Cutwork - Berkeley Grape Vine

The second sample we stitched for the Introduction to Tudor Embroidery course was based on a hanging from Berkeley Castle, now held at the V&A museum (T.90-1926). The V&A describe the hanging as “appliqué velvet on wool”, probably English, late 16th century. Appliqué, or cutwork as it was known in Tudor England, can be defined as “Motifs cut from fabric and applied to a ground with embroidery; they might be padded and couched for a three-dimensional effect.” (Tudor Textiles, Eleri Lynn, Glossary, p.165) Cutwork was often used to embellish large textiles such as hangings.

The Berkley Hanging consists of two repeating designs cut from black velvet and applied to red woollen cloth and embellished with couched (gold?) cord embroidery. Our sample, based on the central grape vine, was cut from red velvet, applied to white wool felt and embellished with gold silk cords which we made in two thicknesses from AVAS soie d’alger.

The design was transferred onto the felt using the prick and pounce method. The templates for the cutwork elements were flipped and transferred to the back of the velvet. The cut velvet shapes where then applied to the wool with small stab stitches around the perimeter.

© Cynthia Jackson/Carol-Anne Conway

The silk cord was couched first along each edge of the central strip and then a continuous length of cord was stitched along the vine and tendrils, and around the grapes and leaves, doubling up when necessary, e.g. for the tendrils and stems. The finer cord was used to add details to the leaves and grapes and a scattering of French knots.

© Cynthia Jackson/Carol-Anne Conway

This was another fun piece to stitch and looks rather striking. It gives a feels for how sumptuous the originally hanging would have been. The wool felt (doeskin) for this project was extremely nice. The velvet was quite light weight (I believe it was not what the designer originally selected but supply issues forced an alternative) but that did not matter once it was attached to the felt. It worked up reasonably quickly and it is a technique I would use again if the right project presented itself.

Happy Stitching