Raglan Preparations

For my last free weekend before Raglan, I've been terribly productive.

I posted previously about looking into a piece of extant blackwork embroidery, with an aim to using elements of it for a future project. That project reached a milestone this weekend as I completed the embroidery on the cuffs for a tudor style ladies shirt.

 

The embroidery is completed on two layers of thin cotton lawn, with custom dyed purple and natural coloured silk thread. The vines between the lillies is a silver metallic thread couched into place with a single strand of natural silk. The lillies themselves were outlined with split stitch in the purple silk, with the petals filled in with laid work in purple, with the petal underside done in natural, before both were overlaid with purple thread. The base of each lily was filled in with detached buttonhole stitch, while the buds were done in more laid work. The embroidery pieces are now being sewn into cuffs with a little ruffle and work on the collar has begun, so the project is looking well for its Raglan deadline.

But the weekend is also time for getting out the sewing machine! So in the company of a friend yesterday, I made good use of my time and finished off two new Italian style chemises based on the tutorial on Festive Attyre.  I used this tutorial on my last chemise (now made over two years ago, eep!) but this time, I was successful in getting the neckline finish to lie square. Though now I've gotten that down, I'm already eyeing up the edges and planning all sorts of trim. A row of embroidered suns to go with my heraldry perhaps?



And a wee little project completed on the side, just something to help me wind down in the evenings, I'm now the owner of a sparkly new dice bag! The pattern is the Dragon Egg dice bag from ravelry. Let's see how long this one lasts before it hides on me.

Key Embroidery

What this? Another filler post? Yes, I know, I know, I'm slacking. But with only one more weekend to finish my Victorian costume, I'll soon have a lot to show off

I finally got the base embroidery done on my golden key. It's terribly uneven, may have to draw guides next time to keep the lines more even. It definitely needs something to finish off the edges. I'm thinking of putting that newly aquired skill of finger loop braiding to good use to provide that finish, but I find myself unsure if that'd have the right look. Hmm, maybe I could use some of the gold wire left over from the muff work... Hmm....

Blackwork embroidery research

I've been looking into blackwork lately, specifically the later period, freeform style, with a view to completing some as a sampler. I'll admit, when I first starting looking, freeform blackwork looked to me like a confusion of random shapes, but closer inspection, particularly of this cushion cover made from a woman's dress in the late 16th century, reveals a repeating pattern[1] of well known flowers that the those of the Tudor era would have been fond of. 

Row 1 top: Pansy

Row 1 bottom: Lily

Row 2 top: Daffodil

Row 2 bottom: Pomegranate

Row 3 top: Tudor Rose

Row 3 bottom: Carnation

These are my best guesses at what the flowers represent. Some of these, such as the rose and pomegranate are so often used they're easier to discern. 

Órlaith is dying some silk embroidery thread for me, in some of my favourite colours (namely purple, yes), and some day I'll have to pin her down to teach me how to dye things myself. I aquired some nice white linen recently, and though I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I'm going to have to do a sampler. I need to see how well I can actually do blackwork, given that it's a new skill, but I want to test the colourfastness of the dye for some other projects I have in mind.

[1] Just stop and think about that for a moment. A repeating pattern. Long before sewing machines were invented, embroidery of this nature was fully done by hand, with just a few vaiations in the filling stitches. Craftsperson of ages past, I tip my hat to you.

16th Century Embroidery

For my birthday this year, I treated myself to a copy of Elizabethan Stitches by Jacqui Carey. I'm fascinated by the embroidered samplers of the period, especially those of Queen Elizabeth, like this embroidered bookbinding, completed by the Princess at the age of 11. Embroidery techniques from the 16th century are subtely different to modern stitches, enough so that I can see myself enjoying the challenge of learning them.

So far I've been working with just one stitch, but for two differnt projects.

The first is using detached buttonhole stitch to cover wooden beads. This was a common technique to embellish beads in the day, and if the time it takes me to do each button is anything to go by, they were a very effective way of displaying your wealth.


I've been using cotton embroidery floss to make these buttons, using all six strands together.The floss fluffs out when it is used, in theory filling the space between stiches so none of the wooden bead is visible. Hmm, yeah, my technique still needs tweaking.






Something I don't think I've mentioned here before, but I currently hold the post of seneschal of my shire. For those who don't know, the traditional symbol of office for that role is a gold key displayed horizontally on a red background, just like this one in progress in fact.




Again, I'm using cotton embroidery floss for this, but only two strands at a time, again in buttonhole stitch. Or do give it the full title from the book, Elizabethan corded detached buttonhole stitch. Takes longer to type out the name than it does to do a row of this stitch. I've really been pleasently surprised at how quick and easy this stitch is.

I've not decided yet what this is going to be used for. Do I have enough velvet to make a bag? Or do I turn it into a little, personal keepsake?