EMBROIDERED CUSHION: “PELICAN AND SQUIRREL IN A BERRY TREE”

Alianor de Ravenglas

Abstract
This piece is a cushion with an embroidered top consisting of two sections from the Bostocke
Sampler (which is dated to 1598). The center portion was charted by Lady Caryl de Trecesson in
her work Designs, Period; I charted the border from a scanned image of the complete sampler.
In working the center portion, I added a bird to the upper right hand corner that had at one time
been present. I also made some minor changes in order to enhance the symmetry of the piece.
The embroidery was worked in silk on roughly 20-count linen using cross stitch and back stitch.
The top of the cushion is “lined” with a tightly-woven cotton and the back is of the same linen as
the top. It is stuffed with scraps of fabric, yarn, and thread.
Background
The Bostocke Sampler
is English and inscribed "Iane Bostocke" and "1598". The piece is linen with red, brown,
green, blue, and white colored silk, and silver-gilt and silver thread, worked in cross
stitch and 2-sided Italian cross stitch. There are spot motifs at the top and a variety of
(mostly) blackwork borders at the bottom. The total size of the piece is about 17" by 15".
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.1
This sampler provides a wealth of late 16th-century embroidery patterns, both cross stitch and
blackwork.

Figure 1: The Bostocke Sampler2

1
Hanson, C. (2002). Designs, Period. 2002.
2
King, D. and S. Levey (1993). The Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from
1200 to 1750. New York, Canopy Books.

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For this piece, I chose two sections of the larger sampler: the pelican and squirrel in a berry tree
and one of the blackwork patterns to serve as a border to the central figure. The pelican figure
actually served as my introduction to the sampler; I saw Lady Caryl de Trecesson’s chart of it in
Designs, Period and decided to work the piece. Only later did I seek out images of the complete
sampler to find a border for the piece. I decided to turn the embroidered piece into a cushion
because I have a strong preference for making things that are useful.
Execution and Construction
I worked this embroidery on roughly 20-count linen using Medeira silk floss. Each stitch (both
cross stitch and blackwork) crosses two threads. I worked the blackwork section using a
backstitch, since the piece is not reversible.
This linen is far from ideal for embroidery work; it is intended for clothing and has a fair number
of slubs in it. I chose to use it for both modern and medieval reasons (which ultimately boil
down to the same thing). Fine “embroidery linen” is quite expensive, both in the modern and in
the medieval eras. I was unable to find it at a price that I could afford, and I had this linen left
over from making a tunic. It seems plausible to me that embroidery in the medieval period might
also have been worked on scraps left over from garment construction, especially by a person first
learning the skill.
For the central figure of this piece, I used the chart of the central figure found in Designs, Period.

Figure Two: Pelican and Squirrel in a Berry Tree, charted in Designs, Period.
I drew my color selections from a scan of the sampler itself.

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 Figure Three: Bostocke Sampler Detail
Upon examination of the photo of the sampler itself, I discovered that there had at one time been
a bird perched on the upper right hand branch of the tree.

Figure Four: “Missing” Bird Outlined3

I decided to reintegrate the bird into the design for a number of reasons. First, I liked the image
much better with another figure to balance out the squirrel. Second, I intend to use ravens in my
personal badge and device, so adding a black bird (a raven) would add a personal touch to the
piece. Once I had decided to enhance the symmetry in that part of the piece, I decided to do the
same within the tree; the lower left and right quadrants are identical in terms of the leaves and
branches on the tree, but the berries were not symmetrical, so I made that modification.
I realized very quickly that if I wanted to make a cushion with this piece that I would want to add
a border to it. I examined a number of blackwork patterns both from the Bostocke Sampler and
from other sources and ultimately decided that I wanted to stay consistent and use a pattern from
the Sampler. I charted a number of these and ultimately settled on one that resembled chains in
diamond shapes with flowers inside the diamonds.

Illustration 5: Bostocke Sampler Detail

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My thanks to Elias Gedney for enhancing the digital image of the sampler to make the bird more visible.

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I was unable to reproduce the pattern exactly, and ended up with the following chart, which is
what I used.

Illustration 6: My Chart of the Blackwork Pattern

I chose this pattern for a number of reasons. First, there was a clear answer to the question of
“How do I make this pattern go around a corner?” Second, it had an appropriate scale; when
worked over two threads, it did not overpower the central figure. My color choice for the
blackwork was motivated by the same concern; I considered working it in black floss, but
ultimately decided that doing so would draw focus away from the cross stitch. Instead I worked
the border in the same green that was used for the tree. Obviously “blackwork” refers to the
style of embroidery not to the color of the thread used, and in the original Sampler, the same
green was used both for the tree and for some of the blackwork sections in the bottom half of the
Sampler.
Once the embroidery was done, I had to turn the embroidered fabric into a cushion top. About
the time I started this project, I began to save small fabric scraps and thread and yarn clippings to
use as stuffing. I have seen references to numerous methods of stuffing cushions in the medieval
period ranging from fleece to cotton to human hair to fabric scraps; I chose the last method
because scraps were readily and freely available. This falls in line with my use of larger leftover
pieces to make the cushion in the first place. I cut the larger scraps into small pieces so that a
person using the cushion would not feel lumps of wadded up fabric inside.
As I worked the embroidery, I realized that the back of the work was potentially a “weak” spot; I
was afraid that the process of stuffing the pillow might snag some of the stitches from the back
and damage the embroidery. I had seen reference to embroidered coifs that were lined to protect
the stitching; it seemed a reasonable solution to do the same thing here. I was also concerned
that some of my dark-colored scraps might show through the relatively light yellow fabric. I
basted a piece of tightly-woven cotton to the back of the embroidered top.
I stitched the cushion top to the back using a combination of running stitch and back stitch; stress
points such as the corners and the opening through which I turned the pillow right-side out. I
used the visible edges of the embroidered border to guide my stitching; I knew that I wanted the
border to cover the entire cushion top. Once the cushion was turned, I stuffed it with the scraps
and sewed the opening shut using a small whip stitch. Stuffing with scraps presented a number

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of problems I had never before encountered. Most notably, fabric scraps are much more lumpy
than purchased cotton or polyester filling. Second, some of the darker-colored scraps show
through the yellow fabric; fortunately this is only a problem on the back of the cushion in part (I
believe) because the embroidery hides it and also because the cotton backing prevents its
visibility.
Reflections
This is the first work I’ve done where I really questioned whether or not a modern aesthetic was
influencing my decisions. Would the medieval eye have wanted the same symmetry in the
central figure that my modern one does? What would the medieval eye have concluded
regarding the scale of the blackwork relative to the cross stitch? And what about the choice to
use green floss rather than some other color for the border? These are questions that I’m not
prepared to answer, but I do know that I am quite pleased with how the final work turned out.
Sources
Hanson, C. (2002). Designs, Period. 2002. http://www.dragonbear.com/dp/dp.html
King, D. and S. Levey (1993). The Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Collection: Embroidery
in Britain from 1200 to 1750. New York, Canopy Books.