embroidery while embroidering myself!
I’m a little lost for words at the beauty of this embroidery. I adore learning about companies such as Hand & Lock and Atelier Shikaarbagh; the people who work here are so talented, so accomplished.
I'm thinking about the time it takes to make a garment and paintings of aristocratic children. Children grow so quickly, it's really magical to have a garment planned, embroidery completed, assembling the garment, and the child is still alive (not to be morbid), but also the right size; miraculous!
While pregnant my mother always made a full set of clothes for each of her babies (she had 13!) using fine viyella cloth and embroidered them with little grub roses. She’d done an Enid Gilchrist course, which taught pintucking at the shoulders and above the hemline that could be let out as the baby grew.
My guess is that tailors might have had ready-made embroidered panels, designed to be cut to a pattern! I believe that's how a lot of waistcoat fronts were made at the height of the fashion. I wonder if they'd reuse old adult clothing for baby clothes as well, if they couldn't be altered for the changing fashions. How many lavish baby clothes were cut from old court gowns? 🤔
I've always been fascinated with embroidery. So much so that I decided to pracetice it myself. Self-taught at first then I joined a traditional Thai embroidery workshop which was an eye opening experience. Seeing this video and various techniques brought joy to my heart. Hand embroidery is fun and stunning. Wish I could learn more and more to keep these wisdom alive. Thank you Bernadette for this amazing video. You are a true gem. ❤❤❤
I very much encourage people to give hand embroidery a go. It isn't that difficult to get started and you very definitely don't have to have a big 18th century project in mind to start with - I've repaired small moth holes in a vintage suit by adding some hand embroidery to cover up the repair, for example, and it came out looking quite nice. I have a t-shirt in progress right now that I'm embroidering a design on as a gift for my fiancé. You can also combine embroidery with a printed or drawn design - like picking out details on a t-shirt or highlighting part of a print on patterned fabric. Even gold work isn't *that* hard, although I'd definitely suggest starting with something with just plain embroidery thread first to get a feel for things because there's just more to manage with gold work and the gold work materials are easier to damage so you can't pick out mistakes as easily. (Or a kit like Bernadette's where you can start with the plain sections and then move on to the gold work/beads/spangles once you're a bit more comfortable with things. I definitely wouldn't grab a kit that's full gold work as a complete novice to hand embroidery.)
It's so so refreshing and needed to talk about the impact of textiles from India and China and how they shaped western fashion. I seriously appreciate your commitment to making that history known, and also living the history yourself with projects like these. I'm a long time fan but this may be my favorite project of yours :D
Wow this was just hands down one of your best videos. I can see all the love in the project. Also the aesthetic quality of the editing sound mixing and post production. You have nicely mastered film story telling, well done! 🎉
Thank you for the beautiful documentary. I love embroidery and I come from a family where everyone does some sort of textile craft. Seeing and hearing everyone treat this art/craft with the reverence it deserves was so touching and validating.
My aunt had an embroidery machine that I tried to make a digital file for many years ago, but I never figured out how to get my idea to the machine. Maybe someday I'll revisit the project or attempt hand-embroidery. I have a lot of respect for people who know how to do all of this.
You can try Embird embroidery software as a free demo for 30 saves. (Then you have to buy it or give up on it.) I got it for file management and file rotation because my embroidery machine has a different hoop alignment (think 8"x10", but everyone else has 10"x8" kind of thing). It handles every machine embroidery format, so you can save a file as a JEF for Janome, or as a PES for Brother, or DST for Tajima etc.. At that point, all you need is to save the file to the physical memory medium your embroidery machine requires, or connect your computer directly to your embroidery machine if it allows that. Then stitch away to your heart's content. Be forewarned: hoop hypnosis is a real thing.
This is so absolutely stunning. I've only yet dabbled in the field of embroidery, but this shows why I want to continue. So now we've looked at fabric flower making, spinning and embroidery. I would love to see you exploring knitting. It is such a vast and fascinating field and seeing how it ties into historical fashion would be great.
Stunning. Thank you for this documentary. I am 78 and just learning sashiko to get my tremors and arthritis under control. I've taken up embroidery again and so enjoy the process and the choosing of colors and textures. I love your videos.
It’s lovely to see so many young faces in such an old craft, it’s good to know that embroidery isn’t dying off like so many other traditions are in the modern era.
Thanks for the info on how they’d embroider the pattern and then cut it out! I’ve been sucked into the black hole of embroidery thanks to the 17th and 18th centuries and now I have a blueprint
I throughly enjoyed watching this video. What exquisite embroidery! Imagine wearing such finery in the 18th century. Your trip to Hand and Lock must have been a blast. I loved the entire project of creating a replica of that lovely vest. I just about held my breath when the fabric was being cut. NO mistakes allowed!!!! Good Lord! 😅 Thank you so much! It was a great pleasure to watch!
Aaaaa! Thank you soooo much for this project. As a hand embroderer, I just loved it sooooooooo much. I was just in pain when you cut the button whole with the chisel through the embroidery. Ouch! I wish I could do this for a living. It stays for now as a side thing I do for me and my family. But thank you again for this amazing video. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
You make me wish I had paid more attention the last time I went to the V&A’s fashion galleries. I was more interested in the actual fashions of the day - the shape and size of the skirts, the addition of bustles or other shape distorting undergarments. I completely overlooked the embroidered details. It’s true that the more you know, the more you get out of these sort of exhibitions.
My mother did lovely, complicated, embroidery. She taught me basic embroidery stitching but I lacked to patience for learning any more than that. I am in awe of the quality of embroidery shown in this video.
Oh? My? God?? It’s gorgeous, the love and care everyone put into it is indescribable, the passion the embroidery team had for it… just wow. This is art, (not just the piece but the human element too) and I am MOVED
This AMAZING and I'm so glad to see international experts and the combination of machine and hand work! Honestly I think that there is value in pure handcraft, but there's also value in having the human touch on the required parts. I do want to mention that I had a hard time with the music in this video, it seemed much louder than the voices.
i dont know why, but by the end of the video, i was crying. The love and sensibility put in this video, for the love of the craft itself, its just...chef kiss
My mother has embroidered my whole life, and since she was young as a hobby and to make money the side. Some of my earliest memories was watching in wonder and awe as she worked, I began embroidery myself in kindergarten, and have done so off and on since. As she's gotten older she's begun working less and less, she has arthritis and her eyesight is not as great as it used to be, but a huge part of it is with the availability of pre-embroidered things and at home embroidery machines, it's even harder to sell her works than before. A lot of people don't want to spend the money that hand embroidery (and even some machine) costs, when she was selling the things she'd embroidered she didn't even put in the whole cost of the labor, materials, and time that she spent on each item. It's been really sad watching her lose her joy in what she used to do, and watching as her boxes of embroidery and the ceramics she paints gain dust as they're left untouched.
