2025 April Program - Elizabethan Strawberry for Elizabeth I

Teacher: Luana Impellizzeri

Explore Elizabethan embroidery techniques with this beginner-friendly project designed by Margaret Kinsey: A Strawberry for Elizabeth I! We will begin this journey by showing different techniques from the elegant Elizabethan goldwork embroidery. Learn couching, padded diagonal satin stitch, lattice, fly stitch, and how to attach beads and spangles.

Please take the time to visit the EGA guest post page to learn more about the program and to download the instructions. https://egausa.org/elizabethan-strawberry-embroidery-project-margaret-kinsey/

Stitching Techniques:

• Couching

• Statin Stitch

• Lattice

• Fly Stitch

Supplies:

• 2 sets of 8-inch canvas work frames, or a 7-inch hoop that is wrapped in cotton twill tape, or a Susan Bates 7-inch plastic hoop

• Thumb tacks or a staple gun and staples, if you are using stretcher bars

• Scissors for cutting silk

• Scissors for cutting metals

• Craft scissors for cutting felt

• 6-inch see-through rulerA tape measure

• Thimble

• A laying tool, a tekobari, even a #18 tapestry needle, can serve as a stroking/laying tool. Your choice!

• Needle sizes: #18 Chenille, #8 and a#10 Crewel

• A small piece of tracing paper

• Beeswax for strengthening your couching thread

• A means of transferring the pattern to linen.

Here's what you'll need:

• 8 X 8 inch linen of medium weight. If your linen is an even weave, use a backing cloth such as an 8 x 8 inch of cotton muslin, a lightweight linen, or a man’s handkerchief cut to fit.

• 2-inch square of red wool felt

• A spool of silk couching thread (can be silk or polyester)

• Soie d’alger silks numbers: 936, 945, and 1825. Cottons can be substituted: A Christmas red, a darker red, and a green compatible with the Christmas red.

• 1 yard #7 Check thread

• 1 yard gold twist

• 9 small gold beads

• 24 gold spangles that are 4 mm in diameter (Size A by Access Commodities)

Please add your progress or finished project in the comments!

*Image courtesy of the EGA Guest Post: Free Elizabethan Strawberry Embroidery Project by Margaret Kinsey | Embroiderers’ Guild of America

Elizabethan Strawberry for Elizabeth I, designed by Margaret Kinsey