Following my first project with Claire Barrett, who founded embroidery company Hawthorne & Heaney last year, this was a follow-up to decorate the lapel of my Timothy Everest smoking jacket.
I wasn’t entirely sure whether I liked the look of the embroidered suit cuff last time round, but the work sits much more naturally with velvet than worsted and I think the results here were stunning.
Inspired by a design of Claire’s that I had seen, our motif comprised two Hawthorn branches (suitably enough), one curving up towards the peaked lapel, the other following the line of the collar.
The work was more complicated than last time, because it was raised and because it involved gilt. The pattern is created by snipping the right length of gilt, looping the needle through the middle of it (like a chopstick through penne) and securing it by sewing through the grosgrain facing.
We went for an antique gilt rather than normal yellow gold as it echoed the tone of the brown velvet in the jacket. You can see the process below.
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| The gut-reaching bit: opening up the lapel |
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| The hawthorne design |
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| Sewing around the design |
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| Padding laid on for the Hawthorn leaves |
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| Thread the pasta |
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| The finished result |
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| The range of gilt work available |
Last year: ill-conceived concept.
This year: superb!
Completely agree.
Price?
£93
Very beautiful work. Matches the jacket very well, as I find a lot better than on the previous project done with Mrs Barrett.
PS: Mr. Crompoton I would like to thank you for the work you put into this blog. I have learned a lot about classical mens´ wear and find your posts highly inspiring, especially considering you post almost every day. Keep up the good work and style!
That’s very kind, thank you Elias
That is very nice.
Not many have buttonholes with our dress suits (a shame perhaps given how elegant it looks in vintage illustrations) but this is a subtle and interesting nod towards it and combines well with the informality of a smoking jacket.