I was interested in trying Colonial Knots for the spots on my butterfly wings because 'it makes a higher knot'* than the French Knot and I wanted my spots to sit up and be well visible.

* "The Embroiderer’s Handbook”, Margie Bauer (Country Bumpkin) pg 47

But I needed to know if Colonial knots were used in 16th/17th C European embroidery, in order to be technically correct in my sampler.

I found this reference to Colonial Knots
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lEiGeSLKLjMC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=%22colonial+knot%22&source=web&ots=pLfsbRBazZ&sig=D-6zVofZOhfUPWi5KxD8AgeVIxo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA36,M1
(Needlework Through History – An Encyclopaedia, by Catherine Leslie)

So - originally used in Candlewicking, "most popular between 1790 and 1845". That's way too late.

I assume it's made it's way across into various dimensional embroidery styles since then, since it's *now* used fairly interchangeably with the French Knot. (but still not technically correct for our period.)

It’s also called the "Figure 8" knot.

Tutorials :
Words and diagram : http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/colonial-knot.html
Video : http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/03/embroidery-stitch-video-tutorial.html

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These are the documents I have on stitches used in period :

•  http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/stitches.htm
•  http://www.bayrose.org/AandS/handouts/Stitch%20Database.pdf
• and from the Files of Western Kingdom Needleworkers’ Guild (you have to be a member)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WKneedle/files/

then to

schuette-museum.xls

• http://www.grimfells.net/pubs/Elizabethan_Embroidery.pdf

(which has the stitch list from Digby)

I didn’t look into these for Colonial Knots initially – sometimes it’s more fun (and sometimes more informative) to take a broader path *grin*

but I have looked into them now, especially with a view to *any* other knots listed in period.

There were none. Just French Knots. So that’s what my butterfly got.