I saw a coat from this era in person at my local art gallery once. It was nothing short of astonishing. It had an aura of a magical, almost sacred object, akin to an illuminated manuscript. Wonderful project and video, thank you! I already do bead embroidery, but I am getting inspired to learn more traditional embroidery as well!
Sooo beautiful and inspiring. My Mum did City and Guilds embroidery. She made all of the vestments and altar cloths for our church and I remember her struggling with the gold thread as it kept unravelling.
this is so beautiful I have a box full of embroidered things from my great grandmother and Aunty stashed away with lots of mothballs, I just don't have the patience for needlework and my love of cats makes actually using any of it on my furniture as doilies, mats etc impossible hence storing it.
This is obviously a labor of love on the part of everyone involved and it shows. It's gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing this process. Cutting into the fabric for this must have been so nerve-wracking. But the end result was definitely worth it. I loved everyone's reactions to the project and the process as well as Heathcliff's pure delight at being able to wear the finished garment.
Hand & Lock’s Expert Embroidery Guide:
Throughout this film, many references have been made to various embroidery techniques & processes. Below, the Hand & Lock team have put together this helpful guide to recap on each.
Each process chosen for this project was carefully considered and utilised to replicate the 18th century waistcoat design chosen by Bernadette and her team, as closely as possible.
‘Hand Guided’
is a form of machine embroidery that requires a person to physically control the machine, and manually manoeuvre the fabric under the needle as the machine sews, creating fluid embroidered shapes. The beauty of hand guided, is that it has an organic aesthetic and often the embroidery artists individual style is evident in the work.
‘Digital Machine embroidery’
is a modern, computerised technique which requires expertise with both digital embroidery design softwares and complex machinery. Digital embroidery must be carefully designed and rigorously prepared to ensure a successful outcome where the two elements work seamlessly together. Experienced digital embroidery designers are able to manipulate their stitch files to mimic the effects of hand guided or hand embroidered stitching.
‘Hand Embroidery’
is an umbrella term that covers many of the highly specialised techniques mentioned, all of which are created completely by hand. These include:
‘Goldwork’
is the ancient art of highly decorative embroidery using metal bullion wires. Bullion wires are tightly wound metal springs that come in long lengths.
It is another umbrella term that has many more specific techniques within it. The main Goldwork techniques we have used in this project are:
‘Cutwork’- is a process where bullion is cut down to size and the embroiderer can use it like a 'flexible bead', passing their needle and thread down the centre of the spring to stitch it onto the fabric.
‘Essing’- is a technique where the bullion wire is manipulated by the embroiderer, stitching it down at angles to create curved shapes.
‘Passing’ - is a thick goldwork thread made of a cotton core wrapped in metal. It can be used like a normal thread and stitched through the fabric, or it can be worked only on the surface and 'couched' down.
'Couching':
is the method of laying materials on the surface of your fabric, and stitching over them to attach them down.
'Embellishment':
refers to the application of beads and sequins.
'Silk shading':
uses colourful silk or cotton threads, in long and short stitches to create blending.
You can try all of these hand embroidery techniques for yourself with the Hand & Lock X Bernadette Banner Embroidery Kit. The kit includes a panel of pre- machine embroidered fabric for you to work on top of!
If you would like to find out more about Hand & Lock, including their bespoke embroidery services, ready made products, and worldwide embroidery classes, please visit: handembroidery.com/
Beautiful work
This is so handy, thank you very much!
You have made me so deliriously happy with the project in this episode!
The 18th century is my all time favourite, and I sewed both my wedding gown and three bridesmaids gowns in a mid 18th century Scottish style. I'm obsessed with both my machine embroidery and hand stitching goldwork. You have put all my special interests into one episode, thank you!
It is my dream to have access to a multi needle machine with a larger hoop.
I'd love to know how much the cost for their digitization from the photo, and stitching it out turned out to be.
Overtreffende mooie ideeën heel erg goed
Your accent is slowly morphing into an English one 😊 even tho you’ve always spoken beautifully, it’s becoming much more English now. I’m no dialect expert, but my mom and her side of the family are American and my dads side are from the south of England, and I live in Ireland, so apparently my mongrel accent (I was raised either one side of the pond or the other for 18 years) is now Irish, which I don’t mind because I’m too English to pass as an American when I’m over in PA, and I’m too American to pass as English when I was in England 😂
Embroidery played a big role in organ transplants. Alexis Carrel, the French doctor on who first developed the ability to sew veins together went to the embroiderers and spent along time learning many of the different tiny stitches and practicing till he was able to do several hundred stitches on a small piece of cloth then he moved to working on animal tissue.
That's so cool! Mentally saving this for my "art and STEM overlap and inform each other" arguments :D (currently my go-to is architecture and civil engineering being like functional art and creativity)
As a textile lover and healthcare worker, this piece of information makes me incredibly happy! Making a note to go learn more about it!
My spouse is an obstetrician/gynecologist, and when he was in residency, I taught him how to cross stitch. He does it more than I do now, and I have heard through various people (friends who have had him as their physician and told me of their own volition about being treated by him) that his surgical stitches are very neat.
@@rebeccat715check out the link between modern computers’ origins (punch cards and binary) and fabric weaving (jacquard)!!
Currently a first semester vet student. When I was in undergrad and part of the pre-vet club, I attended a suture practice lab, where the current vet students taught the pre-vets how to do suture stitches. I have been doing cosplay and crafting for over 15 years (mostly hand-sewing, when I needed to sew anything), and I already knew most of the stitches, if by another name. Now that I'm in vet school, I've noticed many of the upper semester students practicing their suturing skills by suturing into fabric that's pulled taught in an embroidery hoop. Suturing is just hand-sewing with tools as an extension of your hands.
When I was working as a vet tech, I assisted in many spays and neuters. One was a great dane puppy who was getting spayed and a gastropexy at the same time--which is when the vet sutures the outer wall of the stomach to the inner abdominal wall, so that the stomach doesn't flip over, which can happen in large and giant breed dogs and is life-threatening--and I noticed that the technique the doctor used was essentially just an invisible seam between the two tissue walls.
I almost cried when Singh said "everything I am is because of them." That's genuinely so beautiful to have a craft handed down through SO MANY generations and to have that knowledge essentially be sacred. So many different techniques discovered through the passing of the craft and tradition being perfected over the years and knowing this knowledge is only given because hundreds of years ago someone decided to pick this up and pass it on... All the way to him. That's so incredible, I can't help but tear up at that kind of magic.
