Tudor Dolls House: Miniature Embroidery

Tudor Rose embroidery in 1:12 scale

, I love doing embroidery and enjoyed stitching the bedcovers, wallhangings and cushions for my Tudor dolls house. It was fascinating to find, when doing research on the Tudor era, that metallic threads in gold and silver were used extensively in their embroideries. Some of the decorative work was extremely complicated and must have taken a long time to do. Not to mention the risk of severe eyestrain trying to stitch by candlelight. Embroidery these days must be much easier.
  In the main bedroom, the motif I embroidered on the counterpane, using some gold thread, is the red and white Tudor rose.

Dolls house Tudor bedroom embroidery 

  The other bedroom has a wallhanging done in fine wool from a kitset. It is a Persian design depicting the waters of life. Perhaps a crusader brought it back from the East!
  The bedcover in blue is stitched with curved bands of silver thread. The pattern was an integral part of the fabric so all I had to do was sew over the lines. Easy - like painting by numbers! 
  

Miniature blackwork cushions 

The Tudors were very keen on blackwork embroidery, and so am I. I like the crispness of the contrast between the white fabric and black thread. These cushions are made with designs featured in a dolls house magazine feature on Tudor times. Although they look intricate, they were easy to stitch as the motifs are repetitive.
   Next on my 'to do' list is a wallhanging for the parlour.