WIP - Embroidered Overdress

 It has been a while since my last post, and that was not my intent. I had a lot of projects planned to either complete or start before a big move planned for this summer. However, my town in WNC was decimated by Hurricane Helene and displacement, along with adjustment, delayed any plans I had. It cancelled an event we had been working hard on and was preceded by the passing of a dear friend.

It's been a hard end to 2024.

But I was coaxed out to socialize with my fellow medieval minded friends and was able to wear this work in progress overdress that I had planned for the Fall Event That Never Happened. It is designed so that I can wear it even in progress as this stage. My closest and best friend convinced me to show it here, and so it is. 

Here is the dress over a quick linen shift. Wearable as is with much more work to do! Each time it is worn I hope to have more completed on the hem detail. Dress is raw silk in taupe and white with cotton embroidery details.

The neckline was worked separately on white raw silk and attached by hand. It does lay better on my frame as this dress form is not to my measurements. A broach easily holds the neckline closed.

Neckline is lined with lucet cord.

Embroidery details on sleeves and neckline. I have yet to finish the lucet cord for the upper part of the sleeve detail. That should easily be completed in a weekend. 

Hem detail. This is where much more work will be done! This is an early period pre-christian work so each roundel will have a design important to me spiritually. More geometric work is intended for the negative spaces. There are 10 roundels in total. I have completed two. (Note my helper in the upper right.)

First was Baba Yaga's hut. A reminder to stay grounded and embrace the wisdom of the ages. Split stitch work. I may go in and do more filling work with the trees.

The second roundel is of my horse, Lilly, who passed a few years ago. I want to carry her with me on this journey. 

I have many plans for the remaining roundels! But they do take time and planning. I do want this work to be more rustic. And of course it is a learning experience. The unique properties of the raw silk does distort the embroidery to a point but on the curve of the hem it does appear straight to the eye. I will take lessons learned here into future projects. We are never truly done learning. Experience is the key.

As this move is imminent, I plan to pack most of my things up and have promised myself no projects other than the few that I have already in my work basket. This will be its own challenge for me! But my new office/studio will have much more space for creative endeavors as well as a large sewing/art area for me host groups for classes or gatherings. Big plans for the future! Worth a few months of inconvenience.

The Second Unicorn Pouch

I had previously posted my first Unicorn Pouch that was made as a prize to be given for an Arts & Sciences competition for a Baronial Birthday event. It received high praise and I was honored by the feedback. However one person in particular was very much in love with the piece, so I decided to make one even more suited to them! I set to work right away to make a piece straight from the heart.

 I was so passionate about starting this project I began sketching our my vision the Monday following. I wanted motion and color. And appropriately a bed of Strawberries to better reflect the person for who it was intended.

I started with color experimentation and found a flow as to what would work. I shaded by hand space by space letting my knowledge of equine anatomy be a guide to this more stylized work. The ground fabric is a soft blue linen. Stitching is worked in cotton as I have not yet bit the bullet on silk. YET

The unicorn completed. Now to start the strawberries!

Strawberries Completed!

 

I was able to get some of the serrated edges on the leaves. They are small so it is made with the tiniest of stitches.

 

I lined the pouch with pale blue silk and used a strong gold cord. You can see my eyelet work which is getting better on the outside but looks very crude on the inside. I hope practice will make it better!

 

And the final piece! Wrapped and given and secret no longer! This is incredibly fun to work and fulfilling to give to the new owner. I hope to have more opportunities to make things that make people smile.

 

Two New Fun Little Completed Projects

Recently we had a lovely event here in my local Barony. I put on display the Baba Yaga reliquary that I had previously posted as well as this Unicorn Pouch that was themed to the event. It was given as a prize to the winner of one of the competitions that day. As such I did keep it secret so as to put it out as a surprise. 

The pouch was worked in cotton floss on linen ground. I also used a single ply gold thread for surface couching detail on the fruits. I lined the inside of the pouch with blue silk. It is made to accommodate a large cell phone. I did run a gold lacing though to hang and to secure the bag.

I had a last minute project that was also a necessity. I have a goodly collection that has been steadily increasing of veil pins. I'm not the best at tying up my hair but am getting much more practice. But the pins were getting lost or causing injury when carelessly left in a scarf to keep them together. So I created this sweet little veil pin book to keep them safe.

 

 

The columbine is worked in wool split stitch on a wool ground fabric. I also had a lot of fun using a staggered couching for the background. It worked up quickly and was very satisfying to work. I do think my construction has left a lot to be desired. But it does the job intended and really is just for me to throw in a silk bag to keep pins safe.  

 

I have another secret project in the works that will take some time. But I intend to post that when given as a gift and I have the all clear!

The Baba Yaga Reliquary Bag : Finished!

 The entire concept of this reliquary bag is to make it very obviously the Baba Yaga with her iconic hut. But what I had completed up to this point was missing a crucial piece. The feet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I set upon the task of sketching out two identical chicken feet, then stitching and shading them on linen ground fabric. I wanted to make sure that they had dimension and texture. But also that the back was neat and tidy so I could move on to the dreaded step 2:

 I will admit that cutting out hours of stitching was terrifying! I clipped the corners and notched edges so that the next steps would be easier. I did employ a technique I have used in past applique and paper piece quilting and used a glue stick to help turn all those edges nice and neat. Then used a needle to help smooth over those edges crisp to then apply over a wool felt backing.