Amen to that 💗
I wonder how much he pays them...
The Japanese have a saying for passing down knowledge from generation to generation, they call it 'a thousand year experience'. 'Do they know what to do? 'Oh yes, they have a thousand years' experience.'
Me too, teared up.
The embroidery was done for extremely wealthy people by extremely poorly paid people.
£6 -8k seems extremely reasonable considering the amount of work involved and the materials, especially when you consider what a modern 'designer' creation might cost.
I thought it would be more
@@abigailornot9124me too😅
thats the price of a chanel flap bag give or take a grand
That was converting 18th century currency into the modern currency, in reality it would be far more today
After watching this I feel that this is way beyond what modern 'designers' will ever get to... Lots of respect to all the craftspeople out there who make these works of art possible.
This was fascinating to watch! I have sewn for 65 years. A couple of tips to help the "burn" at the base of your neck at the back that we get from looking down at a project for hours, and the pain in the wrists after hours of intense needlework. #1- go to a bowling alley and buy a pro bowler's wrist guard. These are less $ than the "medical supports" and work much better. They have a metal support inside that helps decrease inflammation. #2- Buy one of the "heating pads" for your shoulders with the jelly-filled kind that can be either heated in a microwave or cooled in the refrigerator. They look like a short cape covering your neck and upper shoulders. Use this cooled if your neck is painful, or warm if you feel tense. #3- Keep a fine grid emory board in your sewing kits with a small salt shaker filled with either baby powder or pure cornstarch. The file will keep nail or rough skin smoother and avoid snagging sheer or silk fabrics & smooth out snags on thread spools. Use the salt shaker of cornstarch to sprinkle hands with to protect work from oils and sweat. Hope this helps somebody in their creations. We must never forget to have a Band-Aid and Neosporin available for any knicks or scratches that may occur after hours of sewing. #4- I always keep a small bottle of lubricating eye drops in my sewing kits to use for eye dryness and strain. These work wonders!! Have FUN ladies! Thank you for the wonderful video
Thankyou for the tips.😊❤
Thank you so much!
brilliant tips, thank you! :)
You're awesome!! ❤ thank you
Thanks
I’m a hand embroiderer and beader. Mostly I embroider denim vest and jackets.. one project will often take nearly a year… I am 67 and have been doing this since I was 15.. Embroidery is a passion of mine.. usually I have several projects in various stages of completion.. My days are filled with music, and creativity..
Ok, I feel your passion, eyes watering
I love embroidery. I plan to learn how to hand embroider. (Originally I learned digital embroidery)
@@erebuspanda4653it's an utter delight. I've been at it 2 years now. Best thing I've done in forever
@@Yidhra23 .. I started by embroidering my own clothes, simple flowers and vines, with a little beading.. in the seventies.. I have embroidered, beaded and sequinsed, some stage clothes for a few musician friends over the years.. At the moment I am making soft sculptures of mushrooms, embroidered, beaded and sequinsed as gifts for my children.. My daughter thinks I should have a gallery.. but…. I just want to sit in my studio listening to music and create whatever I want…. The most popular thing I make are my Christmas ornaments.. They are crocheted and beaded.. I do not do commissions anymore…. I’m nearly 68 and am enjoying being retired..
@@erebuspanda4653 learning to embroider is a wonderful skill and art.. I encourage everyone to find a creative expression.. My 8yr old granddaughter enjoys sitting with me and learning…. She says it’s like magic, that she can make pretty things with needle and thread…. My daughter also enjoys creating beautiful things.. My 12yr old granddaughter has developed her own style now, and loves making accessories for her clothing.. my Eldest grandson enjoys working with papier-mâché….
When my dad was in hospital during WWII, the support staff brought around all kinds of things like magazines, cards, etc. And embroidery supplies. Bored, my dad took up chain stitch. I remember tea towels covered with crazy colored fighter aircraft - and a whole set of dragon pea jackets he did for himself, mom, and their then only child, my sister.
My grandpa also learned to embroider sometime during WWII, and kept it up for the rest of his life. I inherited a small selection of his embroidery floss from my grandma, but being a dumb teen at the time, didn’t keep the little Army-issued pamphlet of stitches I also found in the box, which as an adult, I now regret, because of the history it represented. My grandpa did lovely satin stitching, and although I didn’t know him super well, I do love having that family connection via the hobby.
I love these stories. Embroidery was a big thing for people who grew up around WWII and my great grandmother would pursue the craft for the rest of her life. We have these adorable linen towels for each day of the week, one set with cute animals, the other with people dressed in traditional European garb. I wish we could have more of her work, but I inherited her kit.
This is such a great story!
I could FEEL the tension when Heathcliff was cutting out the pattern. My heart is always in my throat whenever I cut out any fabric. I can’t imagine doing it on something so precious.
I was nerve wracked when Heathcliff was pounding the buttonhole.
My stomach automatically knotted as well, and I could feel myself holding my breath. Just one slip of the scissors ✂️ ... Gasp!
I think I’d throw up if someone asked me to cut into this fabric
SAME.😊
I actually teared up when they made the first cut!
All my life I was taught that any handwork was a "nice hobby", yet I have persisted with my knitting, weaving, sewing, embroidery and others, knowing inside myself it's true worth, especially in these days of fast fashion. How wonderful to see there are still people who also know it's worth and value and appreciate what goes into it. Thanks to Bernadette and her team for these programs! It's validating for so many of us.
I have been teaching my kids handicrafts for their entire childhood. As teens, they know the importance and skill required!
I am a self taught hand embroiderer who specializes in silk and metal thread embroidery. This was exquisite to watch. It reminded me of the time I was part of a team of embroiderers replicating the coronation tunic of Roger II of Sicily under an extreme time crunch. I was tasked with the front panel of the bottom border and it took one SOLID month for me to complete. I would embroider from the time I got up until I went to bed, only taking any significant time away from it to cook and eat meals. The ex did the dishes and laundry because I had no time for it. I took only 2 days off during that entire month. It was insane, but the tunic in the end was glorious.
Are there pictures anywhere that we can enjoy? It sounds amazing!
@@e.d.3993 I've looked, but all I can find are pictures of the original tunic. Sigh. I've looked everywhere, it's so disappointing. 😭
I hope they paid you all those hours well. Work like this is rarely fairly compensated.
What an amazing project to be part of.
@@ecummins8650 if you took a picture you can upload it to imgur or something!
This is better editing than a lot of full budget documentaries I've watched. Its tough getting regular people on camera to tell a story, and do it well. Great work!
I came to say something similar.
Her videos have always been beautiful to watch, but the videography in this was incredible and fit the story so well.
