Medieval Clothing
- EMBROIDERY -

Heraldic shapes

Photos of fabrics
Pomegranate shapes, Italy 1450-1550's

Wall hanging, The Church of Grödingen in Sweden  15th Century

Embroidery was practised especially in monasteries and also in so-called workshops. This "needle painter’s" or "pearl stinger’s" (opus ad acum) profession was very appreciated and they were usually men.

Mostly church textiles but also clothes and even shoes were decorated with skilled embroidery: silk, gold and silver thread was used as well as different pearls. The usual stitches were for example the satin stitch, the stem stitch and a kind of a variant of a stem stitch where the needle cuts the thread in two.

Application for example metal application and intarsiature, where shapes that have been cut off change places, were also made. Sometimes embroidery covered all the fabric.

In the 13^th Century it was fashionable to use the colours and the shapes of the armorial bearings also in clothes, the clothes were indeed extremely colourful and decorative. The shapes were made by using application technique or embroidery.