Christmas ornament

Well, Hello!!

It's been so long since I've done anything "medieval" that I haven't had anything to post to the blog. That doesn't mean I've not been reading all of your blogs and staying interested. Also I am still making stuff.

This year we decided to get a really little Christmas tree, only 3 feet tall. It is small enough that I was able to decorate it entirely with handmade (not all by me) ornaments. It's a little more sparsely decorated than I would like, though, so...

Here's a little trinket I made the other day, partially inspired by my desire to work some tiny brick stitch on 40 count linen (because it looks great, or because I am a masochist?). It is a single motif, using 2 strands of Eterna silk on 40 count linen, appliqued to a piece of white wool. The wool is lightly quilted. The edges of the motif are finished with couching. The edges of the ornament are finished with a 4 ply kumi himo braid woven with 4 strands of Eterna thread per ply. There is also a faceted crystal bead just above the tassel.

I bought the Eterna years ago but never used it for some reason; maybe because many of the colors looked like modern dyes? I had forgotten it was filament silk so I was pleased with the sheen. I was not pleased with the way the thread kept catching on my work roughened hands. Using a magnifier lamp made using the fine linen pretty easy, although the magnifier did also magnify previously unnoticed flaws in my manicure. That was rather distressing!

This was a fun little project, and great to have a finished object produced in under 24 hours.

Pattern #10 as a needle book

I keep coming back to the needle book because it is a way to make a small example of a pattern into something that can actually be used. My goal is to make a small stitched example of most of the patterns, but they can't all be needle books so I have to come up with some more small items to make.

The finished size is approximately 2.5 by 3 inches when closed. Materials are 32 count even weave Zweigart linen ground stitched with a single strand of silk floss from Aurora Silk dyed with Indigo for blue, Brazilwood for burgundy/red, and undyed for white. Natural dyeing of silk floss was courtesy of Renee. The cord used for trim and ties was made using kumi himo technique with four bobbins and two strands of silk on each bobbin to get the required thickness. The lining is burgundy wool scrap from my wool scrap stash.

As promised, better pictures of the basketweave pattern pouch

These pictures were made using a scanner and include some of the details of the purse. When I see something I would like to recreate I am always interested in the details of the finishing techniques. As I gain experience this is less important but has been vital for my first projects (this is only my second pouch).

To make the lining, I whipstitched a piece of bronze linen to the back of the embroidery. I then folded the whole piece together, right side out, and tablet wove the sides together. I started the weaving at the bottom corner of one side of the purse (at the fold). I passed the weft thread through the warp a couple times, then started passing the weft through the warp from left to right, stitching the warp through the edges of the side of the purse. The weft thread emerged from the purse edge on the left and I then passed the weft through the warp from left to right. The cards were turned after every time I passed the weft through the warp.

Once I wove up to the top of the purse I kept weaving in a normal manner, passing the weft through the warp from left to right, rotating the cards, passing the weft from right to left and rotating the cards again. This wove the strap of the purse.

When the strap was long enough I once again started weaving the purse edge, this time starting at the top edge of the purse side and working my way down. Before I started I made sure the strap was straight. I wouldn't want to have finished weaving the second side of the purse only to discover the strap was all twisted. I think I would have lost my mind if had done that.

At the end of the purse I stitched into the warp a couple times and tied off the weft. The leftover warp thread on both bottom ends of the purse formed part of the tassels.

So, how did I maintain tension as I was rotating the purse and weaving the second side? Is there a good way to do this? I don't know. I used my hand to hold the purse and strap and maintain tension manually while I used the other hand to pass the weft and rotate the cards. It was very awkward. I had planned to take pictures of the process but it didn't work out. Maybe next time if I ever try this again.

The top edge of the purse, where the linen lining was attached to the embroidery, didn't look finished to me so I did a stem stitch along the edge to cover the seam.

The drawstring resembles fingerloop cord but is actually kumihimo (I used 8 bobbins). Fingerloop would have been more authentic but I am really bad at it.

