Mudthaw Embroidered Dress

Last year Lydia and I once again worked on garb for the Baron and Baroness of the Settmour Swamp. This time we did 12th century Bliauts. Lydia did the pattern work and most of the sewing and I did the hand sewn button holes and the embroidery around the facing for the Baroness.

 

The neck facing that Lydia measured out for me. This is what I would be embroidering on.

 

Three versions of the design that the Baroness liked. We decided to use the one on the far left.

 

I drew it out on paper first so that I could work out the turns in the pattern and make sure it was even on both sides.

 

I then put the paper pattern on a light box and put the fabric over it so I could trace through to the fabric using a pencil.

 

One thing I have learned is that making a sampler is not an option. You don't want to be trying your embroidery out for the first time on the finished piece. I actually did several different variations and this is the one we liked the best.

 

I started with an outline done in backstitch

 

Then I filled it in using split stitch.

 

The final facing

 

Attached to the dress

 

and from the back. The fabric must have stretched out while I was working on it, because in the end the facing was bigger then the neck of the dress. I tried to work it out when I hand sewed it to the dress, but I still had to put a pleat in the facing. I put it on the back of the dress and hopefully her veil will cover it and no one will be the wiser.

White Embroidered Veil

Two years ago for the Settmour Swamp Baronial investiture at Mudthaw I made a silk embroidered white work shirt for our Baron. The design was sinking towers done in couching stitch on the bottom and split stitch on the top half. In between the towers were flowers done with satin stitch, split stitch and back stitch. The Baron loved it and the Baroness really loved it and asked if I would make here a veil with the same embroidery and with beadwork on the edge.

 

I did some searching and could not find any period pictures of veils with white work embroidery and beadwork on them. I love our Baroness very much and since she really wanted this type of veil I decided to go with the creative anachronist theme and do it for her. It took 2 years of working on it, off and on (mostly off) but it finally got done and she wore it 2 years later at this past Mudthaw.

 

This is what the border looks like. Although the handspun silk was really great, it was not nearly as evenly spun as commercially available silk and it made the embroidery look sloppy. Since I needed a lot more of it and I didn't want it to be too heavy on the veil I purchased some Soie d' Alger silk from hedgehog handworks

 

The veil spent a little too much time in the frame and was distorted when done. Hopefully after beading and when it is worn it won't be noticeable. I forgot that you should not leave the hoop on the work if it is going to sit for any length of time.

 

A close up of the embroidery. White on white is so hard to see!

 

silk painted banners take 2

 After my first attempt at painting a silk banner I knew I needed some help. I made a great looking banner for my husband, but when I tried to set the silk dye in the chemical solution some of the green dye came out and landed on the white part of the banner making it yellow. I asked around the Barony and was told that Master Antonio was the person to talk to. He was kind enough to trouble shoot my problem and send me a copy of his class handout. It turns out I had bought some of the right materials but needed to use a different type of silk. He suggested 16mm crepe de chine and it has made all the difference. He said he had gotten the best results with steam and heat setting the dyn a flow dyes and told me the gutta he used. I have done a few of them now using his methods and they have come out great!!!!

 My husband and I have offered silk standards and banners to anyone in the Kingdom of Acre who would like one for the cost of one gold Wilhelm (our kingdom currency). We are doing this service to our Kingdom because Master Antonio is so giving with his talent that we didn't feel right charging real money for them.

I should also mention that recently I have gotten better information on how the standards and banners should be designed and that going forward we will be doing them with a more historical accuracy.

The drawing of the scale of justice. To make sure both scales on the banner looked the same I traced the same design on both sides of the crenellations on the actual silk.

 

In Antonio's handout he recommended a great set of videos that showed the woman using a PVC frame to hold the banner. I liked the idea and it has worked for us so far. I recently saw something online where they made feet on the bottom of the frame using T connectors and that is what we will be adding to this frame soon.

The frame all put together

 

Binder clips on the end of rubber bands have been working well for us to hold the silk taught.

The frame ready to go being held away from the table with the help of boxes and books.

 

Black water soluble gutta.

