ANNE WANNER'S Textiles in History / Vocabulary Project
 
  There are few copies left at Textilmuseum St.Gallen, Switzerland

   It may be acquired at the special prize of
Euro 12.- + postage, US $ 18 + postage, CHF 15 + postage

If you are interested please send an e-mail to wanner@datacomm.ch
I will inform you about possibilities of payment.
For sending the booklet I need your postal address.
 
 

P L A T T S T I C H
Flachstich, Spannstich
Klosterstich

________________________

   P A S S E ...   P L A T
point de plumetis
point de Boulogne

________________________
 

S A T I N    S T I T C H
Surface Satin Stitch
Self Couching


   P U N T O ...   P I A T T O
punto pieno, punto lanciato
punto posato
 
 
   Booklet of 22 pages, in 4 languages (German, English, French and Italian)
Many samplers and diagrams of embroidery stitches in colour.
Detail photos of historic embroideries of the Iklé collection, St.Gallen, Switzerland. 		 

  Author: Anne Wanner-JeanRichard.
Diagrams: Margarete Müller-Schulten.
Layout, photos, scans, embroidered stitches: Anne Wanner-JeanRichard.
Translation: Elizabeth Fischer (English and French), Thessy Schoenholzer (Italian).
Consulting: Ute Bargmann (Conway, MA, USA), Danielle Carl (Montbazon, F.)
Marie Schoefer (Lyon, F), Uta-Christiane Bergemann (Bochum, D), Marianne Flügel (Köln, D).

Editor: Textilmuseum St.Gallen, Switzerland, © Textilmuseum St.Gallen, Anne Wanner-JeanRichard.
ISBN 978-3-033-02554-7, Photonachweis Textilmuseum St.Gallen
Niedermann Druck AG, St.Gallen, 2010
 
Acknowledgements
My gratitude goes to the Iklé-Frischknecht Foundation for its financial support of the project. The textile examples from the Iklé-Jacoby collection were made available thanks to Hanspeter Schmid, director of the St. Gallen Textile Museum, Ursula Karbacher, curator and Janina Hauser, textile conservator. I am indebted to my husband Rene Wanner for expert advice and technical assistance on digital presentation. Thanks are also due to all CIETA colleagues who encouraged this endeavour through our many discussions during conferences and meetings.
       
 

The project of a glossary of embroidery stitches arose among the members of the „Embroidery Group“, one of the specialized groups under the banner of the CIETA (Centre International d’Etude des Textiles Anciens, based in Lyon).

This publication presents a section of the glossary, which presents an illustrated collection of embroidery stitches with descriptions in 4 languages.
It is hoped that the illustration of the embroidery stitches both from the front and the reverse side will allow new insights in terms of dating and provenance.

Satin stitches are straight or slanted stitches, most often worked in parallels or densely aligned. There are three distinct forms of stitches:
- In satin stitch, the embroidery thread covers the reverse of the stitch along its entire length up to the stitching hole so that the face and the reverse are covered with identical stitches. The stitches can cover a layer of padding on the front, which results in a slight relief effect.
- Surface satin stitch is identical to the satin stitch on the face. However, it is stitched through the ground fabric with short stitches; the reverse shows only these short stitches.
- Long surface satin stitches are fastened to the ground fabric by short couched stitches. Only the couched stitches, which can be more or less long and more or less slanted, appear on the reverse.

 






The great variety of names given to the stitch can be explained by the following characteristics.
This embroidery technique requires nothing but a needle, embroidery thread and some ground fabric that is, a minimal kit. However, the breadth of its applications is wide and the shapes it takes are extremely varied. A single stitch may be given several different names, related to materials, to the function of the embroidered textile or its origin. Furthermore, two stitches may appear identical yet not be worked in the same manner. For example, by working the thread in a specific way, precious material may be used sparingly or the ground fabric may be reinforced. Careful analysis of the reverse generally reveals the way in which the embroidery was done.
Quite often, the embroidery is done in an individualistic manner. The work doesn’t necessarily have to be done from left to right, nor respectively, from top to bottom and back. In the case of small embroidery pieces, it is of little consequence if the direction of the work is not systematic.
  Examples of Stitches    
       
  Straight Satin Stitch
 front
 reverse
  Slanted and irregular Satin Stitch
 front
 reverse
  Raised Satin Stitch
 front
 reverse
  Surface Satin Stitch
 front
 reverse
  Self Couching
 front
 reverse
  Indoportuguese Embroidery












 front
 reverse
 
 

In the booklet there are examples of
wool embroidery in Switzerland, 16th and 17th c.






and also of fine whitework embroidery in eastern Switzerland, 19th c.
A short description of this kind of regional embroidery is added.


Detail of whitework embroidery, Switzerland, second half of 19th c., St. Gallen Textilmuseum Inv. 2030.

  

 

 

 

 

 












Detail of whitework embroidery, Switzerland, second half of 19th c., St. Gallen Textilmuseum 21840.
  Fine Whitework Embroidery
in Eastern Switzerland
A delicate technique of whitework embroidery flourished in eastern Switzerland during the 19th century. It was characterised by the use of finest white cotton yarn on muslin ground, equally white, with fillings in needle-point lace, elaborate hemstitching, open- and pulled work,  the so-called “zughöhl”, as well as in raised satin stitch. The application of richly embroidered pieces of fabric onto fabric that was already richly embroidered was specific to this type of embroidery.

Wilhelm Koch (1823-1897), who came from Hanau in Germany, invented remarkable designs for this embroidery technique. In 1857 he started designing for the firm Custer, Koch & Co. Some 173 embroidery patterns of his have been preserved, depicting miniature scenes in white on blue or brown paper.

 

Samples of fabric attached to these designs indicate the desired relief effect. The designs were shown to customers to enable them to place their orders. Once the design had been transferred to transparent paper, its outlines were punched out with a fine needle; dark coloured powder was then sprinkled over the holes so as to mark the fabric beneath with the pattern. After this operation the embroidery work could begin. Little is known about the hundreds of women embroiderers who were engaged in this activity.

The earliest industrial statistics, established in 1880 for the cantons of Sankt Gallen, Appenzell and Thurgau, count 2330 male and female embroiderers.
       
   
 
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