As a beadwork artist - one aspect that makes this unimaginable and so valuable - is the repetitive muscle injury that comes from repetitive movement like embroidery.
Over days/hours of stitching, your wrist tendons can become injured beyond repair.
I’m a crocheter and I have to be careful of marathon sessions because of repetitive use injuries.
@@Yidhra23 Threading needles is what apprentices are for! Lol
@nightfall3605 marathon sessions and "the zone" are so dangerous 🙈
@unfeathered It's such a balance. I would bead for hours until I had to wear a brace for weeks to help my tendon heal.
I didn't value my wrists until it was difficult to write, clean or do anything with my hands after the injury.
But I had to decide - bead a little less and a little slower, or destroy my wrist and never create again.
Would a medical wrist brace help? I realize it would create a whole new set of issues, but could prevent injury.
whenever my family goes back to bangladesh to visit family my mum will spend a good chunk of her time shopping for saris and salwar kameez for herself and me. even mid-range commercially available garments can have exquisite hand embroidery on them, and my mum has many gorgeous pieces with yards and yards of hand embroidered detail. also, we still buy most of our salwaar kameez in pre-embroidered panels! we call them 3 pieces (the body, pants/skirt and the dupatta/scarf) the embroidered materials are taken to a tailor who will cut out the pieces and make up the garment to your size. i consider myself lucky to be exposed to this sort of work from a young age, especially now living in the west and being surrounded by fast fashion. as an adult i've become really interested in textiles and fashion history and part of that is due to this channel and bernadette's unwavering passion, thanks for another fantastic video!
That is so cool! When I was in school, one of my classmates was a Bangladeshi woman who owned an embroidery house and was planning to use her degree to continue expanding the business for her employees. It was a wonderful experience. The work she and her team did was so beautiful.
I love your story! Thank you for telling it ❤
making those button holes gave me so much anxiety, i cant even imagine being the one to actually "punch" them in !
Right? I was thinkig of this too.
Exactly - I gasped when I saw that. I would definitely cut in the wrong place. :(
I often think about the placement of the buttonholes when making my own. Either embroider around it or use less embroidery in that place etc. This was very scary to look at! OMG!
You know they measured it 50 times! and still probably went in with nerves!
I remembered your flat used to be landlord white, and now it's library green. The green suits this episode so perfectly and I don't know why it took me so long to realize it's turned green.
I'm so happy you collaborated with Hand & Lock and once again with Maayankraj Singh. Mr. Singh always brings such wonderful information that I wished I had learned in history class.
Seeing goldwork fills me with such an unfortunate rage, my mother used to do stunning goldwork embroidery and then her embroidery which she was sending to an exhibit was stolen in the mail. She's never done goldwork since. It takes so much time and patience that I just do not have, but it's lovely hearing more about embroidery in historical fashion.
Dear Lady I am sorry for your loss.You know it was priceless or it would not be worth removing .Years after we are gone ,it will appear and be appreciated,knowing many people will appreciate your mother’s sacrifice!
oh no! That's why I'll never show anything I make, ever. I know someone whose mother hand sewed and showed quilts for years, but had one stolen. It's kind of gross, too, since the people who stole it were likely part of the community and knew the endeavor it was to create. I'm so sorry for your mother. :(
I am so very sorry. I see you.
I am so very, very sorry.
@@troberts1Not only that, many times, the individual who stole, or steals the item(s) could very well afford to buy it! 🤬🤬🤬🤬
I love that you don't shy away from the subject of colonisation and exploitation, because they have been integral in forming the garment industry into what it is! it's really refreshing and it makes your videos more real and relevant. I think it would feel shallow if you left it out.
I! AM! CRYING! I've been doing machine embroidery (and I started learning hand embroidery recently) for about 20 years and NOT ONCE have I heard someone I know in this industry speak so reverently about what goes into creating embroidery. THANK YOU so much for this video! And for introducing me to Hand & Lock :D Although I suspect my wallet will have reason to not appreciate that part lol
I feel like most people mostly think of logos and badges and patches when you talk about machine embroidery. But there is SOOO much that goes into it. The digital work is very time consuming too.
What happens onscreen at 5:27 is amazing: someone is handling a page of swatches (?), and when they turn it around, its appearance completely changes. In my field we call that a spatially-varying bidirectional reflectance distribution function (SVBRDF), and it happens with materials like wrapping paper and colored foil, but to try to make something of it deliberately must be wild.
In fabric it's called "changeant" or "two tone" fabric. And it requires all the pattern pieces to be cut in the same direction, or else you get one panel of your garment that is colour A while the rest is colour B, and vice versa. Of course, you can play with it by cutting different pieces mirrored or on the bias etc.
I really cant tell you how much I enjoyed this comment. Thank you for sharing!! what is your industry?
Bernadette, have you ever given Sashiko a glance? It's a Japanese sewing/embroidery craft that looks incredibly relaxing (probably once you've sold your soul to the goddess of needlework...)
Wait, she didn't sell her soul to needlework yet?
I’m looking this up right now! Thank you for suggesting this!!
@@meganmyers1657 I take no responsibility for leading you into this rabbit hole!
@@juliajs1752 lolol
Look for a video from The Stitchery on sashiko! She spent a good year and a half learning and practicing it. It's not a comprehensive video, but it's a great place to start!
Thank you so much, Bernadette, for this brilliant video. My sewing teacher was also the last Belgian embroideress using gold and silver thread. She gave me an initiation in embroidery, using 18th century technics. It completely changed my vision of what clothes could be. Your video reminded me of her. It's very interressant to see the combination of traditional techniques and modern technology. Obviously, creating a 18th century waist coat was and still is a work of colab. Seeing so many talents working together is joyful to me. Thank you again ! ❤ Christophe from Belgium.
I am 70 and am completely enamored with these types of videos you provide! I've been embroidering for over 65 years but NOTHING is even close to this! ❤
I am 71 and started when I was 15 with my grandma's old collection of threads in an old plastic box. lol It dosen't seem that long ago and at the same time seems ages ago. I agree with you. This is way beyond what I have ever done. This video is wondersful.
@@UtahGmaw99 ❤️
Wow!
I can only imagine what the spangles and sequins would look like under candlelight. people must have looked like they were glowing at late night parties in their fancy dress.
I really enjoyed this video. The comment that 18th century embroiders were limited by the daylight reminded me of a scene from one of the Little House books. Twilight came and Ma, Laura & Carrie had to put away their knitting and sewing, but Mary, being blind, didn't have to because whether there was daylight or not didn't affect her. I'm reading the little house books to my niece.
