Ooo pretty!

The embroidered area is lined with a stiff grosgrain ribbon and the ends are snipped like the pair from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. The silk ribbon is whip stitched to the grosgrain. They are shown above with a pair of off white, clocked silk stockings from Jas. Townsend and Son.

Spangles and purls and ribbons oh my!

In a previous post, I mentioned I wanted to make some new garters to go with my black Marie Antoinette halloween costume. The dress is black with silver spangles, so this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out some goldwork, or in this case, silverwork embroidery. A while back I bought a bunch of spangles and supplies from Berlin Embroidery. For this project I'm using silver spangles (#12), silver rough purl (#6) and silver thread (001C). For the garter I'm using black, one inch, silk satin ribbon from MJ Trimming. I'm still deciding what I will use to reinforce the embroidered area. Extant garters from the 18th century are often reinforced with linen or even paper. Below are some examples of garters embellished with silverwork.