indifferent-century:An attractive Berlin pattern in acacia wattle. This pattern is worked in four
indifferent-century: An attractive Berlin pattern in acacia wattle. This pattern is worked in four shades of yellow, five of green, three of drab, and one of salmon, on a sky blue ground. — If you have been following my adventures with James Ross and Francis Crozier in Van Diemen’s Land, you might remember that Ross took a particular liking to the island’s colonial emblem, the wattle flower. He was so taken with it that he always wore it in his hat when he was there! Noticing this, and being herself rather awestruck by the esteemed captain, Eleanor Franklin embroidered gifts for both Ross and Crozier that depicted the flower. I thought I would try my hand at designing a Victorian-style “Berlin” pattern (for cross stitch or tent stitch), to guess what Eleanor’s design might have looked like. Unless there was a brand-new needlework manual for sale in the reportedly unfashionable city of Hobart, Eleanor would have had to design her own pattern as well. It took me about two weeks of yelling at a spreadsheet … I can’t imagine how people did this without a computer. And Victorian patterns were often more complex than this! Thanks to @knit-the-terror for helping me in finding several 1830s-1850s needlework manuals, and making “seven shades of scarlet” a running gag. (Seriously, Victorian needlework loved its shading.) I chose blue for the background because the inspiration project was, of course, intended for officers of the Navy! I did learn from the needlework manuals, however, that dark blue yarn tended to bleed onto all the other colors, so lighter shades were recommended. I will probably get started on stitching this soon. If anyone else wants to try it out, please tag me – I’d love to see! Historical note below the cut! Keep reading -- source link
#berlin needlework#cross stitch#needlepoint#tent stitch#historical needlework#eleanor franklin