🤔 Maybe master/mistress embroiderers could do the same? Not necessarily for everything, but once you are along the border of the cloth, maybe?
Mary being blind and still doing needlework is one of the things I remember the most about Little House on the Prairie books. I always wondered how she would manage learning to do needlework without seeing it
@@LittleDizzyGirl i imagine without vision the tactile senses can become very accurate with practice. I've tried hemming in the dark before, which actually wasn't too hard, since it was already pinned down and so I could feel the straight edge with my fingers and follow along the line. but I did stab myself several times!! lol
@@LittleDizzyGirl Mary & Laura had learned to sew when they were very young so it was probably lot of muscle memory for Mary after she went blind when she was a young teenager. Laura writes that Mary always had a very good memory, she impressed her Sunday school teacher at the blind institute at how many Bible verses she'd memorized. That's in both the novel and Laura's autobiography that was finally published several years ago, complete with editor notes about almost everything. Including the first black person they, Laura & Mary ever saw, the doctor who treated the family for malaria, events that happened to a 2 or 3 child being remembered by an adult. Both her parents and Mary had passed by the time she started writing her bio, mainly for her daughter but for daughter to hopefully get punished. Carrie was either not born yet or was a newborn, she was actually born in Indian Territory (Kansas or Oklahoma I'm not sure) so she wouldn't have any memories of living there since they left when she was a few months old. If you love the little house books, you'd love Prairie Girl her autobiography. Some of her life was definitely not kid friendly. It ends with her marriage to almanzo, who she called Manly and he called Bess because his oldest sister ( not in the novels) was also named Laura & Manly thought it would be too confusing to have his sister and his girlfriend, eventually his wife by the same name
This is a lovely illustration of how much of a communal effort making a single item of clothing really is. Culturally we're taught about how we're supposed to be Independent and Self-Sufficient, and this is distilled in people who want to live off the grid (some with... better intentions than others). To a lesser extreme, and motivated I'm sure primarily by curiosity, every now and then I see someone on RUclips showing how they've made their own linen from seed to thread (...I don't *think* I've yet seen anyone who's grown/retted/spun enough to weave it into cloth) and it *is* fascinating to watch, and I'm as much LEARN ALL THE THINGS!!! as the next person... but realistically we can't be *experts* in all the things so *we need other people*. And seeing so many people come together for such an amazing project is just as beautiful as the final piece.
I couldn't agree more. It's such a loss to us as individuals and to our sense of community, to be reliant on a village/town/community is how we all thrive and have everything we need. I love that Bernadette offers us a glimpse into how that used to play out and the things that can be made with working together.
ugh i absolutely love 18th century embroidery. one of my fav waistcoats had entire rural farming scenes along the buttons interspersed with little bees and butterflies!!
Ok I NEED a picture of this 😭
How is your comment 18h ago?
Oh please tell us where we can find pictures of this waistcoat! 😍
That sounds delightful! 🐝
to everyone asking, i saw this waistcoat on display at Skaill House in the Orkney islands!! I cant find any pictures of it online :(( i dont think theyve digitised the collection
Here to vouch that hand stitch embroidery takes FOREVER! I make texture art and embroidery is one of my favorite crafts because of all the different stitches/knots that you can use. I’m planning on designing and embroidering my wedding dress 😅 pray for my hands y’all… and my sanity lol
You and Heathcliff touching your faces when you saw the piece was so precious! 🥰
I was so happy to see Heathcliff got to go to L&H with you!
New Human! Greetings Mia, love your ink!
The cutting stress as Heathcliff started was Real.
The button hole chisel nearly broke my soul.
Beautiful work all round, thank you for sharing!
Hello Mia. Welcome to the team.
3:06 This video is reminding me of the criticism of what Alia Bhatt wore to the Met Gala, so many people (youtube fashion critics who say they know about fashion history but barely even know anything about it from before say the early 1900s) were saying she wasn't going on theme, and I was so confused, because she mentioned Indian handiwork and craftwork that has been used for centuries and was starting to die out and how they tried to use a lot of it in her sari, like so much of the designs of embroidery and beading that we think of when we think of European fashion actually came from India
I thought that she was the best dressed. That sari was absolutely stunning!
Not just India but middleeast and Asia..
oh my goodness! The way the sequins sparkled at the end was like the cherry on top. I'm also glad you were able to include the cause of the riff between India and Britain in that part of history. Greed, not art, indeed killed the men. This was such an interesting documentary about embroidery! Well done!
There is something so genuinely touching about looking at the comment sections on these videos and seeing how many different types of people they attract 🥺All people from different walks of life connected by their love how (historical) crafting and all things attached to that
The way you keep showing us more people and skills than you and yourself is wonderful, such a love for craftmanship and crafters
💐👌
Yes, Bernadette educates us well. :)
I have had a Husqvarna Designer sewing machine for many years and I absolutely LOVE doing embroidery. People may ask me “where did I buy my garment. It is so satisfying to simply say…I made it. Lucious watching jaws drop. Your type of embroidery does have WEIGHT to it.
This was a beautiful exploration! Also, I'm glad you touched on it at the end mentioning the role that modern machines can play in maintaining this art. Knowing how to set up a machine to get the result you want is an art in and of itself, knowing your machine's limits and how far you can push it with various materials etc. The waistcoat turned out amazing, kudos to all involved!
The quality of this production is amazing and nearly as great as that absolutely fabulous waistcoat.
This channel has come so far. I can't really believe I can watch something like this for free on RUclips. Applause to Bernadette and the whole team. You are amazing.
B, your videos are now so high in production values that they are setting new standards on RUclips. They are in fact high value invesigative documentaries. Amazing stuff, congratulations. And love.
I agree whole hearteldly !!
Bernadette rocks as the consummate professional!
Ken Burns is jealous.
Truly worthy of the Nebula Crew!
Wow Bernadette. You need your own show on PBS or Netflix. That was so well done. BRAVO!!!
Thank you for this piece. Over 50 years ago, I took up embroidery as a lark and became mildly obsessed. Over the years I studied various regions of folk stitches and yes, even delved into Regency application, hellbent on conquering. Somewhere in my closet of old memorabilia, I have a Levi denim jack I used as my sampler.
Did you do chicken scratch? I was very curious about that for a long time.
@@mala3isity I tried it but didn't care for it. It was too much like needle point.
@@antsquirly7654 I understand. found it more like cross stitching which is what I was obsessed with at the time.
