St Eligius Entry

This weekend,  I went out of my comfort zone and after 13 years, entered St Eligis Arts and Science competition.  I entered an Italian Assisi redwork embroidered hand towel  or "napkin" as they called them. It was from the 1500s. It is a work in progress because as a friend is fond of saying, "Embroidery always takes twice as long as you estimate it will" and she is correct!

I was very nervous about entering because of a past bad experience in a competition, but I bit the proverbial bullet and threw my hat into the ring.  Here are pictures i took and I will copy and paste my documentation in for further reading.

This is my entry set up at St Eligius.

Cell phone shot while working on it.

another cell shot at 1am the day before of the stopping point.

A photo of me at my spot someone took of me.

Documentation papers from St Eligius:

St Eligius 12 Question Contest Documentation

What did you make or do?

I am currently working on an Italian embroidered hand towel inspired by an extant piece in the Victoria and Albert museum.

What is the connection between your entry and a medieval item or practice?

I am creating an Italian persona for myself and want to have feast linens for myself.

How would your entry have been made/done in period?

The detail work on the towel/napkin that inspired me was actually a separate piece that was woven and then stitched onto the linen towel, then the hem was created and trimmed with red stitching. However there are other extant pieces that show the linen being directly embroidered on.

How was yours made/done?

I am embroidering directly onto white linen with a counted stitch pattern using Splendor Twisted Silk 12 strand embroidery thread, two strands, color number 0822.

What are some similarities and differences in materials, process, tools, approach?

The silk that would have been used on the piece at the museum would have been stranded silk. I am using twisted silk thread for durability, also it was what I had in my stash already.

What inspired you?

Two pieces from history inspired me. The pattern came from a “cover” that is at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I found a pattern already charted very similar to this one in the New Carolingian Modelbook and am using that. The other piece that inspired me is the towel also at the V&A with a woven band of embellishment.

What was your favorite part of preparing your entry?

I love to embroider. I have always been a lover of counted work (except when I miscount and have to pick out stitches). Blackwork is one of my favorite embroidery styles to execute as well. So with creating an Italian persona having a feast gear linen set made for my persona was an appealing idea.

What would you do differently next time?

I would invest in stranded silk to execute the embroidery to make it more accurate to the original pieces.

What references or sources would you recommend to someone interested in your work?

The V&A has a large collection of embroideries and this is where I found wonderful images of redwork.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/2295/cover (cover with the embroidery pattern)

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119345/napkin-unknown/ (images of the towel)

Image of woman with embroidered towel on shoulder.

Towel/Napkin from V&A Museum, 1500 Italy

How did you find your sources of information?

I found images, paintings and inspirations mainly through internet research as well as a few books in my collection.

• Assisi Embroidery by Jos Hendriks ISBN 9082190028
• New Carolingian Model Book by Kim Brody Salazar ISBN 0964208229

Did you find a connection to a medieval artisan or owner while working on your entry?

I have always loved embroidering. My mother taught me when I was a small child and have progressed through the years from cross stitch to free embroidery and after I found the SCA 26 years ago, now researching techniques done through out history and doing my best to recreate them as accurately as possible. Recreating the embroidery from pieces in history gives me an idea of what it was like all those years ago. Modern day conveniences such as electric lights, machined metal needles and threads and magnifying glasses give me an advantage that they did not have then. I have, for the sake of curiosity, tried embroidering by candle light with a large glass vase filled with water to act as a magnifier but it proved quite difficult with my already aged vision. I imagine embroidering that way caused eye sight to deteriorate more quickly over the years.

Any last thoughts or amusing stories about your work?

A fellow friend who also embroiders once told me “Embroidery always takes twice as long as you think it will”. As always, she is right. Even though I allotted what I thought was a generous amount of time to finish this project prior to the event, I did not allot enough. The tight linen I chose, even with reading glasses, was sometimes difficult to count and mistakes were made that required stitches to be removed thus delaying completion.

Internet Research Web Site Links:

http://www.larsdatter.com/voided-work.htm

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/24931

http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/436943

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/213459

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/222080

Image References:

Close up of Towel/Napkin at V&A Museum, 1500 Italy

“Cover” Showing cross stitch pattern Inspiration

While I most likely will not enter another competition, I did learn quite a bit while sitting for this one. I wanted to thank everyone that stopped by and gave suggestions or compliments at my work.

