Sources of Inspiration - The Göss Vestments

The Göss Vestments are a set of three eccesiastical garments which date to the 13th Century. They were sewn in silk on a linen ground using a variety of counted stitch techniques including brick stitch, stem stitch and a type of basket stitch. Vestments represent an ensemble of stylistically matching liturgical garments, for the priest, deacon and sub-deacon, supplemented by a festive altar cloth. They are currently held and on display at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna.

For extremely close up images of these vestments, visit the Rubens Art Server. (Be sure to NOT use the panorama viewer, you get much more detailed shots if you look at the images directly). Be prepared, there are lots of images (60 odd with amazing detail, you can count how many thread stitches are done over) and they are large (over 1 mb each).

Again, please note, there are swastika motifs on this work.

An example of how you can use elements of the patterns found in these items is at An Innocent Abroad where we have a nice pin cushion based on the vestments.