Read all about the St. Birgitta Cap and it’s fancy (3 row!) insertion stitch in Dahl & Sturtewagen’s article, The Cap of St. Birgitta, in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4, pages 99-129.
I have been wanting to make one of these caps for years, but felt very intimidated by the center embroidery. I am so glad I finally sat down and took the time to figure it out, totally worth it!
I had to attempt the ‘1-row’ version of the interlaced herringbone several times, each try getting a tiny bit better, before I finally got it right! I tried to address those things I was getting wrong in the video below, hopefully I can help someone else avoid the same mistakes!
I was so excited when I figured it out!
After a dozen attempts before I got the simple version right, I was surprised that I was able to get the ‘3-row’ version correct on the first try. I think that getting the basics down, and firmly understood really helped make the more complicated version clear. Your own mileage may vary of course.
I made a second video which shows me working on the three row version of the interlaced herringbone stitch, and making the cap itself! It is absurdly long at 40 minutes total, so feel free to jump ahead as needed!
The manuscript images I used were mostly from the The Maciejowski (Morgan) Bible, and there’s more on Larsdatter (great website!).
Linen fabric I used is from Fabrics-Store.com.
I mentioned it earlier, but again, this post wouldn’t have been possible without
Dahl & Sturtewagen’s article, The Cap of St. Birgitta, in the book Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4. It’s awesome, check it out!
