Helene

Oak Leaf Handkerchief

2011-08-12T21:00:00.003-04:00

This was my contribution for Ansteorr'a Pennsic largess (for Queen Dagmaer of An Tir). The design is loosely taken from her heraldry - green oak leaf and blue border. This was a chance to practice my teeny tiny hem, which I think is getting smaller and more precise. It was my first try at a handkerchief and I'm pleased at how it turned out. The handkerchief is a really light weight linen from fabrics-store.com, which is really light and soft.

I did the hem in Gutternman silk sewing thread and the embroidery was done in a single thread of the Rainbow Gallery Splendor (which is a 12-ply). The tiny chain stitch was kind of a pain, but the end result was really nice. A single thread of the Splendor is a little fuzzier than I probably would have preferred originally (it was on hand) but the end result was a chain stitch that kind of melts into itself smoothly, so I think it turned out to be a good choice. I declare this a handkerchief success and move boldly forward with more handkerchief plans.

Below is a zoom of my teeny tiny hem with coins for scale. There is a US penny, a Euro one cent, and just for fun a Nederlandish guidler. That should cover most of my readership I think :) I was so happy with my earlier tiny hem that I really finally felt like I might be able to make some nicer things out of delicate linen. With a little practice, I think that the stitch turns out really nicely. I am perhaps a little smug to officially add a new skill to my arsenal.

Arming Cap

2011-06-12T11:50:00.003-04:00

My son has been sick, but he's been content to let me do a little hand sewing while he's cuddled up on my lap, so I started a couple of small projects. I've got fairly fuzzy hair and I get crazy Muppet helm hair when I fight, so I've needed an arming cap for a while. I machine sewed the pieces together, but then did the seams and hems by hand. It was a surprisingly entertaining project. I've been working on approaching hand sewing more like fun embroidery than a chore and I think I'm getting more comfortable with it.

The cap is made from handkerchief-weight linen, since I want it to be as light weight and cool as possible. I've got a linen helm liner, which should reduce the chance of snags. Hopefully it will hold up and if it doesn't it will be educational.

Girdle Book

2011-06-05T12:38:00.002-04:00

I made a girdle book to celebrate my friend Gaston's elevation to Laurel. I realized yesterday that I forgot to take pictures to post about it and this morning when I woke up, it turns out Gaston had done all my work for me by taking a picture and posting it to his blog :) My slacker ways have been rewarded.

Gaston's Post

He says some very nice thing (thanks!) and I encourage you to check out his blog as well. He does great work in armor, brewing, music, and general SCA puttering.

St Martin's panel progress

2011-06-03T18:24:00.004-04:00

I've uploaded some progress pictures of the St Martin's panel to Flickr. The above picture shows the current state of things. I've finished the color fill stitching and I'm working on the outlining.

The next thing that I have to think about is painting on the faces. Lady Sabine Berard has generously posted some pictures from the Cloisters at the NY Met. In them, she has a great close up of a painted face from a piece that came out of the same convent: picture. In this particular piece the face is done in "encroaching Gobelin stitch" and painted on, but on the St Martin's panel they just used a regular brick stitch as the foundation.

Unfortunately, I haven't read much on what kind of paint was used for the face. From scribe's guild I know that gouache paint is a good modern equivalent for scroll work, but I'm not sure for painting on embroidery. I'm still looking for sources though, so if anybody knows anything, I would be most grateful.

Gloves: Goldwork progress pictures

2011-05-15T13:31:00.003-04:00

Here are my pictures from the goldwork progress on the gloves I posted about earlier. The materials are a woven wool background with a muslin backing, wool felt for foundation padding, Kreinik Japan Gold #7, and Soie Crystal silk for couching.

I used yellow wool felt for the foundation. Here is a progress of tacking it down.

The foundation is completely sewn down and I have started couching the gold thread.

More progress

The "V" is finished and I have started the crown.

Finished embroidery for both gloves

I used a dark gray wool foundation under the embroidery to give it a bit of lift off of the glove. Here are the circles basted on.

Front picture of basting.

After I based the circles down, I cut the fabric with a nice seam allowance and gathered it around the circles. I used a tiny drill bit to drill holes in the gloves and an awl to sew down the roundels. Next I made the gold braids out of the Krenick gold. Finally, Rachel and I sewed on the gold braid trim around the edges. Its at a slight angle to cover the depth difference between the glove bottom and the roundel top.

Overall this was a fun project. It was the first time I've used the foundation padding for more depth in the embroidery and it really does make it sparkle! Its a bit harder to work with and the precision/tightness of the couching was harder to get. Its hard to see in the picture but there is a bit of texture in the couching on the crowns that added a little sparkle. I liked the minimalist little "v" when I did the embroidery (especially in contrast to the depth of the big "V"), but now I'm kind of wishing that I had done something fancier. Ah well, that's life.

The Kreink Japan gold is fun to work with (and I have several large spools of it!) but I am looking forward to trying some of my real metal threads soon - just as soon as I can figure out the project!

More Gloves!

2011-05-13T18:05:00.003-04:00

I've been remiss in posting, but here is the current state of things. Pictures are included of the three gloves that I have completed for the crown. After I finished the stitching, Rachel came by and helped with the construction and finishing which speeded things along. I'll do some more posts that show construction updates, but I couldn't resist posting the finished gloves. The pictures don't really capture the shine of the silk or the sparkle on the gold (especially the highlights on the Queen's glove).

King's Gloves: These are padded goldwork on a woven wool foundation. I used wool felt for the padding to give it a bit of dimension.

Queen's Glove (Front)

Queen's Glove (Back)

Royal Gloves II

2011-03-01T17:01:00.003-05:00

Here is my current progress on the second set of royal gloves. This pair is for the queen and has the same sigil as the first pair, but is in her colors. I added a background so that the whole cuff would be stitched. The background is an "E" pattern for Ebergardis and made to look like ermine (from her device). Rachel helped me put the background design together and pick out colors. The "E" motifs are in a very, very light gray and the lattice work is in white. Its always hard to imagine how repeating patterns are going to turn out, but I think we got a nice homage to ermine on this one.

Also featured in this picture is the lap stand that I got recently. I am really enjoying using it. The stand design really limits its usefulness to frames of a width pretty close to your lap width, but it has worked well for my current projects. I'm starting to ponder floor stands for some other work. I'm a bit torn between exploring modern frames and medieval frames. I'm not sure which I'm going to look at first.