Banner and Favor

100% Silk banner and favor. Silk dupioni from The Silk Baron and Splendor silk embroidery thread were used to create this banner and favor for a friend.
The bear and trees were embroidered in split stitch and stem stitch for outlining. Then the green silk was appliqued onto the white background silk and a blanket stitch was done on the ends to tack them down.

Recipients coat of arms

Small silk favor

Close up of banner

full shot of banner

Pennsic Mayor Hood

A commission piece I was recently asked to create. The mayor of this past Pennsic asked me to create a hood with the Pennsic Mayor coat of arms on it. I made a viking hood with the arms embroidered than appliqued onto the front. Its a nice open weave linen for hot pennsic weather.

Split stitch and stem stitch done in DMC cotton threads

Kyle was kind enough to model for me.

Dagmar wearing the gifted hood.

A Pennsic We Will Go...at least my projects do!

It was a busy few weeks leading up to Pennsic.  I was making items to be delivered to people there. I had a request for four Queen's Order of Courtesy roses for gloves by his Majesty.  I embroidered them using stranded silk on linen fabric. They are pictured below:

Her highness requested a stouter surcoat for herself to wear while she did combat archery in the battles.  I created one based off the shape of one of the Prince surcoat that is in the regalia.  It is constructed of linen with appliqued roses and the crown on both front and back. I used a modern iron on adhesive to adhere it to the linen and then used a blanket stitch on the edges to embellish it and aid in fraying prevention

Here are a couple pictures of her Highness Matilde wearing it into battle.

Another project that went to war as a surprise for their Highness's of the East were two pilgrim bags for their retainers to carry their daily necessary items in.  They are constructed of navy blue wool and embroidered with a variation of their arms on the flaps. 

I also sent two linen viking hoods with embroidered edges to a friend, but I neglected to get pictures of them before they were packed. At 1am, my mind wasn't function on all cylinders, LOL. 

While I am sad I was unable to attend war this year due to real life issues I was glad to have sent a little things to different people and make them happy.

I think Ill work on a couple of modern cross stitches for a relative and maybe knit a pair of socks or two...for now.

Laurel Vigil Book

I made this vigil book for a friend that was elevated yesterday.  Thought I did not base the design off of any historical piece, the gold work techniques were used on several books made in the 1500's. The signatures were stitched together with a Coptic stitch. The shield was done in split stitch.

 

 

Materials:

 

Velvet fabric

linen fabric (base of shield applique)

Parchment Paper

Silk Embroidery Thread

Gold metal thread

Gold boullion

endpapers



 

 

 

 

 



Viking tunic..yes another one

 

I just completed this Viking tunic for a friend.  We talked about me making it months back and was FINALLY able to get measurements (by stealing a tunic he was wearing that day!) and able to get working on it. He chose the color linen and had it mailed to me directly. I washed and dried it prior to cutting it out and then used the "stolen" tunic as a pattern for it.  His request was to have Viking runes on the sleeve that when translated say "It begins in the beginning as all things do."  He provided the translation.  The hem and collar are a double herringbone stitch done in blue, white and green thread. The wolves heads are the symbols on his coat of arms and I copied them onto the tunic for further personalization.  I used cotton thread instead of silk thread because honestly, cotton is a bit tougher. I have found that men tend to be a bit tougher on their garb then women.  Also, The gold and green colors I was out of in my silk thread collection and funds being on the snug side, I chose for the lesser pricey threads that I had in my collection already. 

 

As with my other Viking type tunics, my inspiration for the embroidery comes mostly from the Mammen embroideries found on extant pieces.  Paired beasts were often used, though not in the fashion I used it on his tunic.  Below is a fragment of embroidery showing the paired beasts. I placed the wolves heads on either side of the neckline to personalize it more for the recipient, as they are on his coat of arms.

 

I'm so very happy with how it came out and his reaction when I sent him pictures was even better.  I'm still cracking up laughing over it! I promise to add a picture of him wearing it when I see him in it.

 

The materials I used were as follows: 

DMC Cotton thread

Coats and Clark sewing thread

Linen fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit 06/18/15:

Two photos of the recipient wearing the tunic