The holes for the drawstring cord to pass through were made with an awl and not finished in any way. According to descriptions of extant pouches this is how many of them were made. I will just have to see how this holds up to use. My last pouch I did buttonhole stitching on the eyelets so this is a new technique for me. It makes me feel nervous to do this to my embroidery that I put so much work into.

Materials: 2-ply silk thread from aurorasilk.com dyed using fustic for the yellows, indigo for the blue and fustic/indigo for the green; 24-count linen congress cloth from Needle in a Haystack (www.needlestack.com); bronze linen from my stash. I put samples of all the threads in a sunny window for several weeks. The fustic did not fade at all, nor did the green. The indigo faded slightly but still looks pretty. As I plan to store this pouch out of the light I think it will be fine.

Maru dai completed, now I have three!

It feels like such a long time since I last posted when it has really only been a couple of weeks. I took a week long hiatus from doing any craft type activities for a couple of reasons. First, my wrist was hurting and I thought a rest would be good for it. Second, I just started a new job and wanted to focus my energy on work.

Now it is almost time for school to start again. For me that means back to the woodshop and starting a new project. In order to be ready for new things it is time to finish off the old things. This week I finally finished these maru dai (stands to use for making kumihimo cord). I have been using them in their unfinished state and they worked fine, but it is good to have them done.

I chose three different heights as an experiment to see how it would feel to work with different sizes. The shortest one has 12 inch posts. It is convenient to use when sitting although I do have to tie up the cord coming out the bottom more frequently. The middle one has 17 inch posts. It was the first stand I made so the one I have used the most. It is not convenient to use with the tables I have at home but it is a good height when I set it on a low stool or when I am standing. The third stand is 24 inches high and is my favorite. It sits on the floor when I am sitting to weave or on a coffee table if I want to stand. Because it is tall I don't have to worry as much about tying up the cord. The drawbacks are that it takes up more space to store and was expensive to make, especially because I used walnut.

The tall and short stands are walnut and the middle height stand is red oak. The walnut is so beautiful but so much more expensive than other woods. I probably spent over $30 just for the wood in the tall stand and $18 for the short one. The oak was about half as expensive. I used a gel stain on all the wood, rubbed in by hand. This went on much better and more controlled than the liquid stain although it was harder to find a store that carried it. The walnut is stained with a dark walnut stain, the oak with a color called "Provincial" (a light-medium golden brown). All the stands are finished with multiple coats of Mylands wax, a blend of beeswax, carnuaba wax and other stuff not mentioned on the label. The wax gives a nice low sheen and doesn't make to wood too slick and cause the threads to slide around too much when in use.

Each time I make something new in wood I learn a new lesson. This time the lesson was: don't skimp on sanding with the low grit sandpaper to get the big scratches and flaws out. The finer grade sandpaper won't do it the flaws really show up when the piece is finished.

Kumihimo: eight bobbin flat cord

I tried a new kumihimo pattern. This eight bobbin pattern was more fun than the last one I tried. I used crochet cotton because it is cheap. At the end of the cord I split it into two group of four cords and made a four bobbin cord from each one. That has interesting possibilities. It looks a little different on each side; I like the zig-zag side better.

Blackwork cat... on a needlecase!

I first remember seeing this cat depicted in a needlework sampler a while back before I ever thought of doing any blackwork myself, so I didn't make any effort to remember it. Then I saw the picture again in Liadain's Practical Blackwork blog and I knew I had to make it. The picture can be found on the V & A website; it is museum number T.326-1921, a sampler found in a burial ground in Egypt dated to 14th to 16th century in silk on linen. The little cats were missing some stitches so I had to do a little reconstruction but I think it came out pretty well. I took more liberties with the tree because it had to fit into my design area.

It didn't come out perfect; I made a mistake on a couple of the leaves and the flower things at the end of the two branches are not identical because I wasn't sure which way I wanted to do it. I liked the one on the right better. Still, it came out pretty good and I just had to make it into another needlecase. My friend Renee likes cats and I have been wanting to give her a needlebook but didn't think the others I've made so far would be right for her; this one is perfect.