Finished Tunics

2011-02-13T16:10:00.002-05:00

For those of you following the saga of Rachel's lily tunic - it is finally finished! Hooray! She came over and re-drew some of the detailing on the sleeve joins and the curly-q's at the end of the bottom panels better to her liking, and I finished it a couple of nights ago. I really like her improvements - I had her re-draw them because I didn't like my free hand work (its really not my strong suite). You can still see some of the extra markings since I haven't washed it yet.

Today I also have a Bonus Tunic! That's right - two tunics for the price of one post! My 2 1/2 year old son came with me to Kingdom Arts and Sciences and so I made him his own little tunic. Its about a size 4T, so its pretty small. My verdict on children's clothes is that they usually go faster and are a bit easier to sew, until you get to the neck and arms, which are tiny! I had to poke the eyelets in with an awl while I was in a hurry for the lacing to work, so I will try to stitch those up nicely before he wears it again. I meant to get a picture of him in it in action, but I totally forgot! Perhaps next time :)

Gloves #1 are finished!

2011-02-07T11:37:00.003-05:00

I have finished the first pair of royal gloves for Their Stellar Majesties Ulsted the Unsteady and Ebergardis von Zell. The stitching is done in German Brickwork and is Rainbow Gallery Splendor silk on linen, with Kreinik Japan Gold #7 couched as outlines. I sewed the stitched roundels onto the gloves using a leather awl and the trim is braided Kreinik Japan Gold #7. The gloves were delivered at Bryn Gwlad's Candlemas event.

Details:

Since I was attaching the stitched roundels to leather gloves, I rummaged through my toolbox and found my leather awl. It was definitely the right way to go, especially since the gloves were already put together and I had to reach inside them. The German brickwork stitching has a lot of body when finished, which makes for a really thick finished piece. Even with some tight stitching on the edges I found that I needed a thick trim to keep the edge from being too abrupt.

I tried several different approaches to the trim. I think that finger loop braiding can make really nice trim, so I tried a few different patterns and discovered that Japan gold is terrible for finger loop braiding. It doesn't hold tension well, stretches unevenly, and doesn't flex gracefully - so you end up with a chunky mess that glitters. I was going for something a bit more elegant than that so I tried several flat braids. The final winner was a three strand flat braid with 6 pieces of Japan gold per strand - 18 total strands. The result was a smooth trim which (with some fiddling) I got to lay at a (mostly) 45 degree angle to smooth the chunky edges.

General Update

2011-01-20T13:12:00.003-05:00

Greetings intrepid followers! I had all intentions of making a fabulous post, complete with pretty pictures, but I seem to have left my camera in Rachel's car. So sorry. Instead, here's a more general state of the stitchery:

Queen's gloves - I was asked to make the Queen's gloves this reign(!) and that is largely what has been occupying my time. More recently, I was also asked to do the King's gloves as well(!), so I will be busy for a couple of months. Both are being done in the German brick stitch with gold outlining. I'm pleased with the progress so far, and there will be pictures to come...
Rachel's tunic - Rachel's tunic is almost finished! Hopefully I will finish it sometime soon so that she can actually wear it to an event :)
St. Martin's Panel - The St. Martin's panel has taken back seat to the recent flurry of activity, so I'm afraid it is getting delayed a year for Kingdom A&S. I had good momentum this Fall, but November was kind of a crazy month and then the holidays really side tracked me. The extra time does mean that I won't be rushed on anything, which is really nice.

Also, I finally got a cheap little lap stand for my scroll frame and I must say that I *love* it. It makes stitching feel much less like a juggling act. The only downside is that now I'm eye-balling all kinds of expensive stands now. *laugh*

Progress on Rachel's lily tunic

2010-11-22T10:48:00.004-05:00

I've made some good progress on Rachel's lily tunic. I'm hoping to finish it by Yule so that she can wear it to the event. All I have left is the border stitching, so I think I'll make the deadline :)

More progress on St Martin

2010-11-11T11:41:00.001-05:00

Here's a bit more of the progress on my tapestry panel. I haven't done much the last few weeks, but I got a nice bit done earlier.

Some more stitching progress

2010-09-10T13:50:00.002-04:00

Here's some more stitching progress. My stitching queue has been filled up now and I'm trying to work out how to juggle it. I still have the tunic to finish and now I'm designing gloves. I also realized that I forgot to do some follow-up from folks I met at Laurel's Prize, so I'm going to try to get that taken care of this weekend. Additionally, I have some armor repairs that I really need to do. Its harder to find shop time than stitching time - so I'll have to work at finding a way to that. Busy, busy, busy!

Stash-tastic!

2010-08-31T14:09:00.002-04:00

My birthday present has arrived! I got an assortment of gold work supplies from Hedgehog Handworks. Its so sparkly and gorgeous! The check is amazing - its like liquid glitter. Now to plan a project....

Sca Weekend

2010-08-30T16:39:00.004-04:00

I had a busy SCA weekend :) On Saturday, I went to the Ansteorra Laurel's Prize Tourney in the Stronghold of Hellsgate. It was a short road trip from home with good companionship along the way. The event was lovely and there were so many amazing displays and helpful Laurels. I had a display on my embroidery work and it was a great chance to meet the folks working on embroidery around the kingdom. I took lots of pictures of all the pretty stuff. The displays were very inspiring and I have a long wish list of cool projects that I'd like to try. I will try to control myself and limit the project pile to something managable. Also, I received a Sable Thistle in Embroidery, which means that I am now Lady Helene. Spiffy!

On Sunday we had another War Company sewing day at Rachel's. I was hoping to finish up some fighting surcoats, but we made excellent progress. We're close to finishing, so will start rolling finished finished surcoats off the assembly line on the next session. They are looking really sharp!

Panel progress

2010-08-23T13:24:00.002-04:00

Some more stitching progress on the panel. I'm hoping to get a nice chunk of it done before Laurel's Prize Tourney this weekend. I'll be taking the panel and a pile of my embroidery, as well as the pattern swatches that I've done.

Panel progress

2010-08-18T10:23:00.002-04:00

Here is the initial progress on stitching my panel. I'm really liking how vibrant the colors are, especially in contrast to the tan linen. I started stitching in a corner and am moving, but I think next time I will start from the center out. I'm afraid that I'm going to abuse the outer stitching while trying to get the inside stuff done. Fortunately I have three other corners free so I think I can still get the center without messing up the already stitched corner.

Source and sketch for St. Martin's panel

2010-08-15T20:43:00.003-04:00

I've actually started my panel. I've got the frame dressed and the pattern traced, so now I just need to get started stitching. I've included a picture of the original from Bildindex below.

