Progress on blackwork shirt

Work on the blackwork shirt for Vyncent continues. I finished the embroidery for one side of the collar and have sewn it to the ruff. It came out even better than I anticipated and I am very pleased. It looks like I got a spot of blood on it so I will have to take hydrogen peroxide to it. I am working on the embroidery for the inside of the collar now.

A new look for my blog!

Holy cow! I made a cool new title and edited the template html and made my blog look way more spif!! Hey, Troye, I was paying attention!

A different needlecase design

I liked the zig-zag background pattern from my last needlecase so much that I decided to use it for another needlecase. I wanted to make something small so I can take just a few items and fit them in a little pouch to take with me when I am in garb.

I am getting better at making up the finished items. This time I remembered to leave little holes at the corners when sewing it together for the ends of the cord edging to tuck into. Unfortunately, I still had my iron on the linen setting when I ironed the lining (after I sewed it in, of course) so it now has an "antique" or a "dirty" look on the inside, depending on one's viewpoint.

Materials: three strands of Soie d'Alger (silk), colors CREME and #1723 (blue) on 28 count evenweave linen, lined with worsted wool, ties and edging are 4 bobbin kumihimo cord with two strands of the Soie d/Alger embroidery thread per bobbin.

Making a blackwork shirt for Vyncent

Vyncent is going to be a Laurel! Hooray! Of course he needs a new outfit. But wait, it is next month! How can he get everything together by then? Of course, by enlisting friends to help. So I started out volunteering blackwork embroidery for collar and cuffs. Of course, the ties would look better in the same thread so why don't I make those, too? And because I am such a control freak, why don't I just do the whole shirt as well? So, other projects are now on hold for the most part so I can put all my effort into finishing this. So far I have done buttonhole edging for 60 inches of collar ruff and 16 inches of collar embroidery out of 36 inches total needed.

Pattern: from da Sera, Domenico. Opera Noua composta per Domenico da Sera detto il Francoisino. Venice, 1546. As charted in The New Carolingian Modelbook by Ianthe d'Averoigne.

Material: single strand Soie d'Alger "Noir" silk thread on lightweight non-evenweave linen.

Of course, this qualifies as an A&S 50 Challenge project for depth in embroidery.

Kumihimo: four and eight bobbin cord

I saw in the Yahoo A&S 50 digest some discussion of Kumihimo cord so I thought I'd post the eight bobbin cord I just finished. It is the green and yellow one. The red and white is a four bobbin cord for comparison. Both are made from Trebizonid silk, one strand per bobbin. It really is lovely and makes great cord. I use it for chemise ties, to finish the edges of my embroidery projects, and plan to use for lacing of garb and whatever else I can think of. The Weavershand website (link on the right under "Links I like") had lots of information on kumihimo as well as inkle, fingerloop and a host of other things.