Hippystitch: Stumpwork or Raised Embroidery

My finished stumpwork pincushion

I am a member of the York Embroiderers & Stitchers, who are a friendly group of stitch and textile enthusiasts of all levels of ability and experience. Recently, Annie Smith has led a series of stitch clubs to teach some of us how to do stumpwork.

Stumpwork is a type of raised embroidery that was popular in England in the 17th Century. At the time it was called raised embroidery or embossed work. The term stumpwork has only been used since the end of the 19th century. Typical scenes might include a castle, stag, lion, birds, butterflies, fruit, flowers, and a number of figures sometimes positioned beneath a canopy. Kings, queens and mythical or biblical figures were often depicted. The technique can use wire, threads of various sorts, padding, beads, needlelace and other materials. Much of the detail is applied to a base fabric.

We were going to make a small pin cushion using our chosen design which meant we needed both a back and a front that would eventually be stitched together. Annie had brought lots of examples of her work to show us...

Annie Smith's Stumpwork examples

First, we began by tracing some design elements onto our top fabric. We used pens that were heat or water erasable, so that the lines could be removed when required. Annie had provided plenty of designs to choose from. I chose oak leaves and acorns. We then hooped up double layers of fabric into our embroidery hoops. I used a fine cotton for the top and calico for the underneath layer. Annie showed us how to attach some wire to the fabric to outline our design and how to fill the shapes in. My first two oak leaves were wired and then filled in with long and short stitch. I also stitched three acorns using French knots for the acorn cup and long and short stitch for the acorn itself. These would be cut out and applied to our overall design once they were finished...

Acorns and wired leaves in progress

Once the wired leaves were completed they were cut out very close to the stitching being careful not to cut into the stitching. The cream edges could be colored in with a felt tip to stop them being noticeable when they were added to the design...

Acorns and wired leaves finished and ready to cut out

Next, it was necessary to stitch three more oak leaves that would form the basis of the design. The outline and leaf centre line were backstitched and then the leaf was filled in with long and short stitch like the wired leaves had been...

Oak leaves form the basis of this design

Time to add the acorns! These were cut out with some excess fabric round the edge which was stitched round and drawn up like a Suffolk puff before stitching the acorns in place...

Oak leaves and acorns in approximate finished location

Once I had added my acorns and the two wired leaves to the design, I took inspiration from Annie's acorn pieces and added some beads and some twigs and berries using French knots and stem stitch...