Embroidery frame mod

2010-08-13T11:35:00.002-04:00

I've been wanting to do a full panel of the German brickwork and I now finally have the time to sit down and get it started. I did some math and most of the panels that I've got good information on are somewhere between 10 inches square (ish) and 12 inches square (ish). My embroidery frame only has an 8inch height and I wanted to put the full panel on the frame without lots of rolling and un-rolling as I stitch. The problem was easily fixed with a piece of 3/4 inch square hardwood from the crafters pile at the hardware store.

	Embroidery frame before modification (8 inch height)
	I got Rachel to drill a couple of holes and make the cutes. I took the bars back to my garage and finished them up so they'd be pretty.
	Finished! A larger frame :) The finished height is 13 inches.

Tunic trim progress

2010-08-03T10:39:00.002-04:00

tunic-progress
Originally uploaded by helene83

I've finished a little less that a skein of thread and the back panel is almost done. After I finish this part, I need to trace the design on the rest of the tunic trim. Hooray for progress!

SCA Census

2010-08-02T10:37:00.001-04:00

SCA is conducting a census / survey of current and past members. Log in and tell them what you think :)

From the website:
The SCA Board of Directors is asking past and present SCA participants to answer some questions about who you are, how and why you got involved in the SCA, and what you think about the issues we are currently facing in the SCA. These questions will help us to better understand where the SCA is today and help us to plan for the future. Your answers to the questions on this survey are important to us and will ensure that your voice is heard.

http://www.sca.org/scacensus2010/

Stitching trim

2010-07-30T12:40:00.002-04:00

trim-stitch
Originally uploaded by helene83

Here's the first little bit of stitching finished last night. Its in DMC Cotton Perl #5 Ecru. The tunic is linen.

Tunic trim

2010-07-30T12:37:00.002-04:00

tunic-tracing
Originally uploaded by helene83

Rachel and I sewed like crazy to get enough garb to stay clothed for all of Gulf Wars, but we planned to decorate stuff later. Now that I've got some time, I'm going to embroider the trim. This is my first victim - one of Rachel's tunics. I've picked a lily design off of a 13th century German painting.

Here is the first batch of tracing. I used a washable crayola marker to trace the design. My test swatches with the crayola markers washed clean, so hopefully it will work out ok.

Finished white work

2010-07-23T16:17:00.004-04:00

More pictures of stuff that I have been finishing up post dissertation time :) Here is the white work that I took off the frame and started to finish some time ago. It's stitched in Londonderry white linen thread on a white linen background. This style uses many of the same patterns as the silk work that I have been working on, but has a larger geographic area and a longer time period of use. The pattern is a small (4.5 inches x 3.25 inches) notebook cover.

Buttons!

2010-07-11T14:07:00.003-04:00

I've been rather busy finishing up my dissertation, but now that all of that business is done I am slowly returning to the joys of life :) I finished, defended sucessfully, and turned in the dissertation - so I will be graduating in August! Hooray! But enough of that, what y'all really come here for is dorky stuff like...

Buttons!

During the big crunch for graduation I haven't done any big projects, but I finished up some smaller, fidgety-type projects. Buttons have been all the rage on the A&S 50 mailing list (Home page) and I got caught up in the madness. They are perfect tiny projects and fun to play with. My biggest inspiration came from the pretty pictures on the Flickr stream for Kat_d_b, who is an Australian SCAdian. I also found some good information and pretty pictures at Guild of Tailors, Haberdashers and Mercers of Lochac and Karl Robinson's Etsy shop.

Here's what happened when I pulled out a couple of skeins of DMC cotton perl #5 and a bag of wooden beads:

They are a nice small project that is easy to put down and pick back up later. They are a bit addictive though...

Gulf Wars!

2010-03-29T13:25:00.003-04:00

I had a really fantastic time at Gulf Wars and have posted some pictures on Flickr . I fought in the town battle, the bridge battle, the ravine and the castle battle. I'm still a little amazed that I managed to fight that much :)

Rachel's armor

2010-02-25T17:17:00.003-05:00

Rachel got me a quick turn around on her plates. She finished sanding and drilling them and got them back to me before the weekend was over. I've been adding a few plates everyday and today I finished! Hooray! She now has functional torso armor. Next time she comes by I'll size the buckles and then she'll be ready for action.

Her coat of plates is basically the same pattern as mine, sized down just a bit. Check a major item off my to-do list :)

Snow Day

2010-02-24T11:22:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a real snow day in Austin, Texas! As a result, I had the kiddo home and was lounging around with him doing some more stitching on the white work. Alas, now my spools are empty! Its very sad. I am completely out of my nice linen thread. I couldn't even get more, since we were snowed it (well, the Texas version of snowed in).

I fidgeted for a bit and then realized I had enough room on the frame for another piece. I recently took a black work class at Candlemas, so I (rather impulsively) pulled out my class packet and started a small blackwork bit.

The only thing is that I was trying to finish the white work so that I could put a larger piece on my frame for fun during Gulf Wars. Now I have another piece to finish before I can free up the frame. *sigh* I have sabotaged myself by adding another item on my to-do list. On top of that work is going to keep me pretty busy as well. The good news is that its a small piece and it seems to be moving rather quickly. I am going to have to do a run for more linen next time I head that direction for errands.

On the bright side, I had a fun day with the kiddo and got some stitching done when we were all romped out and lounging around. A good streak of stitching always makes me feel better about life, so its nice. I also learned that while the little boy doesn't mind cold at all, he considers snow a nuisance.

Gulf Wars Preparations

2010-02-18T10:18:00.003-05:00

I haven't had a lot of time for SCA stuff, but the time I've used has been on preparations for Gulf War. Rachel and I have made a garb generation plan, divided up fabric piles, taken measurements, picked patterns, and even begun making stuff. A whole week is a lot of garb!

We need to get Rachel's coat of plates finished, so I've been working on that. Its going to be just like mine, only shorter and in brown. This weekend, I finished cutting a pile of plastic plates for it and marked all the drill holes and grinding points. I handed them off to Rachel and she's going to do the next bit.

