{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1790793"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1790793/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG9471/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG9471/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG9471","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG9472","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1790793/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1790793","accessionNumber":"T.146-2024","objectType":"Coifs","titles":[{"title":"'an unstitched coif . . . '","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"This coif was embroidered by Serena Watson as part of a project called <i>an unstitched coif . . .</i>  in 2023. The project was created by Toni Buckby, a Collaborative Doctoral student at the V&amp;A Museum and Sheffield Hallam University, exploring many aspects of 16th and 17th-century blackwork embroidery. Toni devised <i>an unstitched coif . . </i>.  to reconstruct the creative, mental, physical and social contexts of blackwork embroidery. She found an early 17th-century coif in the V&amp;A’s collection with its embroidery design drawn with pen and ink, T.844-1974. Toni made a digital version of the design, printed 40 copies of the design on linen and sent out a social-media invitation for volunteers to embroider them. The invitation went viral and hundreds responded.  After the initial forty designs had been distributed, Toni made the digital design available on her website <u>https://blackworkembroidery.org/unstitched-coif-design/,</u> inviting others to print it on material of their choice. Seventy-seven embroiderers submitted their coifs for display and inclusion in Toni’s PhD and have been acquired by the V&amp;A as the collection, <i>an unstitched coif . . . </i>\r\n\r\nSerena Watson received a paper copy of Toni’s design, modified it for some fabric from a charity shop, and here is her story: \r\n\r\n“By the age of 10, I was stitching from choice and for pleasure, not because Mummy or Teacher told me to. By my teens, I was adapting patterns, if not designing from scratch, and I was helped by the discovery, in our school library, of <i>Historical Designs for Embroidery</i>, by Louisa Pesel. I had no idea that Louisa was famous, in general and as the first president of the Embroiderers Guild. But I did know there were two copies of the book, and I was the only borrower. Despite great shyness, I gathered up the courage to ask if I could buy one before I left. I think I paid 30 shillings (£1.50 for the uninformed), a treasure to this day, and the first step on a 50-year path.\r\n\r\nAround 1984, I happened to sketch out a few new ideas, and in 1985, one of these developed into a design for a wedding commemorative. As years passed, I re-jigged the designs to fit into different shapes, sometimes to fit a mount, a trinket box, a book cover, whatever, and every now and then, a brand-new permutation would emerge, almost of its own accord. The latest was my 2018 Christmas card. \r\n\r\nTechnically, my designs probably classify as blackwork, although they are more fluid than the usual style of fillings within outlined shapes. I work mainly in double running (Holbein) stitch, which produces the best appearance. The lines on the reverse are pretty much a mirror image of the front, so the stitches are not pulled awry by thread moving to a new position. This does take practice, as it needs the ability to look ahead at the ‘route’ through a design, work every other top-stitch, then retrace the route, filling in the gaps. Occasionally I make a special effort to make the back of my work exactly identical to the front, even though this doesn't show. It's practice, it's a challenge, and a little bit of showing off. \r\n\r\nAbout a week into August 2022, I was stitching my final piece of embroidery for a group project on the theme of Green Planet. I had composed a truly dreadful limerick, which I was working in Holbein stitch on black fabric, never an easy background. Worse still, my fingers had a slight twitch, which I hoped would wear off overnight. \r\n\r\nBut in the morning, I realised that I had suffered a stroke. An ambulance arrived promptly,  and I was rescued by the paramedic—a family member whose wedding I attended three months earlier. Nevertheless, I was too late for treatment, and my right arm and leg have not recovered. After some weeks in hospital, I moved to a care home, where I filled my time with TV, newspapers and puzzle books, which did at least give my left hand some writing practice. \n\nAnd then I received an email sent out by Toni Buckby about her project, <i>an unstitched coif . . .</i> I had an interesting history, starting blackwork by chance at school in the late 60s. So I replied, and despite my circumstances, Toni generously gave me the chance to participate, and sent me a copy of the design of the unstitched coif.\r\n\r\nOn occasional visits home, I collected what I could from my stash, and was also able to buy an embroidery frame with a base that I can sit on, rather than needing a hand to hold it. With my left hand as soloist instead of assistant, I designed and worked some small practice motifs. Apart from the stitching, I had to learn to thread needles (using a plastic butterfly with a large hook for antennae) and finish off the thread ends.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, I was experimenting with designs from the coif. It was impossible to attempt the full design, so I used the care home photocopier to enlarge chosen motifs, then copy again through a perspex sheet printed with grid lines. This produced rough counted thread designs, which were tidied up, by hand, onto graph paper.\r\n\r\nTime had drifted by, but an email from Toni arrived (on the anniversary of the stroke) with a deadline for submitting work. From the fabrics to hand, I settled on a charity shop remnant, fibre type unknown, possibly not intended for embroidery, but easy to work with. I tacked centre lines in both directions, started in the middle, and hoped that I still had the ability to plot, mentally, continuous paths of double running stitch, which gives the neatest result on both the front and back of the fabric. \r\n\r\nSEPTEMBER 21-29\r\nThe first motif selected was a floral spray, and I did make a few mistakes, some of which were unpicked and redone, but a few may remain. Two copies are used, facing in opposite directions, and worked in black perle thread no. 8.\r\n\r\nSEPTEMBER 30/OCTOBER 1ST \r\nA border of lilac octagons was worked around the floral sprays.\r\n\r\nOCTOBER 3-5\r\nA lilac hemstitch edge was added, to limit accidental fraying, but I made no final decision on edging the panel.\r\n\r\nOCTOBER 5-7\r\nTwo bird designs were chosen, and each one stitched at opposite corners of the panel, with a border of octagons.\r\n\r\nOCTOBER 10\r\nThe cream colour of the fabric had started to look slightly too pale. I soaked the fabric in strong tea, and hoped that I had not ruined it. I expected the panel to end up with me, so durability did not matter. \r\n\r\nOCTOBER 17-19\r\nThe remaining area was to be filled with insects, in green perle. I had graphed several insects from the original coif, but designed a few more myself. The placement of the motifs was random, and the lines of running stitch between the bugs are a practical device to avoid securing thread ends for each tiny motif.\r\n\r\nOCTOBER 20-21\r\nTemptation took over as I approached the end of my work. The original coif included flora and fauna that might be seen on a country walk.  I added a 21st century extra:  plastic bottles, the curse of modern life. These derive from a visit to Skegness in 2018. To avoid looking at a beach covered in rubbish, I looked at my feet as I paddled. (And spotted a five-pound note in the water. Yippee!!!) In January 2022, as part of the Green Planet embroidery project, I found that bottles tessellate very neatly. With my name and the numerals 2023 tucked in as well, I had completed my piece just in time.\r\n\r\nAnd fortunately, it arrived safely in Sheffield,  to join all the other contributions.”\r\nSerena Watson\"","physicalDescription":"Coif of linen hand-embroidered with black, mauve and turquoise cotton threads, in blanket and Holbein stitch for 'an unstitched coif . . . 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