Sample combining real plant elements with stitching. Dried bay leaves were trapped between two layers of thin soluble film that was then kept taught in an embroidery hoop. Criss-crossing straight stitches were worked in fine cotton thread around each leaf to hold it in place. A heavier line of couching was used to outline each leaf, carefully catching in the edges of the fine criss-cross stitches on the back of the work. The spaces between the leaves were filled with a knotted mesh, reminiscent of a needlelace filling, that was carefully caught to the stitches on the backs of the leaves and also to the back of the couched outside edge of the piece. The work was carefully supported on a fine mesh during the process to dissolve the film.
The sheer beauty and variety of all kinds of plants, particularly flowers, has meant that they have been the subject of decorative stitch pattern design throughout the world in many different cultures and throughout history.
Beauty apart, the universal importance of plants and flowers is related firstly to our close connection to nature. As shown in previous chapters, human beings, out of necessity, have always had a close association and reliance on the natural world in order to be able to survive. Plants of all kinds have provided people with food, shelter and warmth, so an understanding of how, where and when they grow has been, and remains, of prime importance to the human race. Plants therefore have always been highly symbolic in the cyclical pattern of life.
In winter many plants, in the form of seeds and roots, lie dormant in the earth and then produce shoots and grow again in spring and summer. This onset of regrowth has been celebrated in many different ways across the world since ancient times. Once the flowers have been pollinated by birds, insects or wind, they change form as they produce seeds (the means of future life) that are then scattered by various methods before the plant, in some cases, withers and dies. Even in their dried state, stems and leaves are useful for rudimentary thatch and the making of containers.
The life cycle of plants echoes that of people and demonstrates clearly the importance placed on fertility for the continuation and growth of the species. Seen in these terms, it is little wonder then that plant and flower forms have often been regarded as highly potent symbols of growth and fertility, and are prominent in the most significant decorative patterns produced across many cultures.
An embroidery inspired by rich floral embroideries studied in India. The flower forms were solidly machine embroidered separately on soluble film using various plain and metallic machine embroidery threads. They were applied to the machine-embroidered patterned background and then hand stitching was added.
Drawn and collaged studies of plants and flowers from various sources. 1) Simplified flower forms. 2) Machine-embroidered motif. 3) Bordered simplified flower form – possible idea for a small embroidery.
The tree of life, a very important design emblem from the plant world, belongs to a body of myths, rites, images and symbols that can be traced from earliest times in nearly every culture. Embodied in wood and stone carving, decorative painting and textiles, this representation spans many religions and belief systems. This motif can still be found today in some cultures, especially those in the Middle East and parts of Asia, where the textiles and other decorative arts continue to be made in the traditional manner.
In its simplest form, the tree can be represented by a single vertical line, or a forked symbol as it was in very ancient times. But what is perhaps more usual, or certainly more recognizable, are the more complex and decorative examples seen in a number of different cultures.
With branches reaching into the sky, and roots deep in the earth, the tree of life links heaven, earth and the underworld. It exists in all three and is seen as uniting our plane of existence with above and below. As a symbol of both the masculine (phallic) and feminine (bearing fruit and sustenance), it also expresses the union of the genders. The tree of life is also a strong emblem of family, ancestry, identity, lineage and religious affiliation. Because of the seeds or fruits, containing the essence of the tree that is continuously regenerated, the tree of life was regarded as a potent symbol of immortality. The longevity of many trees enhances this symbolism too.
Various stylized tree-of-life motifs from old Turkish kelim rugs. Many different examples of this motif can be seen in the decorative work of diverse cultures from around the world.
Laura Marriott’s work always begins with drawings made in her sketchbooks. Her preferred sources of information for her highly patterned pieces are botanical gardens, museums and architectural details. This large machine embroidery featuring exotic plant forms and insects was begun in this way, then the design detail was developed on the computer using Wilcom software. The stitching, carried out on a 6-needle Brother machine, was produced in the form of many small repeating modules, each approx. 13 x 10cm. The work was constructed by invisibly joining these together with hand stitching. The constrained use of colour emphasises the range and density of filling patterns used.
A sample inspired by mid-European folk art. The lower borders of plain cotton and hand-printed silk were machine stitched to the turquoise cotton background fabric using satin stitch. Both the large and small flower forms were cut out from different fabrics and were bonded in place with an iron, before being decorated with couching, French knots, stem, fishbone, fly and straight stitches.
Linked to the symbolism attached to plant forms is the human urge to decorate and beautify ourselves and our surroundings, thus patterns derived from plant and flower forms provide inspiration for rich and varied embellishment of a wide range of items. Many of these flower symbols are celebrated in vivid patterns carved, painted and embroidered onto items in constant daily use, particularly in some folk cultures.
A selection of studies from Elizabethan embroidery: decorative flower forms from Elizabethan dress, and embroidered insects, typical of the many used by Elizabethan embroiderers in their work (left); detail from a coif (a cap worn by women) with scrolling stems, flowers and leaves embroidered in coloured silk and metal threads on a linen ground (centre); detail of a blackwork design worked in silk on a long linen cushion (bottom).