Cutting out the rest of Rachel's plates pretty much finished off our second plastic barrel. I picked up two more for a friend who is also trying to get her armor going. I've gotten a couple of questions about the plastic barrels, so here's the scoop. They are trash for the local car wash, so they let me pick them up for free. This picture below shows one of the barrels with a 6 inch x 24 inch quilting ruler, so you can see that they are quite big. Always check the labels on your barrel and make sure you don't pick up one that held anything toxic, and clean them out well just to be safe. We cut ours up with a jig saw, and the plastic sands and drills nicely. As the barrel gets cut down it starts to vibrate with the saw. I solved this problem by nailing it to the workbench, which worked really well. The curve to the barrel works well for the coat of plates (but you do end up looking a little barrel-like).

With all the busy at work and armor projects, I haven't stopped making pretty things, I've just slowed the rate. The picture below shows some German white work that is currently on my frame. Its a yummy linen thread on linen that I picked up on an impulse at Christmas. The texture on the white work is turning out very nice, but the linen thread is a bit temperamental. I have to use short lengths of it because it tires easily and ends up fuzzy. The pattern is Pattern #14.

Centurion War College

2010-01-30T11:45:00.004-05:00

I went to Centurion's College last week and it was awesome! The first part of the day was classes and the second half was group fighting. The teachers were very patient and well prepared. I also got some good aside time with various folks as I had questions. I particularly like that the classes were mostly "hats-off" (not full armor) which left me with enough endurance to fight most of the afternoon. I took some photos and have posted them here.I fought in the field maneuvers and the bridge battles in the afternoon and had a great time! The bridge battles were crazy :) After the fighting there was a short court and then lots of social time. It was an very entertaining night to end a really fun day :)

The armor improvements have worked well, but I still have some tweaks to do. Rachel is working on making some pells for us to practice on and I'm hoping to finish up her torso armor some time soon. Here is a picture of my armor kit so far; it's now more mine than loaner. I've still got a good list of armor projects though, along with the need to make more garb before Gulf Wars. All of that depends on how much free time life grants me.

Nalbinding

2010-01-14T16:37:00.003-05:00

I've been doing some knitting lately and it got me thinking about nalbinding. After a bit of research on the internet, I found some good instructions. I made a nalbinding needle using my Dremel tool and a small piece of spruce wood from the hobby shop. I then did a couple of test swatches and started on this pouch. Its very different from knitting and I think that I'm beginning to like it.

I used these two videos to get started:

Armor progress

2010-01-13T10:48:00.003-05:00

I've posted some pictures of my armor progress at http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/sets/72157623078074633/. You can see the coat of plates in its finished form.

I'm pretty happy with the coat of plates. Its light, comfortable, and provides good protection. I need to add some straps to the back to hold in place. I'm currently just belting it, which has to be adjusted periodically.

The legs were some I got at a steep "I'm quitting fighting" discount from a very nice lady. They needed some love and had to be re-strapped, but they work quite well. I added little plastic wrap flaps for the backs of my thighs, but they were a quick hack, so I need to pretty them up and rivet them in. They are currently held together with leather strap and duct tape :)

I got some elbows from a friends "random stuff" bin and finally finished the leather work on them this week. I hardened the leather with water and then lightly waxed it and I am very pleased with the results. They are lightweight, hard, and very durable. I test drove them last night and they worked fairly well. They are slipping some towards the wrist. I got some great feedback from folks on how to fix them, and I think that I will add some shoulders and strapping to hold them up.

Cool pictures

2010-01-11T10:44:00.003-05:00

I don't have any finished crafts to post, but I saw these pictures of the Ansteorra crown tournament today and I thought that I would pass them on. They are beautiful and some of the best combat pictures I've seen.

http://www.jmtimeless.com/SCA-Events/January-2010-Crown-Tournament

I've been sick a lot lately, so I haven't made a lot of progress on my projects. I generally set up my projects so that I can work on them in very small time increments (5-15 minutes) and make progress. My life is such that I often only have small time chunks, but I've found with a little organization I can do quite well with projects this way.

One of my great challenges has been how to get my armoring projects done. I do quite well if I have an afternoon or a day, but organizing armoring into small time chunks has been a daunting task.
I am finally starting to get the hang of it and am making some good progress. Now the challenge is finding non-baby-nap times to do the loud riveting, but the spouse is helpful on that front. I'm almost finished with my arms, so there will be pictures soon :)

Finished Scissor Case

2009-12-20T22:00:00.002-05:00

I finally have finished the gold word scissor case that I started a while back. I recently picked it up out of my UFO stash and set about finishing it. I've been sick so it took a while. The case is stitched on white linen and lined with black linene. I made a little button for the catch by wrapping silk threads around a wooden bead. Then I made a tassle with the gold and silk for the bottom. I finished it off with some braids for the handle and latch.

I was a bit nervous with the finishing work, since I just haven't done much of it before, but once I got going I just forged ahead. I'm was pleasantly surprised at how nice it turned out. I think that I like the back side with the button catch far more than the front!

Handsewing to finish

2009-12-02T12:30:00.004-05:00

I put my recent embroidery in a pile the other day and realized that I am woefully in need of finishing some of the pieces. I like the embroidery part and then when I get to the hand-sewing part things end up in a box somewhere. So, I've made myself a queue and am going to finish the pieces in my UFO (UnFinished Object) box.

First step was the little notebook that I've been working on. Instructions for a tidy rolled hem came across one of the lists the other day, so I pulled out the printout for "Eithni's Magic Veil Stitch" (at http://eithni.com/Library.htm) and gave it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised :) The stitch was easy to do and the results are a tidy, tight rolled hem. I've needed such a stitch for the small objects that I'm working on, so this is an exciting discovery. I believe that I will forge on ahead with the hand sewing and see what kind of other skills I can acquire.

Here's a (bad) picture of the hem (front on left, back on right) for two inside panels of a tiny notebook cover. There's an American penny in the middle for scale. I looked for Euro coins for scale, but all I could find was Nederlandish guilders, which are probably less than helpful at this point in history. I think with a little practice, I could easily get the hem even smaller.

Scroll case

2009-11-30T22:53:00.003-05:00

I went to a scroll painting class a while back and have finally finished painting a scroll for the Barony. There's been talk on several of my mailing lists about scroll cases, as well as out and about, so I decided to whip one up for transport to and from meetings for the scrolls that I do. I read a bunch of "how-to" articles and then kind of went about it haphazardly. I had to bust out with my quilting foot to do some bizarre angle sewing due to not really thinking things through, but I got it done. It was a quick (probably 30 minutes) project that resulted in something useful, so I'll call it a win. It worked out ok and now I have a functional scroll case for transport (and a much better idea about how to get it done next time).

