I have been pinning pictures of these pretty things for ages on Pinterest. Some hussiffs are embroidered, some are pieced, some are both. They were tied to a woman's belt (often underneath her petticoat) and used to keep sewing materials in or keys or the like.
When Nat visited me a couple of weeks ago we decided we would make a couple of different ones: a pieced one and an embroidered one. They seemed to have become a little art form a bit like fans or netsuke in Japanese art. There are many lovely examples on our Pinterest boards. Below is the pieced one I finished a couple of days ago. It is made from reproduction civil war fabrics.
Front of "hussiff" (above). Pockets were frequently made from scraps. They didn't waste their fabric!
Pocket back (above)
Close-up of rabbits and embroidery (above)
Close-up of rabbit appliqued with buttonhole stitch. Nat and I decided to applique rabbits to the pockets in memory of our visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales a couple of weeks ago to see the magnificent "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries dating from 1500.