Importantly too, richness of decoration in one’s surroundings and clothing is a very overt demonstration of social status. In Tudor and Elizabethan England, for example, embroidery became less dominated by ecclesiastical subject matter and a strong secular tradition emerged. As travel and trading abroad increased, the wealthy became even more affluent and there grew a tendency towards more comfortable and abundant home furnishings, visibly demonstrating wealth and position. Wealth and status were also demonstrated in the very extravagant fabrics and rich ornamentation (often embroidery based upon plants and flower forms) of the clothes worn by both women and men, many of the fabrics, such as silks and velvets, being imported from Italy.
An interest in gardens and plants developed too as increasing numbers of new species were discovered and brought back as a result of exploration to other parts of the world. It therefore became fashionable and a sign of wealth to both grow and use these plants as a design source in embroidered furnishing and clothing. Illustrated herbals and other plant drawings, many made by French and Italian artists and imported specifically, were the starting points for the extraordinary flowers and plants so exuberantly embroidered by Elizabethan women.
Sketchbook studies made in the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest showing embroidered floral designs on domestic textiles and clothing.
It is thought that the healing properties of some plants has been known since very early times and certainly many were recorded in classical Greece and Rome. Shakespeare mentions plants and flowers in several plays, sometimes imbuing them with special significance. In embroidery, since Elizabethan times and becoming even more popular in the Victorian era, flowers also began to have particular symbolic meanings or sentiments attached to them. They therefore became associated with conveying secret messages of fidelity, love and loyalty. The meanings are many and various, but to name a few, flowers such as rosemary, forget-me-nots, (for remembrance and fidelity), myrtle (good fortune, happiness), rose (love, desire, passion) daisy (loyal love, purity, faith) and violet (faithfulness), might be embroidered within a design as a token to a friend or lover.
The Last Shoe Tree by Michael Brennand-Wood in machine embroidery and mixed media. This ingenious wall-hung sculpture, one of an ongoing body of work based on flowers, is typical in its energy, of this artist’s approach. The title is a pun on the old wooden shoe last around which the flowers spring, but the piece could have a deeper meaning where treading on flowers perhaps becomes a metaphor for something else. Digitally machine-embroidered flowers, wood and wire.
The continuing interest in gardening, fuelled by the discovery, preservation and propagation of new species, for example, the tulip from Asia, has meant that plants have constantly been high in our consciousness and have been a main source of inspiration for embroiderers over time. Many exemplars can be seen throughout the history of Western embroidery design, with the work of artists and designers, such as William and May Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Jessie Newbery, Ann Macbeth and colleagues at the Glasgow School, remaining prominent.
A large number of contemporary stitched-textile artists continue to use flowers and plants decoratively in their work. But Michael Brennand-Wood is distinctive in the challenging and symbolic way he uses flower forms in his work. His immediately attractive 3D pieces convey deeper meaning than is at first apparent.
There are many ways in which flowers and other plant forms can be used in embroidered pattern making, but for best effect it is advisable not to attempt a too literal interpretation of the subject matter.
Careful study will enable you to recognize the most characteristic features of your plants, to simplify, or perhaps even exaggerate for the most decorative and striking results. Even though flowers can be very delicate, it isn’t always necessary to interpret them either very delicately or at their actual size, as bold portrayal can have wonderful, vigorous outcomes. Changes of scale should also be an aim for successful and interesting designs.
‘The mission of art is to represent nature not to imitate her’
William Morris (English textile designer, 1834–1896)
Stylised and botanical illustrations of plants are excellent resources.
An experimental sample in two wired layers, based on the drawing (above) which was traced, reversed and outlined several times. Couching, fly and straight stitches were worked on applied cotton fabrics. The wiring enables manipulation of the sections, creating a three-dimensional effect.
In addition, plant or flower details, rather than the whole plant, can provide interesting material for pattern. Close examination of plant elements (either in the plants themselves, or from botanical illustrations and diagrams), will reveal numerous decorative possibilities in the forms of stems, thorns, buds, leaves, stamens, tendrils and so on. Leaf shapes alone are a rich source of ideas, relating readily to some of the linear patterns already discussed in Chapter 2. Whether their growth structure is angular or curving, leaf outlines enable strong compositions to be made, for example as a complete contrast to flower forms or perhaps as a method of dividing the background to enclose other decoration.
Drawing made by moving, reversing and turning a traced line (from the study shown left) to make different overlapping shapes that have been filled with a variety of small repeating patterns.
Painting of fallen maple leaves.
A highly stylized maple leaf is used to create a variety of repeating designs. Many more designs are possible, especially with different stitched interpretations.
A reverse appliqué sample using different sizes of the same template. Leaf shapes, cut from different red and brown patterned and plain cotton fabrics, were randomly arranged on a blue/grey space-dyed cotton background and were then machine stitched with lime-yellow thread. A tracing made of this arrangement was reversed and used to mark out the leaves on a top layer of copper-coloured cotton. Once cut out, the edges of the leaf shapes were covered with a couched double line of red perle thread, allowing parts of the leaves on the lower layer to show. The resulting pattern depends on the random repetition of similar positive and negative shapes.
FURTHER WORK
• Add to your pattern archive by searching for stylized examples of flowers and plants.
• From life or photographs, try with your own drawings to simplify flowers and plants whilst retaining their character.
• Try stitch sampling some of your designs.
• Try making patterns from plant and leaf forms. Change the scale of some of your elements. Incorporate borders and/or other details.
