Brick Stitch Bag

This relic bag is based off the research of Richard Wymarc, OL. I followed his information for Pattern 11: An Embroidered Bag. The links to the information are: Pattern A Picture, Pattern A PDF, Pattern B Picture, Pattern B PDF and Notes.

Completed bag except the tassels on the drawstrings.

Materials used: Silk threads (12 strand): Caron Soie Cristale in White (0057), Yellow (4032) and Red (2013) and Splendor Old Gold (S1012). Metal threads: 1mm Japanese thread. Linen: 27 count white “superlinen”. Salmon silk for the lining.

Stitches: Brick stitch and some couching of metal threads

I attempted to match the colors in the pictures from the V&A and I like how it looks even though it may not match exactly as the colors noted by Wymarc are white linen (DMS 746), purple silk (DMC 3721). gold silk (DMC 3045) and yellow Silk (DMC 725). I chose to use white silk instead of linen and a red silk instead of purple as I liked the contrast. I also chose to do brick stitch even though Wymarc conjectures that the original piece stitching does not match up under magnification with regular brick stitch.

The materials

I did gold work on the front in 2 passes of 2 strands each. I did not repeat it on the back due to a shortage of Japanese thread and patience even though Wymarc description references the V&A description which states that both sides have gold work. Both I and Wymarc agree that we do not see an M as described by the V&A unless it is on the side that we cannot see. I did the 3 obvious motifs and attempted the Pelican in gold. I did not fill the Pelican in because putting it sideways does not help it look like a pelican, but it does give it enough room to work the gold.

I tried to draw the pelican from the origin, but it is difficult to see

I used a salmon silk I had around for the lining as it is close enough to red to be considered a match. It's been a long time since I lined anything, so forgive my seams.

Wymarc conjectures that the decorative stitch along the side and top could be a double chain stitch, two-tablets used to weave the chain or something else. I did a quick little side experiment and I do not believe it is a double chain - the end result is wrong. I did not attempt to tablet weave with two tablets - so that's a future experiment. It could be a cord stitch, but my end result is not as neat as the sides look. My closest guess is a diagonal leaf stitch using two colors alternating, but that is frustrating. I did a 4-strand flat chevron and stitched it on. While it looks correct, the loose silk threads have a tendency to pull and look odd if you don't get the stitches used to hold it on in just the right spot.

This is also called a fishtail braid when referring to a braid in the hair.

The bag handle is conjectured to be circular tablet weaving as he had someone reverse engineer it for him. You can see the link that person's conjecture on his page in the notes. I have seen other people do circular tablet weaving and it does produce the circular pattern and reverses seen in the V&A photos as you have to change direction with the tablets to keep it from getting too tangled. I choose to try circular inkle weaving using the technique in this video and I feel the final product does not appear exact as it does not have the starts/stops that reversing direction in tablet weaving would. Also, instead of fighting with the silk and using less strands, I used all 12 for each warp and I feel the handle is just too thick.

You can see the handle forming along the bottom

I attempted the fingerloop braid drawstrings. This is my first attempt at doing fingerloop braids and I did a basic 5 thread square. I used 2 strands of silk folded over for each finger. I whipped stitched each cord to itself and left the ends dangling for now. I did try to do a flat braid on the one side, but there's not really enough string for me to go far. I guess learning to fingerloop braid is on my list to learn. Wymarc conjectures that the drawstrings are a double-spiral fingerloop pattern and the strands of the doubled cords are worked in multiples (2 wide, 2 narrow) half-flat fingerloop braids. The finished drawstrings on the original piece are poked through the bag with no reinforcing stitching around the holes. While I did do this, it made me cry...