I once covered the tops of two Levi jackets in pearl buttons, one in gray pearl for me and another jacket in white pearl buttons for my mom. They were quite heavy to wear but well worth it. They were sold when I moved and downsized, I hope whoever has them appreciates the hours and hours I spent getting each button to sit in exactly the right spot. 😊
@@novampires223 The Pearlies of London grabbed them up. :)
i love the seeing this channel evolve. i remember searching hand sewing seams and finding my first bernadette banner video. now we have these well made excellent documentaries. beyond the second to none content itself, chefs kiss goes to editing. this content just keeps getting better. I thank you for it♡
This has to be one of the best videos I've ever watched. It's poetry done one stitch at a time.
I’m so thankful for this sort of video. I love seeing a spotlight shone on craftspeople whose work I wouldn’t ever have otherwise seen, and I love the opportunity to learn about modern connections to historical techniques and clothing.
I've always loovveed embroidery, and every time I see Christine (Sewstine) put out a new video I am envious I don't have a machine embroiderer to make things with as much embroidery as she does because they always look incredible. I love doing it by hand, along with cross stitch, but it would be wayyy too much to do on this scale, particularly since in practice I am still relatively new to both embroidery and sewing garments.
I'm so glad you finally made this video because its incredible.
Even a small motif embroidered on a garment will bring you joy!
The fearful music playing when he had to cut it out was so real. Always the scariest part! Loved seeing the different techniques and cultures in this video.
I worked with a Tajima embroidery machine for over eight years. I loved that work because even though the machine did most of the work there was so much craftsmanship involved.
High end embroidery and quilting machines are no joke....they cost as much as a car.
Wow, so impressed with this latest vid, Bernadette. Very well edited, loved the music and, of course, the story you told. One of your best to date. Way to go!
One of my favourite historical fiction books specifically has to do with embroidery! One of our main characters is both a phenomenal embroiderer AND designer of embroidery patterns but doesn’t perceive herself as an artist BECAUSE it’s such a ‘common’ thing. So THANK YOU for this video, its so lovely to get to see so many hands on examples of what and how she would be doing things! (The Lady’s Guide To Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite is the book, an absolutely lovely Sapphic book!)
Putting this on the top of my TBR list
Just added to my audiobook list. I can read hands free and craft at the same time - double win!
FINALLY a book where they aren't complaining they hate sewing and embroidery! Definitely going on my list!
Gives me such an awe and appreciation of mine and my husbands wedding clothes. We wore stuff that was hand embroidered in India and the detail and the beauty and the incredible fine work on it. Cannot believe we were able to have access to that level of craftsmanship and wow I love this waistcoat in the video. Beautiful.
I would love videos discussing
1) What is an "embroidery household" like? What ia their daily routone? How and wjat age are younger family members taught the craft?
And
2) Please try to talk to the woman who did rhe "Game of Thrones" embroidery. How much machine? How much handwork? How were the designs for each noble house designed?
Fascinating video, and I love the black cable-knit? top youre wearing here.
I am loving the red velvet pants.. omg so lovely.
You could have looked up who the woman was.
Her name is Michele Garragher immensely talented.
She has several books re the GOT embroidery, very beautiful work close up.
Michele does classes with the Costume Symposium where you can learn stump work, gold work, surface embroidery to complete a project.
She is Irish and a very interesting lady.
I was lucky enough to work with her on 2 seasons of HOTD in the costume department.
In the village where I grew up, women spend about two hours a day embroidering clothes for the family. This would be in the afternoon when all their other work (hauling water, cooking, washing clothes in the river) would be done. Mostly women sit on the porch and chat. Not to romanticize village life, but I think most women enjoy this activity a lot. I know it was my mother’s favorite part of the day.
I'm 68 yrs old, and I'm not completely sure when I learned embroidery. I know we had to do an embroidered tea towel in 7th grade as the first project in sewing class, but my mother probably started me at a younger age. Mom sewed a lot: swag curtains for the living and dining rooms, clothing. I was an odd size - my waist was much smaller than what was "normal" for my large hips - I had to grow into my eastern European hips! So I made all my pants up through high school and made matching vests through the early 1970s. I learned crochet, a little knitting and macrame. By the 1980s I joined the SCA and was sewing clothing for other members and creating Tutor English and Slovak gowns for myself. I self taught or learned from others various handmade lace and embroidery techniques I used for my outfits - very time intensive and period appropriate. After getting carpal tunnel, I purchased a home embroidery machine and have done pictures of designs with up to 70,000 stitches on one piece. Yes, I have used metallic thread and it is a royal pain!
I can never find the words to explain just how beautiful I find this craft. Not only the embroidery but the hand stitching and the energy and care that goes into every part of a well made garment. I hope some day I am fortunate enough to move further from fast fashion and closer to something that represents that authentic human creation aspect that is lacking in department stores and what is readily available near many people.
This points to why the costumes for Outlander (in Paris) were painted !
I was just wondering how they make the waistcoats for Bridgerton. One of the main brothers often has fancy embroidery.
In The Last Emperor, some of the costumes where close ups weren't needed used digitally printed copies of embroidery
I believe that's quite a common 'trick', particularly for theatrical costumes.
Oh that's pretty interesting period I didn't know that the parish sequences or the pairs of season two episode I believe comma I didn't know that they hand painted the designs on the material period I was given to believe that they did all of the costume work by hand the same as they did for Season 1.
Designers will use Sari fabric for waistcoats and dress embroidery. It's not uncommon for them to custom order pieces from India. There are still embroiders in the US but sadly many places were closed or moved out of NYC due to large rent increases. As you can tell the hours needed to make such a garment the wages are higher in the US as well. It is awesome to see the place in India where they have been doing this for centuries. I've been lucky to find some thrifted embroidered saris over the years and marvel over the beautiful gold work and embroidery!
I absolutely loved to see this embroidery and how the different techniques work together~ I just received my kit this week and am beyond excited to start work on it! 🥰
I’m was raised by my grandmother more than 60 years ago. She was a seamstress and she taught me sewing and embroidery that she learned from her mother at the turn of the century. It takes forever but it is beautiful on shirts , skirts
What a wonderful video. Quality and skill everywhere! The digital designer, the machine operator, the hand embroiderers, the research, the sewing, the editing! I felt emotional at the end thinking of all the hours people spent on needlework and creating clothing. I knit, crochet and sew, I don't imagine anything I make will be an heirloom but it does make me feel connected to my ancestors.
Watching this while 50 hours into hand sewing the pretty housemaid corset. Thanks for giving me entertainment to keep me going. Almost halfway done!
Good luck, i hope your finished product looks as good as you hope it will.
You can do it!! 👏
❤❤❤
Update! The busk arrived yesterday and I'm almost done! I'm working on sewing both sides of the busk in and attaching the front pieces to the rest of the garment. After that all that's left is to finish sewing on the edge tape, put the eyelets in on one side (I've already done the other) and finish the flossing at the top and bottom of the boning channels on the second side! I'm so happy with how it's turning out!