I regret I did not get a photo of the finished feet with the backing. I will admit I was very focused on the task and was racing against the glue which I knew was not a permanent hold but just a finger on the knot to get these nice and safely stitched. I applied the wool backing with a simple whip stitch. 

Next was putting it all together! I sandwiched the pouch front and back together and inserted the feet in a space I had left for them on the back panel. Then blind stitched to secure all the way around.I am pretty pleased on how the feet came out. Next I did some lucet cording to stitch over all the edges and to make a handle. Then thread in the cording and make tassels.

And here she is! I'm ready to take her to some events and put her out to display.

I learned a LOT with this project and I built a lot more confidence to move forward to use period materials.

The Baba Yaga Reliquary Bag

 I have recently decided to pull out a project that was put aside over a year ago that very much needed to see completion. After 40 hours of stitching for the main front panel, I figured it deserved that much at least. The crucial part was the dangling feet which has been a bit of a daunting task. It's in my mind but can I pull it off? The bag itself will be very small to hold a tiny mortar and pestle. So the work is quite tiny and small details were not saved as well as I had first hoped.

I hand drew out the hut and Baba Yaga in her iconic mortar and pestle.  Then began the outline for later fill in. This was worked on a fine linen in cotton DMC embroidery thread. I very much would like to start working in silk thread in the future. But I still lack the confidence (and honestly, the funds) to tackle that. I am getting closer to reaching that goal. At least I hope so. 

I filled in with split stitch and klosterstitch on the bottom for the grass and soil. I did experience some warping especially on the bottom but this did improve once removed from the frame.

 I did choose to do a more structured couching for the top band to better support the eyelets and cording. 

I have already attached the silk lining to the panels and added eyelets for future cording. I also left a small gap at the bottom so that I can insert the feet when I do finally complete them. Then I can (hopefully) stitch it all together and add any trim and cording.

Please note: This is really just a fun project I am doing to hone my skills and practice bag construction. I do not intend to put this out other than for display as it is not constructed with accurate materials or methods. The back is...not my best work. Knowing it would be concealed I did not do as I should have in weaving in carefully. But still looks much better than past works! That should count for something, no?

2023 Projects

 

The following is a list of projects worked on in 2023. Some are still works in progress and will be detailed in future posts with more details.

Bottle Cap Pincushions

These were part of a Dirty Dozen gift basket competition where the challenge was to make a dozen items to be donated as largesse.  I had a blast making these sweet little pincushions out of bottle caps with fun colors and some colorful stitching.

 

 

 

Columbine Witches Hat

These cute knit hats seem to be all the rage this year but I just had to make mine more personalized. Columbine flowers and fairy ferns were crocheted out of sock yarn and stitched on to a lucet vine to make this hat really stand out in a crowd.
 

Early Period Slavic Overdress (In progress)

A raw silk over dress with detailed embroidered neckline, sleeves, and border. To date I have completed the neckline and sleeve embroidery and attached them to the garment. Trim still needs to be made and applied. As well as hemming and preparing for the detailed border pattern.

Baba Yaga Reliquary Bag (In Progress)

A small bag that will hold a mortar and pestle. The type that Baba Yaga rides around in to cast her spells. Split stitch in cotton on linen with a silk lining. The feet will be stitched  and hung from the bottom for her iconic chicken foot hut.

Introduction : Past Projects

I have been dabbling in the medieval arts for almost 20 years. I say dabbling as many attempts were just that. Fumbling with finding a comfort zone and a niche that I fit in with some wiggle room. I still consider myself somewhat of a dabbler. If not more educated and willing to branch out into new techniques and materials.

I do very much love to embroider. I have been stitching since I was 5 when my grandmother bought me a small cross stitch project and I instantly fell in love. It's meditative, even if sometimes frustrating. I jumped into it and still have decades of bad habits I am working to break. The back of my work only somewhat resembles a traffic jam now. With more time it will surely improve. Hopefully. 

Here I will display some of my past endeavors. Wins and misses. This is what I can comb together over the years. And excuse some of the clumsiness. I am still very much an amateur. And I hope to at least break through into a higher tier at some point. 

 

Split Stitch Foxes - 2020

This was my pandemic project. An exercise in patience and shading using only split stitch as a coloring book. It kept me busy! Cotton embroidery floss on evenweave linen.

Split Stitch Cup Cover - 2014

This was my first journey into split stitch as a fill in stitch. And it became an obsession thereafter. This also became a class I have taught multiple times that results in a small easily worked project with a very handy purpose to show off your work. Embroidery cotton on linen.

 

Klosterstitch Pouch - 2014

Made for a competition, I chose to experiment with a rarely used stitch type. Laid and couched with random angled stitches. I did not use the wool used typically for this method and instead used cotton embroidery floss as the wool was cost prohibitive for me. Linen ground fabric.

Blackwork "Spike" Seahorse - 2012

Blackwork that was made into a pouch for a gift basket. Single ply silk, cotton embroidery floss on linen ground fabric. 

 

I have more 'mundane' projects under my belt. Such as knitting and crochet. Many (MANY) cross stitched works. I am going to keep this blog slimmed down for now unless there is a call for my other projects. I always keep three in hand because I like to overdo it. But balance is key. If you want to see more of anything let me know. I do have closer pics of most unless it was given as a prize or added to a gift basket.