FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Northanger’s Creeping Vines Fichu
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photographer/Videographer: Peter Benison Modelled by myself
Outline the story …
**To Clarify: The hat and dress are not part of my submission, just the embroidered fichu**
The embroidered fichu is inspired by Catherine Morland, the heroine from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I wanted to create something sensible and not too bold for Catherine, who isn’t as fashion-forward as some of her companions like Mrs. Allen and Isabella Thorpe. I imagine that she would wear this fichu, having been inspired by the above-stated friends, as a way to explore her tastes but in a way that was still sensible to her. I used blue as the main colour because it is typically associated with tranquility and calmness, trust, and confidence, all of which are characteristics that appear in the novel and in Catherine herself. The green vines pay homage to Gothic imagery of ivy-covered castles. The small leaves and buds represent the themes of beginning and youth; whether this is Catherine’s various new friendships, her affection towards Henry, and the transformative journey that she undergoes over the course of the novel. The embroidery pattern that I used is accurate to the Regency period, and may well have been something that Catherine would "recognize".
Outline the construction…
I wanted to use fabric that I had in my stash instead of purchasing something new. As a result, I used a lightweight and sheer cotton muslin. I measured and made a few mockups to determine the shape and size of the fichu, finally settling on 58” on the longest side and 35” on the other two. I cut the fichu with the longest side on the bias, as the extra stretch created by doing this allows for a really nice drape around the neck. I finished the edges using a self-rolled hem, which was something that I learned for this project. Then I flipped through some embroidery books that I had to create the pattern, I used Jane Austen Embroidery and The Embroidered Garden. I combined multiple designs to create the floral vine repeat. I have only done one embroidery project in the past and so my method for transferring the pattern to the fabric involved tracing it onto tracing paper and darkening the design with a Sharpie so I could lay the pattern under the sheer fabric and redraw the pattern onto it with a steam disappearing pen. Then I used the “outline” and “satin” stitch to do the embroidery.
Love this!
Those stitches are so perfect!
Lovely! Your stitching is beautiful and I love the color choice.
The embroidery is very neat❤ Great job!
This is the reason hats should be more in fashion again!
SO so well done! It’s so delicate, I would love to have one just like it! Beautiful!
I love this! It’s really very well done! I really love the vine embroidery. Thank you!
Beautiful embroidery. I love how you thought about the floral design. And the fit shows that even for something so perceptibly simple as a fichu a mock-up really pays off.