@@laurenbrinsfield2614 woo hoo!! 👏
Oh my goodness, I LOVED this documentary!! Absolutely loved it!! And the idea to provide a stitch-along version of the pattern? Amazing! I literally held my breath as the pattern was cut and it was hand stitched together. What beautiful workmanship, start to finish! Thank you so much for sharing!
Such a lovely video! I have been doing hand embroidery (though not nearly as elaborate as this) for most of my life. For the past 15 years I have enjoyed English Smocking and this spring, I naively decided to sell some of my dresses in a local art show. Most of my pieces took anywhere from 20-30 hours to complete so I was selling them at a very large loss. Even at a reduced price, the majority of the public, though fascinated with it, weren't willing to spend money "on something that little girls grow out of so quickly". Fast fashion has done a number on traditional crafts which is why I so enjoy watching your videos. It's so exciting to see that not all hand sewing and embroidery is lost to time.
This video is everything I could ask for - a skilled group of artisans who work together to create a beautiful project. I also can’t forget the research, filming, and editing that goes into making such an amazing video. I just wish that artisanal work and an appreciation for higher quality products was more accesible and enjoyed by the rest of society. However, I have no doubt that this video will achieve that. ❤
Actually, given the number of different videos coming through my feed I would say that the algorithm has been very busy.
There is a market for these videos to be sure.
This was so joyful to see. 🥰❤ I’ve done needlework since I was a child. Learned from my mother and grandmother most of the arts of handcrafts - knit, sew, tatting, crochet, embroidery, quilting. Even now when I am sewing a garment I will sometimes incorporate embroidery and beading and special gold or silver threads into it just for that extra happy factor. It was such a pleasure to see the work and hear the passion from the embroiderers and also you and your cohorts. Wonderful video. ❤
My grandmother (1917 - '98) did embroidery by hand. We have a special, framed, piece that has every one of her grand kids first and last names with birth dates that go around the whole border of the cloth.
"Grandchildren are the treasures of a long life is embroidered into the center."
🪡
She did other works, as well, including knitting. 🧶
During the depression she traveled around repairing garments for people along with her mother. 🧵
Just beautiful. I am sure you are well aware of Sarah Humpfry’s RUclips channel. She is the reason I started and fell in love with all types of embroidery. Her explanation of the history behind the technique and her excellent teaching skills really motivated me. You motivated me to do more sewing by hand.
I just love Bernadette cooing over the finished waistcoat like it's a newborn. 😂
i'm trying to wrap my head around the amount of time it took to embroider a garment vs the changing style of fashion. I can imagine just how excited someone would be to receive a new coat or dress with fashionable embroidery...just amazing.
What a beautiful video! It was lovely seeing Mia appear too! She was amazing on the sewing bee and she really stood out. This has made me itch to get all my beads back out lol
Mia is an absolute delight and was a lifesaver on this project!
I appreciate the hard work and attention you gave this topic! Embroidery was the first thing I was ever taught by my great-grandmother when I was a babe and it's still an important skill to me to this day.
Loving the embroidery and 18th century fashion while reclining on the couch in t-shirt and jogging shorts…
Fashion comes in all shapes and sizes! 😎
I'm not a crafter myself, other than doing some knitting when I was younger. I lack the creative urge - and skills. I was introduced to this channel by a crafter niece who has made some historical garments because she knows of my interest in history and historical garments. I subscribed and have been here for quite a while, appreciating and enjoying your work.
This waistcoat project was next level. Every aspect from concept to finished creation was simply fascinating, with the collaborative process, the history and culture, the artistry and craftsmanship and immense amount if labour involved, all documented for our enjoyment and for posterity. The end result is absolutely glorious, a true treasure.
Kudos to all involved.
This is a wonderful video! I don't know how she does it, but Bernadette continues to surpass herself video after video. This shows a true commitment to continual growth. And I greatly appreciate her dedication to bringing historically invisible hand work to light.
I am also deeply passionate about preserving historical hand work and to supporting those artisans who continue to be committed to making their living through their hand crafts. My last hand crocheted art blanket has over 84,000 stitches in it, and it took about 700 hours for me to make it. So putting in over 140,000 embroidery stitches in 300 hours wold require someone immensely skilled.
Ive embroidered (mostly cross stitch) as a hobby for years now, and Ive really loved watching this video of all the labor that goes into more labor intensive embroidery while embroidering myself!
I’m a little lost for words at the beauty of this embroidery. I adore learning about companies such as Hand & Lock and Atelier Shikaarbagh; the people who work here are so talented, so accomplished.
Bernadette, your content always resonates with my heart and my yearning for the nuance of skills from the olden days!
I'm thinking about the time it takes to make a garment and paintings of aristocratic children. Children grow so quickly, it's really magical to have a garment planned, embroidery completed, assembling the garment, and the child is still alive (not to be morbid), but also the right size; miraculous!
While pregnant my mother always made a full set of clothes for each of her babies (she had 13!) using fine viyella cloth and embroidered them with little grub roses. She’d done an Enid Gilchrist course, which taught pintucking at the shoulders and above the hemline that could be let out as the baby grew.
My guess is that tailors might have had ready-made embroidered panels, designed to be cut to a pattern! I believe that's how a lot of waistcoat fronts were made at the height of the fashion.
I wonder if they'd reuse old adult clothing for baby clothes as well, if they couldn't be altered for the changing fashions. How many lavish baby clothes were cut from old court gowns? 🤔
I've always been fascinated with embroidery. So much so that I decided to pracetice it myself. Self-taught at first then I joined a traditional Thai embroidery workshop which was an eye opening experience. Seeing this video and various techniques brought joy to my heart. Hand embroidery is fun and stunning. Wish I could learn more and more to keep these wisdom alive. Thank you Bernadette for this amazing video. You are a true gem. ❤❤❤
The Hmong people rom Southeast Asia also have some fabulous embroidery which tells stories.
I very much encourage people to give hand embroidery a go. It isn't that difficult to get started and you very definitely don't have to have a big 18th century project in mind to start with - I've repaired small moth holes in a vintage suit by adding some hand embroidery to cover up the repair, for example, and it came out looking quite nice. I have a t-shirt in progress right now that I'm embroidering a design on as a gift for my fiancé. You can also combine embroidery with a printed or drawn design - like picking out details on a t-shirt or highlighting part of a print on patterned fabric.
