More on Parr

Getting close to the finish line on the Katherine Parr canvas!

The sleeves and underskirt were worked in a staggered cross stitch with Wildflowers "Cinnabar" and Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #005HL.  At the cuffs and hem are rows of braided knitting over one thread stitched with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002.  Decorating the hem border are horizontal oblong cross stitches worked with the black metallic.

The decorative cord hanging down her underskirt from her waist was stitched with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 in a combination of vertical oblong cross stitches and French knots with a Scotch stitch variation at the bottom.

I've auditioned threads and stitches with which to work her stole--now it's time to actually do it!

Katherine Parr - Part Three

I've been painting more and stitching less these days, so it's taken a bit to get Katherine Parr's overdress finished.

After completing the first pass of the double stitch with three strands of DMC floss #677, I filled in the skipped canvas threads with a tent stitch using Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002.

To celebrate, I worked her necklace and brooch in tent and satin stitches with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #061.  On to her sleeves and underskirt!

Katherine Parr--Part Two

The bodice of Katherine Parr's dress features a white insert, first outlined with a single row of white Petite Very Velvet to give it a raised look, then filled in with alternating rows of stem and slanted Gobelin stitches over two threads using white DMC floss.

The border around the insert was worked in Wildflowers "Cinnabar" with a combination of tent and Scotch stitch variations.  The skipped canvas threads were filled in with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #005HL.

The overdress in Katherine's portrait is a tone-on-tone gold fabric.  The area to be stitched here is much too small to replicate the pattern, but it is possible to achieve an overall tone-on-tone effect.  I've begun work on the first part of a double stitch--essentially oblong cross stitches over two threads-- using three strands of DMC floss #677..

The Survivor

"Divorced, beheaded, died.  Divorced, beheaded, survived."  This little chant helps tweak the memory as to the fates of Henry VIII's six wives.  Here we have the survivor:  Katherine Parr.

Katherine's mother, Maud, was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon when she gave birth to her daughter, so Henry's sixth wife was actually named for his first.  Katherine had been widowed twice by the time she married Henry, and after he died she married Thomas Seymour.  Her fourth husband was the brother of Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, but Katherine died from complications of childbirth just like her late sister-in-law.  It sure was a small world in the Tudor court!

The inspiration for this adaptation is a portrait that hangs in London's National Portrait Gallery.  Katherine's French hood has been stitched with black Petite Very Velvet, Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 in a stem stitch, and white PVV and Wildflowers "Cinnabar" in tent stitches.  Her hair was worked with Burmilana and her face in DMC cotton floss.

Kathryn Howard - Finale

Henry VIII's fifth wife, Kathryn Howard, is finished!

To create her fur stole, I first stitched the area in basketweave with some "vintage" DMC Medici wool.  Carefully covering the stitched area around the stole with some cardboard, I started roughing up the wool with a nap brush until I was satisfied with the fuzzy effect.

Her necklace was stitched with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 and #3503.

The tassel was worked in a variation of braided knitting over three threads rather than the usual two.  The crosses created a pocket, into which I popped a French knot with the red metallic.  It's not a coincidence that the same metallic threads used for Jane Seymour's jewelry were used here, too.  Historians have noted that in a portrait of Kathryn, her jewelry seems strangely similar to that worn by Jane.  They concluded that the jewels reverted to the king after Jane's death, and he subsequently gifted them to his fifth wife.

Kathryn Howard - part three

Kathryn's dress is completed, worked in a Nobuko stitch with four strands of DMC floss #434.  Only her fur stole and jewelry remain to be stitched.

Yesterday, I finally made a trip to my LNS for reinforcements.  So when Kathryn is finished, I can go back and add the little details necessary to complete the two other wives.

Kathryn Howard - part two

The yoke on Kathryn Howard's dress, as it appears in the Holbein painting, is quite raised and distinctive.  To convey that look, I began outlining with DMC #5 perle cotton #434 in a stem stitch.  I then filled in this area with a variation of Scotch stitch, working the over-two/over-three/over-two sections with DMC floss #434 and skipping the two over-one stitches.  Going back with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #052, I added a single tent stitch in the open areas.

For her sleeves and underskirt, I used one strand of Wildflowers Granite in a diagonal mosaic stitch for the sleeves and a mosaic stitch for the underskirt.  A row of slanted Gobelin stitches over three threads created the hem.  I'll go back later to fill in the line down the middle of the underskirt to form the elaborate tassel which hangs from her waist.