 

 

 

Drawing all those damn crenellations!!!!!

 

 

 

This used to be our dining room.

 

 

All traced out and left to dry for a few hours.

 

 

The paints I used. I like painting the areas that will be left white with actual white paint so the whole surface of the banner has the same weight of paint on it.

 

 

This is the fun part. It is also hard to not get streaks. I am sure over time I will get better at it.

   

 Now that the painting is done I let it dry for 24 hours. Then I went over the entire banner front and back with my industrial steamer. Then the banner went in the dryer for 1/2 hour with a wet washcloth. I then sewed on some ribbon and it was ready to go.



Hand Spun Embroidery Floss Part I

Last year at the Maryland sheep and wool festival I picked up a pound of some beautiful Shetland combed top wool. I have processed some raw fleece but I wanted a really nice wool that I could use to make embroidery floss with. I thought Shetland would be especially good for this as the fiber has a long staple length and with a good wool you can spin it really fine.

I have decided that I would indeed make hoods from the Black Welsh Mountain sheep hand woven fabric I had left over from my Fleece to Flock project that had to be re worked. I will go ahead and finish the fabric as I had intended to for the dress. I am going to make an open front hood for myself and hood for my husband that is decorated with embroidery. The embroidery will be done from my own handspun.

I want to try doing a gradient dying on the skeins. I have a kit with all natural dyes. The plan is to mordant all the skeins at once and then make a strong dye bath of a color. Dye the first skein in it. Then dye a second, and then a third. If I work it right each of the three skeins should be lighter shade of the same color.

 

 

The original combed top. It came from The Little Barn vendor at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival

 

the same wool out of the bag.

 

Lots of skeins!! I mad small 10 yard skeins to use as samples for the Arts and Science display and the larger 25 yard skeins will be what I actually use to embroidery with. I am sure it will last me a long time and be used for many projects.

 

 

I took a really great spinning class taught by Nelda Davis and in the class she told us a great way to scour our yarn after spinning. You fill a pot with warm water, add enough Orvus paste so that the water feels slippery. Add the yarn and heat the water to almost boiling for about 20-40 minutes, gently moving yarn around 2-3 times. turn off the heat then let cool in the pot. Spin the yarn dry and let it hang dry. The yarn comes out really great looking and completely clean. I thought it wise to do this if I intended to dye it to make absolutely sure there was no dirt or grease left in the yarn.

 

I have a pot dedicated to dying. NEVER, ever dye in pots you prepare food in. Since I have a reserved pot for dying I also use it for scouring yarn. It is a very heavy stainless steel pot.

 

doesn't that look yummy? At least I know it is clean.

 

Check back to find out how they dying comes out!

 

Soay Fleece Part I

 

The Soay sheep breed is one of the oldest sheep breeds going back at least 4000 years to the island of Soay off the west coast of Scotland. It is a very rare breed of sheep and I have spent at least 2 years trying to find a fleece to spin. Last year at the NY sheep and wool festival I got to meet 2 fantastic Soay sheep and their shepherds.

 

This handsome fellow is Aragorn. He was so beautiful and friendly!! I was able to pet him and he even let me touch his very impressive horns!!! He was a bottle fed sheep so he is really used to humans touching him. This picture was taken with my old crappy camera and the beautiful color of his fleece does not at all come through in this picture. He lives at Cairn O' Mohr farm and his fantastic shepherds were able to hook me up with 3lbs of fantastic wool from their flock.

It is interesting to note that Soay do not need to be shorn since they shed their wool.

 

 

I was a little nervous when I got the wool in the mail. The fiber is BEAUTIFUL and has hardly any vegetable matter in it, but the locks are so small! I guess I will be carding this wool and not combing it. Still I think it will make something really wonderful.

 

Here is a few ounces after it has been washed. There is a bit of scurf on some of the locks (a type of dandruff some sheep get), but it is not so bad. I have a few more things to finish up before I start spinning this but I can hardly wait. Even though I have 3 lbs of this wool I plan on spinning most of it on a drop spindle. Since it is a very period breed it will be an excellent wool to bring to events and demos where people can watch me spin it.