For transport I would put the paint towards the inside (instead of facing out for the photo op). The bottom panels are just little flaps sewn into the spine. They flip open at the corner so that they kind of act like pockets but aren't tight enough to cause any trouble with paper. The case itself is cardboard (from a diaper box) covered in some blue flannel scraps I had laying around with a little purple tie string.

Bordermarch Autumn Melees

2009-11-23T18:12:00.002-05:00

This weekend, I went to BAM and had a great time! It was my first event to fight in battles and I had a blast.

I have posted pictures on Flickr

BAM Tunic

2009-11-05T10:11:00.003-05:00

I need another tunic, since I'll be camping at my next event (Bordermarch Autumn Melees), so I've started a brown and blue tunic. Its very much been worked on in 10 minute increments, but its finally hit a point where its starting to look like a tunic. Once I get things to a point where they are "lap" work, I usually make more progress, since I can pick them up and put them down easily depending on what's going on.

I've cut out the tunic parts and sewn on the borders and am now doing the decorative embroidery on the trim. Once I finish that, I'll piece it together. I joined SCA in part to learn more about embroidery - and its worked. I've really enjoyed the German brick stitch work and I took a gold work class a while back, but now I feel that I must try more things. So, this is my first attempt at some basic tunic embellishment with various embroidery stitches that I've been reading about online (and watching a few tutorial videos). I'm not going for anything fancy (just some buttonhole borders), since its a first attempt and I have a deadline. I'm happy with the progress and pleased with how much a little simple hand embroidery really jazzes things up.

The tunic is a soft linen/cotton blend and I'm embroidering with DMC linen thread. I folded things up so you could see the trim that I'm working on:

Fighting tonight

2009-11-03T23:34:00.002-05:00

Life has been complicated, but I finally made it to another fighter practice. I've managed to cobble together most of an armor kit, so I don't have to borrow as much. I had a good time and learned a lot. I need to do more cardio workout so that I won't get winded so easily, but I knew that already. Also, I am now an Authorized Fighter! Woohoo! I will get to fight at BAM!

Pattern #16

2009-11-02T14:24:00.002-05:00

This little swatch got lost along the way somewhere, so I picked it up this weekend and finished it up. Behold, pattern #16! I'm going to have to do another round of charting, since this was my last un-stitched chart. I've got some other stitching to do while I'm in charting mode, so I'll get to keep stitching. I've got a tunic that I need to finish before the next event, so I have enough garb to make it through the weekend.

Pattern #15

2009-11-02T12:21:00.002-05:00

Here's pattern #15! I really like this one. I think that you could use it fairly neatly as a border as well.

The interlocking red is stitched correctly, but the edges have several problems. On each point, some are clean points and some have little "V" notches to connect to a diamond. The points along the edges are haphazard in which have notches. I did manage to do them correctly on the middle row, so the pattern clicks. I'm considering re-stitching the sample, but I figured I'd post it anyway. I was just chatting away while I was stitching and did not pay enough attention. It was a lovely evening though.

The pattern is correct :)

Brickwork notebook cover

2009-10-28T22:02:00.003-04:00

I just finished the stitching on a small notebook cover that I've been working on. I wanted to do another piece that was bigger than my little pattern swatches. I bought some tiny composition notebooks and am going to make some notebook covers. This is the first. Next step, sewing it together.

Today, you get a pretty picture :)

Event: Bryn Gwlad 30th Year

2009-10-25T21:10:00.003-04:00

I actually got to go out to SCA! Hooray! Rachel and I day tripped the Bryn Gwlad 30th year event and it was lots of fun :) Life is finally settling down a little, and this is the first SCA anything I've made it out to in a long while. It was my first camping event since I've moved to Ansteorra and I'm glad I got to go. The site was wonderful, the people friendly, and the event smoothly run.

I'm at a strange point on projects where I have several in the pipes, but none finished recently. On the bright side, I'm making progress on several fronts and will have some stuff done soon. Some random things I'm working on
Armor:

Coat of plates: Front and back finished, side plates cut. I need to rivet the side plates and finish the buckles.
Helm: My $10 helm is starting to look like a $20 helm ;) I've ground off the worst of the crud and need to work on the finishing.

Embroidery:

Finished pattern for next critters and need to transfer it to fabric.
Nearly finished with brickwork for a small notebook cover.
Nearly finished with stitching up the next pattern.
Need to finish sewing up gold work scissors case.

All of which only leaves you with the promises of pretty pictures in the future, but no pretty pictures today.

Gryphon complete!

2009-10-03T23:16:00.006-04:00

I've finished my little guy :)

Also, I forgot to post earlier, but here is the original inspiration for this particular critter. Its plate 272 in the Kroos book. Plate 271 has a gryphon almost exactly like this one. They are both part of a larger repeating border. I picked the colors from what few color pictures I've seen of similar pieces (none available of this particular critter). It seems that the void work patterns are usually done in white, while the rest is usually done in brightly mixed colors. Also, the stitching direction (horizontal or vertical) varies by piece as well. I haven't really seen any rhyme or reason to which way it goes. I started this one vertical before I realized that the piece that I was working from was horizontal. Oh well, it still works :)

Fill stitches completed!

2009-09-11T14:09:00.002-04:00

I've finished the fill stitches for the little guy! I've had lots of little time increments lately, so it has moved quickly. Next is the outlining, which should give it some more definition. I don't have my next critter set up yet, though I have a couple of them outlined. I haven't had any good blocks of time to actually setup the next one, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

As an aside, I have to once again marvel at what beautiful backs this style of stitching makes! Here's the back of the critter:

More Critter Progress

2009-09-05T10:39:00.003-04:00

Its been a crazy summer, both for family and work, so I haven't had any free time to do much of anything. Things finally slowed down a little this week, so I am happy to post progress on my critter. I'm hoping that the slow down will mean that I can actually get out to my local group as well.

Critter progress

2009-06-06T18:27:00.003-04:00

I've decided to start work on some bigger stuff, so I've began work on one of the border critters a few weeks ago. In the tapestries it seems fairly arbitrary whether the fill stitches are vertical or horizontal, so I went with vertical because I like it better (and maybe its more common). I don't have any color photos of this specific little guy, but I have some very similar ones that I'm using as a reference. Things have been busy, so its slow going, but here is the beginnings:

C Belt Prototype

2009-05-03T23:14:00.004-04:00

My son is slowing down on the teething, so I'm finally getting a little sleep again. This has given me just enough energy to get back to armoring myself. This afternoon I sat down and made a prototype c-belt for my leg harness. Eventually I want to make myself a nice leather one, but this one is a rough draft in duck cloth left over from my coat of plates. It feels nice and stable, and seems comfortable. I'm looking forward to hanging some legs on it this week and see how it wears. Anything is better than the loaner belt that I've been wearing, since it doesn't really fit!

