Dark blue pouch for raffle

Bryn Gwlad is doing a raffle next week to help raise funds for the Ansteorra Gulf Wars site. I finally finished the little pouch that I was making to raffle off. The outside is dark blue linen and the lining is a light blue linen. The stitching, tassels, and drawstring are done in white cotton floche (DMC). Here you can see a better look at the seam treatments. I used a technique that shows the lining as decoration.

Reliquery box

Out of the weekend of general craftiness at Casa de Clermont, a plot was hatched by my friends to build this box. I've started work and charted and stitched a sample for the first pattern I decided to get even closer to period practice and stitched this with a flat silk, Soie Oval. I have to say not only is the result very close to close up shots of period pieces, but its gorgeous! For comparison, here is a picture in the same light of sample in similar colors in a spun silk (Rainbow Gallery Splendor) And for fun, here is a nice close up of a period piece from the same time and place: We've started chatting about other construction details and I'm very excited about this project. I will post updated pictures and samples as we make progress. I've got 4 patterns charted so far and I think we will start work on the panels as soon as we order the silk.

More pictures :)

I have finally uploaded some more pictures to Flickr of my recent activities. Mostly I've been working on improving my current armor and making a long term armor plan, so they are pictures of our local armor night. I even managed to get a few good shots of the forge in action. The forge work moves pretty fast, so you take as many pictures as you can and hope that one catches a good moment and isn't blurry. I'll post some more pictures of general progress soon and embroidery updates as well.

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/sets/72157629890933778/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/sets/72157629890987552/

Oak Leaf Handkerchief

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

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

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

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.