Even gold work isn't *that* hard, although I'd definitely suggest starting with something with just plain embroidery thread first to get a feel for things because there's just more to manage with gold work and the gold work materials are easier to damage so you can't pick out mistakes as easily. (Or a kit like Bernadette's where you can start with the plain sections and then move on to the gold work/beads/spangles once you're a bit more comfortable with things. I definitely wouldn't grab a kit that's full gold work as a complete novice to hand embroidery.)
It's so so refreshing and needed to talk about the impact of textiles from India and China and how they shaped western fashion. I seriously appreciate your commitment to making that history known, and also living the history yourself with projects like these. I'm a long time fan but this may be my favorite project of yours :D
Wow this was just hands down one of your best videos. I can see all the love in the project. Also the aesthetic quality of the editing sound mixing and post production. You have nicely mastered film story telling, well done! 🎉
Danny did an absolutely showstopping job with this edit especially!! An incredible amount of work.
Thank you for the beautiful documentary. I love embroidery and I come from a family where everyone does some sort of textile craft. Seeing and hearing everyone treat this art/craft with the reverence it deserves was so touching and validating.
My aunt had an embroidery machine that I tried to make a digital file for many years ago, but I never figured out how to get my idea to the machine. Maybe someday I'll revisit the project or attempt hand-embroidery. I have a lot of respect for people who know how to do all of this.
You can try Embird embroidery software as a free demo for 30 saves. (Then you have to buy it or give up on it.) I got it for file management and file rotation because my embroidery machine has a different hoop alignment (think 8"x10", but everyone else has 10"x8" kind of thing). It handles every machine embroidery format, so you can save a file as a JEF for Janome, or as a PES for Brother, or DST for Tajima etc.. At that point, all you need is to save the file to the physical memory medium your embroidery machine requires, or connect your computer directly to your embroidery machine if it allows that. Then stitch away to your heart's content.
Be forewarned: hoop hypnosis is a real thing.
This is so absolutely stunning. I've only yet dabbled in the field of embroidery, but this shows why I want to continue. So now we've looked at fabric flower making, spinning and embroidery. I would love to see you exploring knitting. It is such a vast and fascinating field and seeing how it ties into historical fashion would be great.
Stunning. Thank you for this documentary. I am 78 and just learning sashiko to get my tremors and arthritis under control. I've taken up embroidery again and so enjoy the process and the choosing of colors and textures. I love your videos.
It’s lovely to see so many young faces in such an old craft, it’s good to know that embroidery isn’t dying off like so many other traditions are in the modern era.
Thanks for the info on how they’d embroider the pattern and then cut it out! I’ve been sucked into the black hole of embroidery thanks to the 17th and 18th centuries and now I have a blueprint
Such an exquisite piece of work. The production all round was awesome. From there garment to the filming…..20/10!!! So good!
I love how this is a beautiful collaboration between various people with different wonderful skills
I throughly enjoyed watching this video. What exquisite embroidery! Imagine wearing such finery in the 18th century. Your trip to Hand and Lock must have been a blast. I loved the entire project of creating a replica of that lovely vest. I just about held my breath when the fabric was being cut. NO mistakes allowed!!!! Good Lord! 😅
Thank you so much! It was a great pleasure to watch!
Aaaaa! Thank you soooo much for this project. As a hand embroderer, I just loved it sooooooooo much. I was just in pain when you cut the button whole with the chisel through the embroidery. Ouch! I wish I could do this for a living. It stays for now as a side thing I do for me and my family. But thank you again for this amazing video. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
right? I was just staring at it "you did _what_ just now!!!!!"
@peregrina7701 I just started screaming silently as my son was sleeping in the next room.... 😅
I want to know if there was actual wailing when they all realized that the button hole HAD TO GO RIGHT THERE.
History and an exploration of techniques combined to make this a fascinating video. Thank you for sharing.
You make me wish I had paid more attention the last time I went to the V&A’s fashion galleries. I was more interested in the actual fashions of the day - the shape and size of the skirts, the addition of bustles or other shape distorting undergarments. I completely overlooked the embroidered details. It’s true that the more you know, the more you get out of these sort of exhibitions.
My mother did lovely, complicated, embroidery. She taught me basic embroidery stitching but I lacked to patience for learning any more than that. I am in awe of the quality of embroidery shown in this video.
This has everything: history, craftsmanship, and joy. What a wonderful project!!!
It is a great video which I enjoyed very much.
Oh? My? God?? It’s gorgeous, the love and care everyone put into it is indescribable, the passion the embroidery team had for it… just wow. This is art, (not just the piece but the human element too) and I am MOVED
In a world filled with fast fashion it’s refreshing seeing skilled craftsmanship
This AMAZING and I'm so glad to see international experts and the combination of machine and hand work! Honestly I think that there is value in pure handcraft, but there's also value in having the human touch on the required parts.
I do want to mention that I had a hard time with the music in this video, it seemed much louder than the voices.
i dont know why, but by the end of the video, i was crying. The love and sensibility put in this video, for the love of the craft itself, its just...chef kiss
My mother has embroidered my whole life, and since she was young as a hobby and to make money the side. Some of my earliest memories was watching in wonder and awe as she worked, I began embroidery myself in kindergarten, and have done so off and on since. As she's gotten older she's begun working less and less, she has arthritis and her eyesight is not as great as it used to be, but a huge part of it is with the availability of pre-embroidered things and at home embroidery machines, it's even harder to sell her works than before. A lot of people don't want to spend the money that hand embroidery (and even some machine) costs, when she was selling the things she'd embroidered she didn't even put in the whole cost of the labor, materials, and time that she spent on each item. It's been really sad watching her lose her joy in what she used to do, and watching as her boxes of embroidery and the ceramics she paints gain dust as they're left untouched.
I saw a coat from this era in person at my local art gallery once. It was nothing short of astonishing. It had an aura of a magical, almost sacred object, akin to an illuminated manuscript. Wonderful project and video, thank you! I already do bead embroidery, but I am getting inspired to learn more traditional embroidery as well!
Thank you for highlighting these different crafts that could so easily be forgotten. I'm utterly fascinated and even more interested in embroidery!
Sooo beautiful and inspiring. My Mum did City and Guilds embroidery. She made all of the vestments and altar cloths for our church and I remember her struggling with the gold thread as it kept unravelling.
this is so beautiful
I have a box full of embroidered things from my great grandmother and Aunty stashed away with lots of mothballs, I just don't have the patience for needlework and my love of cats makes actually using any of it on my furniture as doilies, mats etc impossible hence storing it.
This is obviously a labor of love on the part of everyone involved and it shows. It's gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing this process.
Cutting into the fabric for this must have been so nerve-wracking. But the end result was definitely worth it. I loved everyone's reactions to the project and the process as well as Heathcliff's pure delight at being able to wear the finished garment.