Goldwork Progress

2009-04-26T18:31:00.003-04:00

Life intervened and I did not make the event this weekend, but I did get some stitching done in the little breaks. I have finished the stitching on one of the scissor cases and prepared the design work for the other one. It occurs to me that I didn't mount the little squares for the little scissor fobs when I dressed the frame. I shall have to do those seperately. For now I will revel in the progress so far - shiny!

The Nuns at Wienhausen

2009-04-21T22:52:00.003-04:00

This website is on women's monastic communities and it has some great embroidery from the Convent at Wienhausen (some in color!). There is information for embroidery pieces and a bibliography. If you're hunting down info on a piece, this may be a good start. The convent embroidered pieces in the brick stitch that I have been focusing on and the Klosterstitch works that Racaire has been working on.

Pretty pictures

2009-04-19T15:43:00.004-04:00

Thanks to my sister for sending me links to some more pictures on the web :)

Two Flickr pools of interest:
* detail pictures from the Cloisters piece at the NY Met: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosettastones/3406589474/in/set-72157616161436505/
* some scans from the Kroos book, along with some pretty stitching: http://www.flickr.com/photos/medievalartcraft/

Goldwork Scissor Cases

2009-04-17T14:33:00.004-04:00

I've had a pile of Kreinik metallics, including some Japan #7, that has been itching to be used. I've been looking for a good project to play with them with. So, this weekend I started work on some scissor cases using the pattern from the West Kingdom Needleworkers Guild. The project info can be found here and the pattern can be found on their yahoo group. I love their projects and kits - they are an easy start for small projects and their members pictures are such great inspiration. The scissor case seemed like a nice, small project to try out some new stuff for fun. First I dressed my frame with some linen scraps I had in my stash.

After that I just sat down and started to play. I found a nice border that I like and its got a nice stitching rhythm. This is the first goldwork I've done in since I took a class at RUM (Royal University of Meridies) a few years back, but I'm definately liking it. Here's a couple of days of progress.

Pouch from Cologne

2009-04-07T23:33:00.003-04:00

I found this while doing some research and thought that the pouch folks might like it. Its looks like an example of the brick stitch pouches complete with fancy tassels. It seems that the pouch patterns are a mixture of stitches and emtpy canvas. The book "Der Kunst- und Reliquienschatz des Kölner Domes (1870)" can be found here. The figure is on pdf page 267 or if you're browsing the "flip book" its page 159 of the last section.

I'm using Google translate for the information since the book is in German, so my understanding of the passage is vague. The piece is listed as a relics embroidery bag in silk embroidery on canvas. The colors are listed as red, white, and blue silks. The pouch is from the first half of the 14th century and seems to be considered a representative piece of a larger collection.

Coat of Plates

2009-03-30T10:57:00.005-04:00

This weekend there was an armor open house! Our gracious host helped my friend and I get started on our armor. We are making a coat of plates using plastic barrels. We made significant progress (with lots of help from the expert): plates cut, fabric cut, some fabric sewn, and one beautiful riveted plate.

Its been a very long time since I was in a shop and I was a bit of a klutz *sigh*. I think I was a little nervous and I'm still a little physically unsure after my troubles this summer. I'm starting to get the hang of it though. We have a plan, so hopefully my friend and I will be able to finish the coat of plates relatively soon. It hard to be patient, because putting together an armor kit is slow going. The current kit goal is to get on the field, but then there are so many long term decisions on armor - I have a lot of reading to do.

Pattern #14

2009-03-24T12:59:00.004-04:00

Here is the chart and stitched sample for pattern #14. I really, really like this one and can't help but think it would make a very nice trim.

It stitched up so nicely and the pattern lends itself to a very tidy back. A little more effort on my part and the back could have been even tidier.

When I finished the trellis, I realized that this pattern would work really well as an Opus Tutonicum / German white work piece. Both techniques share designs and charts, so its legit to use as such. I took a picture of the back to show that it could be a very tidy back for something like napkins or a tablecloth. The stray cross-over threads on the back could very easily have been avoided and then the back would look remarkably like the front. It would prevent any "see through" on a loose weave linen as well.

Gambeson Goodness

2009-03-22T20:39:00.006-04:00

My latest project has been trying to get together gear for heavy fighting. I am trying to get stuff together as cheaply and quickly as possible, and then I will upgrade gear to nicer stuff as I am able. Towards that, I have finally finished the gambeson that I started a couple of weeks ago. Its made entirely of stuff from my stash! I had some cotton sheeting left over from another project and a roll of cotton batting in my quilting stash. I even had thread that mostly matched.

I am really happy with how it turned out. Its reversible and I managed to keep the seams from getting too bulky. I used two layers of batting, as recommended by several gambeson how-to's I read online. It was a pain to put together. In trying to minimize seam bulk and make it reversible, I did a crazy series of piecing then quilting then piecing then quilting... it was more like a wrestling match than sewing session. I think it was worth it though - it looks decent and feels very sturdy and padded. I'm really happy that its done in time for fighter practice this week.

Pontification

2009-03-13T16:17:00.002-04:00

This has been mentioned on another blog that I follow, but I thought that I'd second the notion. Please enjoy the charts and make pretty stuff with them. I'm putting them out there for people to use and I enjoy the thought that somebody else might enjoy them.

Also, there's probably going to be a little overlap between me and other folks charting the same genre of stitching. That's just fine with me :) Some of it is a delay between charting, stitching, and posting. Some of it is loosing track of who has done what. I'm not going to get my feathers ruffled over it and I hope that others feel the same. I will compile the patterns in a pdf for easy download at some point in the near future, maybe when I hit the 15 mark.

I debate whether patterns are too similar to chart again and have really followed my whimsy on it. Part of it is whether or not I want to use the pattern. I've got some color pictures now and was thinking of stitching some samples from those, so I'm probably going to chart some stuff that is similar just so that it matches what I'm going to put together. The little w's from pattern 13 are very similar to other little w's I've done, but the interlock differently and that piqued my interest. Whimsy...

