I am pleased to offer the ‘Blossom Etui’  

the first Kit in the series 

‘Slips of Evidence’.

In the seventeenth century printed herbals began to stimulate interest in botanical pursuits. These books contained woodcut illustrations of naturalistic cuttings of herbs and flowers with a small heel or root attached. Embroiderers found these designs perfect templates for needlework designs. The needlework motifs reproduced from the botanical illustrations acquired their name from the ‘slip’ which was the term used to describe a plant cutting used for grafting purposes.

Elizabethan Slips were usually worked in wool or silk on pieces of linen using tent stitch. They were then cut out and applied to larger panels of wool or velvet fabric, often with an outline of couched cord or other embroidery. The larger finished pieces were used as bed hangings, curtains and cushions to adorn the home.  Slips were not always a plant or flower, motif of insects and animals were also popular. Bess of Hardwick and Mary, Queen of Scots both favoured this type of embroidery.

Later the series will have several more projects to choose from:

The Spot Sampler

The Betrothal Box

The Panel

The Bodkin Bundle

 The Blossom Etui Kit

This kit will provide you with step by step instructions and all the materials needed to make this Etui, Pinkeep and Needlebook.
Etui is 6” x 6” x 5” tall and 13” x 13” x 4” when it is open
Pinkeep is 2 1/2” diameter and 1/2” thick
Needlebook is 1 3/4” x 1 3/4"