 

I took a little bit of fiber and spun it right from the clean locks. It was not difficult at all, the wool is really "sticky" so I don't think it will be difficult to spin up even with the tiny lock size. There are a few of the locks next to the spindle so you can see how small they are. It is all part of the fun of working with different breeds of sheep.

 

I will put aside some unspun locks, 25 yards of spun yarn, and a small woven sample for the arts and science project. I plan to use some to weave up some Viking leg wraps for my son, and I will decide what else to make based on how much yarn I am able to spin from this 3 lb bag. If I spin it all on the drop spindle I will have a long time to decide :)

 

Tudor Smock Part II

Progress!! I have not been able to start the embroidery yet, but I have the silk thread, the linen to work on and most importantly I have finally decided on the design(s).
I had a really good discussion with Mistress Amy at East Kingdom 12th Night and she helped me make sense of all the research I had collected. I was surprised to learn that not all black work was done in back stitch! She also encouraged me to come up with my own designs, instead of just trying to replicate what was in the Holbein painting.

 

I know that this has been done a million times before, but I LOVE this painting and this dress. I am going to completely different fabric for the dress than what is in this painting, but I really love the embroidery on the cuffs and I wasn't sure I could do something this elaborate. After thinking on this a lot I decided on a compromise. I will use the same embroidery design on the ruffled cuff, and my own design on the band that goes around the bottom of the sleeve where it connects to the cuff. For the neckline I am using another design based on a different extant piece.

 

I found this redacted black work pattern by Lorraine Behrens. I will use this and do it in double running stitch (or try to at least!)

 

 

From Patterns of Fashion 4 . It shows embroidery on the ruffled cuff and along the bottom of the sleeve.

 

I designed a thistle design to be used along the bottom of the sleeve. Since the back of this will not be seen I plan to do this in back stitch.

 

 

Also from Patterns of Fashion 4. The picture in the upper left corner reminded me of crossed crosslets. In Acre embellishing your clothes with a crossed crosslet is reserved for knights but since it is not a full crossed crosslet I thought it would be OK if I used this design on my smock.

 

My version of the pattern above. I plan to do this in back stitch around the neckline of the smock.

 

This is from The Tudor Tailor and is the pattern I will be using to make my smock.

 

Now that I have a plan and the materials, I just need to get started on the embroidery!! Stay tuned for more.

Byzantine under tunic

 

In the Kingdom of Acre, when a Sovereign is going to be crowned Queen (or King) they enter the church in a plain white shift with their hair loose and the during the ceremony the church officials dress them in ceremonial clothes. This plain white under tunic is sometimes embellished with white work embroidery. It was my pleasure to do this work on the tunic for our current Queen Persephene for her coronation.

She has a Byzantine persona so before I did any stitching I did some research to find out what were some common Byzantine motifs. I also wanted to incorporate her heraldry if I could. I came up with the following design.

 

The Hippocampus is part of her heraldry. The rest was based on designs I saw repeated over and over in Byzantine mosaics.

 

 

Here is the design sketched out on the tunic and the hoop ready to go on the first motif. I used white DMC floss on heavy weight linen fabric. Silk would have been nicer but I wanted her to be able to wash it with no worries. I marked the linen with a regular #2 pencil which easily came out in the wash after it was done. (always test a swatch first!)

 

The petals on the flower like design were done in satin stitch.

 

The outline and crosses on the motif were done in back stitch

 

 

The circles were done in split stitch. If I had it to do again I would use a tear away interfacing while stitching to keep the fabric at even tension. I had planned to do it originally and even bought the interfacing but thought I would be good enough without it. It turns out with this much embroidery in a circle really warped the fabric in the center of the circle no matter how carefully I stitched it.



 

This is clearly not a good picture. I have since gotten a better camera and hope to get a better picture in the future. The total project took around 40 hours to complete. It was by far the biggest embroidery project I have undertaken. Some people think that is too much work to put in for an under tunic, but I wanted to give Persephene a piece of garb that she could treasure to remind her of her coronation day.