Pattern #13

2009-03-13T15:58:00.005-04:00

Another pattern finished! This one is from a smaller critter of the borders of one of the tapestries in shown in plate 272. I've seen several examples of this pattern, both up and down "w", and in a few of them the direction of the little "w"s vary kind of randomly. So have fun with it, up, down, or mixed.

Pattern #12

2009-03-04T10:55:00.003-05:00

I finished out stitching my pile of patterns a while back, so I've been charting more in my free time. Now that I have another pile to do I have switched back into stitching mode, so here's the first of the new batch. I seem to have misplaced my note that tells me which plate this is from, so as soon as I find it in my pile of source images, I will let you know. Sorry about that.

Stitched example:

Chart:

Finished knotwork

2009-03-03T11:13:00.004-05:00

I finished my knotwork last week and am finally posting a picture :) I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but its just the right size to be sleeve trim, so maybe I'll make it a companion. I've decided that I really do like the sleekness of silk split stitch. Its just so shiny and pretty.

2009-02-26T09:35:00.006-05:00

As requested, here are some variations on opacity of stitches, for comparison. Also I threw in a few gradients just for fun. My goal is to make pretty, readable charts :)

Swatch with 50% opacity:

Swatch with 60% opacity:

Swatch with70% opacity:

Swatch with 80% opacity:

Swatch with 90% opacity:

Swatch with side gradient at 90% opacity:

Swatch with radial gradient at 80% opacity:

Swatch with radial gradient at 90% opacity

New pattern template

2009-02-25T12:33:00.004-05:00

Kathy has inspired me to make a nice pattern template for publishing the charts. I spent some time fiddling with Inkscape (a free software package similar to Illustrator) and came up with this. Here is a reprint of of the new, improved, pretty Pattern #1. I'm still tweaking it a little, so feedback is welcome.

Heavy...

2009-02-25T11:23:00.003-05:00

Look what I did last night :) I had some complications delivering my son in July, so I am just now recovered enough getting back into armor. I am still a newbie, but I had a lot of fun last night. It did make me miss the folks in South Downs, but I am making friends in the new group. I'm in the crazy loaner gear on the left side of the picture.

Organizing the blog

2009-02-22T17:38:00.002-05:00

I took the plunge and added labels to the posts so that it would be easier to find things. Now you can click on the label "charts" to get all of the charts, without having to thumb through things. It occurred to me that I was accumulating posts and needed to organize them a little for both myself and my readers. I was impressed with how easy Blogspot's software made it. Way to go on user functionality :)

Knotwork progress

2009-02-20T11:05:00.003-05:00

Some more progress on my knotwork:

Source-tastic!

2009-02-19T10:22:00.003-05:00

I have found another source (in English!) from Digital Archive of Documents Related to Embroideryfor further information on brick work:
Mediaeval Embroidery from the Collection of Mrs. Murray Crane The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1932)

My bibliography grows stronger!

Knotwork distractions

2009-02-15T20:55:00.005-05:00

I've found a stitching distraction while I'm planning my next brickwork project. I saw some split stitch Celtic knotwork on one of my embroidery lists and it was so pretty that it really inspired me. It was the perfect excuse to use this weird Indian silk I got on a late night ebay bid. I got the design from "Early Medieval Designs From Britain" by Eva Wilson which is a nice little Dover book. The design is from #36-37 "Interlaced dogs and birds from the Lindisfarne Gospels, British Library". I think its turning out really nice. Here's my progress so far:

Finished sampler

2009-02-08T16:46:00.002-05:00

I finished piecing together my sampler and here it is:

I went to Candlemas this weekend and had a great time! I entered the piece into the A&S competition. The chat that I had with the judges was really great and very enlightening. In general I got very positive, constructive feedback and feel that I am armed with the information I need to take the next step. It was good to finally meet more people from my local group too. I made a point to introduce myself to lots of people and, in general, it paid off.

The hard part will be putting all the advice together and prioritizing the next step. I had some Or Nue work cued up, but my research on it has come up fairly light. In order to do a larger pictoral piece with the brickwork I'll need to buy some linen and I've been trying to do projects from the stash. I've put a good dent in my stash though, so maybe that justifies buying some more linen.

Also, I was introduced to "largess" - what a neat concept! Folks wander by A&S displays and if they like them, they leave a little present. I received all sorts of neat little do-dads and I've started a little treasure chest. I'm mulling over what I can put together to bring to the next event.

Piecing it together

2009-01-31T19:14:00.005-05:00

I'm going to piece together the samples for Candlemas, so here's my workboard to put it all together. Now all I have to do is trim the edges and sew them together. I'm considering leaving the edges unfinished so that I can add more patterns as I go. It may make the stitching that pieces it all together a bit less uniform that is optimal, but it will let me finish out charting stuff from this tapestry.

Pattern #11

2009-01-31T19:01:00.005-05:00

Pattern #11 is finally finished! Its another pattern charted from plate 333.

Stitched example:

Pattern:

Candlemas!

2009-01-30T10:45:00.002-05:00

Candlemas approaches and I need to get cracking! I told the fiber arts guild that I would enter the A&S show. Fortunately I've done several good chunks of work on my documentation already, so life isn't too bad. I am finishing up another stitching pattern sample and then I think that I'm going to piece the samples together for display. I will have nine from the same tapestry so that's perfect for a 3x3 layout. The good news is that I have lots of examples of this style of stitching pieced together like a quilt top and used as a hanging or alter cover, so I can use some quilting skills for the next round of construction. And yes, I even have examples that we know were pieced together in period ;) .

I have been so behind on everything for a couple of months now my stitching (and correspondances) have suffered greatly. My fabulous sister got me an OTT light for xmas, so the stitching is much easier on my eyes and I tend to have less color confusion.

Soon... another pattern will be posted :)

Pattern #10

2008-11-29T11:47:00.003-05:00

This pattern is also taken from Plate 333 (see pattern #9)

Stitched example:

Pattern:

Pattern #9

2008-11-17T13:00:00.006-05:00

I finished stitching the next pattern. This is the most simple pattern visually, but it seemed like it was the hardest to stitch. Also, use the pattern not the example since there are a couple of small errors in the stitching on this one.

Stitched Example:

Pattern:

I charted this pattern from Plate 333 in the Kroos book. I've got a few more patterns from this panel to stitch up.

Fingerloop braiding fun

2008-11-14T13:05:00.002-05:00

I started looking at fingerloop braiding to make my drawstring and handle. I've been having fun with it. I have this cone of Kreinik Japan #7 which begs to be used, so I pulled out some of my Splenda silk and made a cord using this pattern. I forgot to factor in the fact that Japan thread stretches, so it got hard to work with near the end since the silver loops were getting significantly longer than the silk ones. The pattern still worked though, I just had to go really slow and be careful.

