Professional embroidery is very different from hobby embroidery. Sometimes, hobbyists remark that the back of my embroidery isn’t very neat. For some, a neat back is the hallmark of excellent embroidery. It makes sense to have a neat back when the embroidery can be viewed from both sides. But when that’s not the case, there is no need for an overly neat back. Medieval embroiderers knew that. As they were professional embroiderers trying to make a living, speed was of the essence. A neat back was not. And whilst there were different qualities of embroidery for different purses, cutting corners can be seen in many pieces. By no means only in lower quality embroidery. The grapes on the Anne Geddes chasuble from Mainz are a case in point. You will find a downloadable PDF of the below embroidery tutorial on my Patreon site.

For this tutorial, you can make your grapes any size you like. Mine are 1,5 cm in diameter. You can also make as large a bundle as you want. Start by padding your grapes with three layers of satin stitches. I’ve used soft cotton for this. Make sure your last layer runs horizontally and just within the design line of the grapes.

Modern embroiderers would now probably proceed by shading each grape individually. Not so our medieval embroiderer: he did the whole lot in one go!

Add shaded satin stitch or laid work on top of the padding. I’ve used a slightly twisted silk by DeVere Yarns (#60) in three shades of blue. Once all the silk is in, add a few highlights with your gold thread. I’ve used a #6 passing thread directly in the needle.

To conclude this tutorial, add the outline of the grapes with a dark blue silk in split stitch. Feel with your fingers where the padding is. You can also easily peek between the silken stitches to see where you will need to go. These split stitches couch the silk and the gold thread down and define the grapes.

And that’s all there is to these super simple, yet highly effective, padded grapes. As always, my Journeyman and Master Patrons find a downloadable PDF with the instructions on the Patreon website.