Display – Brickstitch Bag by Richard Heyworth

Richard Heyworth, Barony of Carolingia

Wiki: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Richard_Heyworth

Front Panel of a Brickwork Bag

This bag is a much larger project using medieval German brickwork. The pattern and the fabric match a historical (15th century) example currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O144713/bag-unknown/ bottom left), though I’ve changed the colors and size to suit my needs, as well as having chosen to forgo the tassles.

Like the original, I am using 28-count linen for this project. Unlike the original, I’m using cotton DMC embroidery floss instead of the original’s silk thread – this was mostly about saving money on thread, along was the ease/accessibility of cotton DMC at a store I can walk to.

Brickwork is a style of embroidery in which all the stitches are parallel to each other, typically in lengths of 2, 4, or 6 strands of linen beneath. Each column is slightly offset from the columns to the left and right (in this case, by just 1 strand of linen), so as to create a “brick”-like effect.

What I have finished here is only the front of the bag (I want the ultimate project to be large enough to fit my cellphone in). To finish it, I will need to duplicate this work completely for the backside, which I will do the right, then fold it over and sew the ends together. I’ll add a band on the top as well as a double drawstring. This method (sew twice the width, fold, add a band and a double drawstring) will match the original 15th century version.

As you can see from this work, I enjoy the more geometric/counted forms of embroidery, but I’m excited to try anything. Once this project is done, I think I may try to do some Hardanger cutwork, followed by some pattern darning, but the sky’s the limit!