I think it turned out really nice. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I really don't have a strong since of style, so I usually end up giving stuff away. Its nice because people usually enjoy hand made stuff and then I'm so pleased when they come up with some pretty way to use it. So here's my random cord of blue silk and silver thread:

More Pouch Progress

2008-11-13T10:20:00.003-05:00

Some more pouch progress-

I've seamed up the sides using Machteld's instructions (http://m-silkwork.blogspot.com/2007/04/finishing-seams-of-14th15th-century_29.html) and I really like the results.

Pouch progress

2008-11-11T16:21:00.002-05:00

I liked pattern #5 so much that I started a pouch a while back. Life has been a bit hectic lately, but I finally got some more blue and have finished the stitching. I am very pleased with the results. I will try to finish it sometime soon. I've also started stitching my next pattern as well.

Pattern #8

2008-10-22T16:51:00.003-04:00

** Pictures of design upside down :)

Stitched sample:

Charted pattern:

I charted this from panel found in plate 334 from the Kroos book. I'm going to keep working on charts from this particular piece (whole tapestries shown in plates 328 and 329) for a while. I'm going to skip the swastika designs though, for obvious reasons. Their modern context outweighs their historical interest for me.

Pattern #7

2008-10-16T16:48:00.002-04:00

This pattern is from the same tapestry as the previous. I charted it from a close up picture of one of the panels in Lady Sabine Berard's web page at Silverdragon.org

Stitched sample:

Pattern:

Pattern #6

2008-10-06T10:41:00.004-04:00

This pattern is from plate 330 (see the post from pattern 5)

Stitched sample:

Pattern:

Source book

2008-05-26T14:44:00.003-04:00

I've had a few requests for more information on the source book that I'm using. Its Niedersächsiche Bildstickereien des Mittelalters by Renate Kroos, published by Berlin, Deutscher Verl. f. Kunstwissenschaft in 1970. The book is based on Renate Kroos' dissertation on embroidery in Lower Saxony. The book in German, so I have been using the pictures of the pieces and then translating snippets of the information as I need them. There aren't a lot of copies floating around the US, but you can see WorldCat's listing at http://www.worldcat.or/oclc/176343&referer=brief_results to find your nearest copy. Many universities have some allowances for allowing public access to books (though they many not let you check it out). Just take care of the copy that you use, since there aren't that many around :)

Pattern #5

2008-05-25T20:05:00.005-04:00

Pattern chart:

Stitched sample:

The source panel is plate 330 in the Roos book. I have a couple other patterns from this plate charted but not stitched. Hopefully I'll get those done sometime soon.

Pattern #4

2008-05-23T17:51:00.003-04:00

Here is my fourth sample. The pattern is a little different from some of the previous because it's horizontal stripes.

Stitching:

Pattern:

And the source for this pattern is Plate 201 from the Kroos book. The pattern is used for fill for a camel. For those reading at home, the catalogue number is 117 on page 154 and camel is Dromedar in German. The piece is listed at 14th century.

Source:

Finished moving!

2008-05-22T17:34:00.002-04:00

I have finally finished moving from Meridies to Ansteorra, and now have internet again :) I finished another sample in transit, so I will get that up soon. Also, I managed to get some more scans of my favorite source book, so I have plenty to keep me busy for a while. I'll try to start including more information with the patterns about the sources, now that I've got copies of the correct pages. Thanks for the comments and feedback, I enjoy reading them :)

Brickwork in clothing

2008-04-22T18:02:00.002-04:00

I found an example of someone who charted some brickwork from the Anna Meyer dress from Holbein’s Darmstadt Madonna (painted between 1526-1528). Very cool. Up to this point I had mostly seen wall hangings and pouches, and trim on a priest's stole.

References

2008-04-21T21:43:00.003-04:00

Along the way I thought that I'd post some references pieces in the embroidery genre that I am working on. Unfortunately most of the pictures that I can find are black and white, though the color pictures that I find show brightly colored embroidery with a pretty good variety of colors. In cases where I can get color pictures, I have stitched the patterns in matching colors.

Master Wymarc's web page got me started on this and I found the book "Niedersächsiche Bildstickereien des Mittelalters" by Renate Kroos. It was dumb luck that the book was available through the Georgia library system, since there aren't that many copies. The book has tons of black and white plates of brickwork examples from Germany and information on them. It is in German though, so its been slow going for me. Many of the patterns charted are coming from plates in this book.

The New York Met has a large piece in the Cloisters:
Altar Frontal, late 14th century
German; Silk on linen; 63 x 62 1/2 in. (160 x 158.8 cm)

Lady Sabine Berard has taken lovely detail pictures of the piece which can be found here:
http://www.silverdragon.org/SABINE/cloistext.html

Pattern #3

2008-04-10T15:12:00.000-04:00

Pattern #2

2008-04-10T11:31:00.000-04:00

Pattern #2:

Pattern #1

2008-04-10T09:10:00.002-04:00

I've started charting and stitching some of the patterns, so I'll try to post them as I get them done. For now, I'm playing catch-up since I have a few done already. Historically, these were silk on linen. In general, these are stitched on 28 count DMC Linen using Rainbow Gallery's Splendor silks. These are a 12-ply silk that split into 3 chunks of 4 ply each. I've been using the 4 ply chunks for the stitching.

Here is pattern #1 and a stitched sample:

Introduction

2008-04-08T19:57:00.000-04:00

My name is Helene and I currently live in the Barony of South Downs in the SCA Kingdom of Meridies. This blog is to track my progress in the A&S 50 challenge. For more information on the challenge, check out the web page at http://artsandsciences50.org/ and the yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AandS50ChallengeCommunity/

I am taking the depth challenge for the A&S 50 with a focus on embroidery. A while back I found "A Stitch Out of Time" and made a small project from it. The article is by Master Richard Wymarc and is a fantastic piece. Since then I've gotten into a style of 14th and 15th Century German counted thread embroidery which uses the brick stitch.

Though Master Richard Wymarc found few examples of this type of embroidery at the V&A, I have found a copy of " Niedersächsiche Bildstickereien des Mittelalters" by Renate Kroos, which has several nice examples. I have decided to begin the challenge by charting and stitching samplers of the geometric patterns used as fill in these pieces. After I get a number of the patterns done, I plan to move on to stitching up several of the full pieces.