Whitework as the name suggests is the embroidery of white fabric with a white thread. Texture is obtained through withdrawing threads - ‘Drawn Thread’, or simply pulling threads as in ‘Danish Pulled Thread’ embroidery. It has been suggested that the origins of needlelace came from withdrawing threads and then using embroidery to create ‘lace’ structures. Gradually the supporting fabric was down away with an threads were couched down strengthened with buttonhole stitch and lace such as Reticella was created. The use of these techniques have a long history including the Elizabethan period - you only need to look at Elizabethan portraits to see examples of Reticella/ drawn/ pulled thread combined with so-called ‘bone lace’.
In the 16th century embroiderer’s were regarded as being of equal importance as other craft guilds. In Margaret Swain’s book ‘Scottish Embroidery: Medieval to Modern’ she refers to John Young as embroiderer to James V (of Scotland). Mary Queen of Scots had two professional male embroiderers: Ninian Miller and Pierre Oudry. During Mary’s imprisonment at the Castle of Lochleven she requested for her embroiderer, at the time Pierre Oudry, along with other servants, a request that was refused.
William Beatoun, the King’s embroiderer in Scotland did not follow his monarch, James I of England and VI of Scotland, when James moved to London. At the same time Edinburgh had a number of professional embroiderers: James and William Whyte; Alexander Barnes and Hew Tod.
In 1782, Luigi Ruffini, a professional embroiderer from Piedmont in northern Italy came to Edinburgh to set a workshop for the production of embroidered muslin especially that known as Dresden work and tambouring.
The Georgian/ Victorian periods saw a resurgence in interest in these techniques across Europe including:
Scotland: Ayrshire Whitework
Denmark: Hedebo
Norway: Hardangersom (Hardanger)
Germany: Saxon & Dresden work.
This interest was rekindled in the 20th Century by avid embroiderers and collectors such as Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray and Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth.
You can see examples of these techniques at museums, and historic houses including:
Hardanger Folk Museum
Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen
National Museum of Scotland
Future Museum: South West Scotland
Glasgow Museums
Kay-Shuttleworth Collection, Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire
Blair Castle, Perthshire, Scotland
In the contemporary example at the top of this page bullion and French knots give texture along with stem, blanket stitches and eyelets. It veers away from the classic tradition in that off white threads were used.
You sometimes find pulled/drawn thread embroidery combined with corded quilting. As with the whole cloth quilt my interest comes from the exciting textural effect of the stitches on a monochrome background.
I have also compiled a whitework bibliography:
Carolyn Ambutter: The Open Canvas, Penguin, 1982, 0140466517
Gudrun Anresen: Bonde Syninger på lærred Volumes 1-3, Borgen, (v1) 1981, 8741847296, (v2) 1983 8741852060, (v3) 1986 8741871871 (In Danish)
Agnes Bryson: Ayrshire Whitework, Batsford, 1989, 071345928
Oenone Cave: Cut-work Embroidery and how to do it, Dover, 1982, 0486242676
Mar-Dick Digges & Dolly Norton Fehd, Nancy Lawson, Martha Pearle Vogt: Lady Evelyn's Needlework Collection, Embroidery Research Press, 1988, 0929339002
Esther Fangel, Ida Winckler & Agnete Wuldern Madsen: Danisg Pulled Thread Embroidery (Sammentrækssyning), Dover, 1977, 0486234746
Tracy Franklin & Nicola Jarvis: Contemporary Whitework, Batsford, 2007, 9780713490664
Marianne Lotzbeck & Jytte Harboessgaard: Kniplingssyning fra Hedeboegnen, 1993, 8741867505 (In Danish)
Lisa Melen: Drawn Threadwork (Nåversöm and Modeller i Nåversöm), Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968, 0442053088
Elsie Svennås: Brodera Vitt på Vitt, ICA Förlaget, 1962 (In Swedish)
Margaret Swain: Ayshire & Other Whitework, Shire Publications, 1982, 0852635893
Margaret Swain: Scottish Embroidery: Medieval to Modern, Batsford, 1986, 0713446382