I make the other side of the book red linen and lined it and made the "pages" of the book out of red wool. The ties and seam edging are black and white silk four bobbin kumihimo cord.

Materials: 28 count evenweave linen, single strand Soie d'Alger silk floss in "Noir".

I love the little cats with their crowns so much I will probably embroider them on something else but I'm not sure what.

Another needlecase....finished!!

I am supposed to be finishing the blackwork because my deadline is this week but I so very much wanted to see how this would turn out that I went ahead and finished it. My front garden is looking really lovely right now and the weather is so beautiful so I posed the needlebook outside. I took a picture of the inside so it is possible to look at how I make the inside. It is lined with wool and has two wool pages which are one long piece sewn down in the middle. There is a pocket on one side with the opening towards the center so things don't fall out. I like to store a threader in there; it is so handy to have one right with the needles.

So, now that I've had my bit of fun it is back to work and the next post will be the completed blackwork shirt.

Materials:

24 count linen congress cloth
DMC cotton embroidery floss, four strands for embroidery and six strands per bobbin for edging and ties
wool scraps from my garb material box for lining
kumihimo - four bobbin cord used to cover edge seams and for ties

Another needlecase...

Thanks Helene! (see the link to Helene's blog in the "Blogs with neat stuff" list at right) Helene patterned a motif from a German embroidery similar to one I had been thinking of patterning. Now I don't have to. In the picture of the original I noticed that the motif I wanted was also in the embroidery. I looked at her pattern and saw how I could easily adapt it for what I wanted. I used four stands of DMC cotton embroidery floss on 24 count linen Congress cloth (which is quite stiff). I am going to make a needlebook out of it. Yes, I keep making them but I find it is a nice way to try something out because the size is small and I like to make usable things. I don't want a bunch of stitching samples that I just keep in a box. Since I liked the pattern I am going to do it again, this time in wool and it will be a pouch, I think. I am still working on Vyncent's blackwork shirt but this little project was my carry around project to fit in my purse. I worked on it during free time/breaks at work. I couldn't take the shirt there so it doesn't count as a distraction, really!

And the colors are really that bright. They will show up nicely against my navy blue wool dress. It looks better in person than in the photo.

The cord next to it is a four bobbin kumihimo cord made with the DMC floss (six strands per bobbin). I am going to use it for ties and to cover the seams.

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.

Original pattern #1 completed piece

Here is my first completed example of an embroidery project from of my own creation. The central motif came from the Goess vestments, the two background patterns are fairly common in German embroidery in the medieval period. I wanted to test out which I liked better so I decided to do half each. The background patterns blended with the motif perfectly, something I was trying to achieve.

Finished size (open): 12.5 x 7.5cm

Materials:

*Zweigart 28- count linen
*felted red wool for lining and "pages" of book
*Edging and tie: a 4 bobbin braid using Trebizonid (a 3-ply filament twisted silk) red #4015 and white
*Embroidery floss: 3 strands of Soie d'Alger, colors "CREME" (white), #2122 (green), and #2924 (red)

Cord happy

I love my maru dai (braiding stand)! I have been going cord happy, using up all the thread I bought when I was experimenting with different types of embroidery thread. I also made some fine cord with linen thread for plain chemise ties. The black and red cord was made with 12-ply Splendor silk floss while the black and white was also made with Splendor but split into 2 strands per bobbin instead of 12.

My first attempt at a maru dai and kumihimo

I started taking a woodworking class though the local adult education and I am hooked! For my first project I made a kumihimo braiding stand called a maru dai. Although is it not finished yet I wanted to try it out to make sure the dimensions were good. I liked it a lot and now I will finish it. I tried this type of braiding once before using a quickie cardboard contraption but the wood stand is much nicer to use.

I made a simple four strand braid for my first attempt and it turned out pretty well. The thread is some silk my friend Renee gave me. She dyed it using indigo and tumeric. I also have to work out a better system for the bobbins and counterweight. I don't like tying a slip knot around the bobbin and for the counterweight I used a spool of solder and some wire my boyfriend was using that happened to be handy. I'll post another picture when I have that worked out.