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.

Tunics for Everyone!!

In a previous post, I'd stated how a friend commissioned me to make two tunics for him. One for wearing during battle and one to wear that was fancier. After a little bit of time (and RL interference) I was able to complete it. It is made of linen with cotton thread for embellishment.  He said his second favorite animal is the raven so I added that in on the design. I embellished edges with double herringbone stitch and then running stitches alongside those.

Front of tunic showing sleeves and the boars

Close up of one of the boars

Knotwork raven on center back (sorry couldn't figure out how to turn the pic)

Sleeve

Detail of embroidery on underarm gusset

embroidery detail of the hemline

 

 

 

ravens on upper arms of the sleeves

He said it was "amazeballs" when he saw it. I'll take that!

Next up.....ANOTHER PELICAN!!!!

Latest Finished Project: "LaBroder-dress"

Viking ensemble for a friend. Took me some time what with moving and other life things going on but its finally done. Black linen gown with embroidery and seam treatments and blue linen apron dress with seam treatments. The same treatments on the cuffs of the black gown are on the hem of it as well, which I didn't get a picture of.  Very happy with how it came out and the recipient sent me a wonderful shocked face picture that made me smile.  Here are the images of it.

Close up of the arm embroidery

Seam treatments on apron dress

Apron Dress laid on the gown

Viking Concert Hoodie (yea you read that right)

A little while back, a request was made of me from my guy. He jokingly said he wanted the picture from his favorite album embroidered onto a tunic.  I said no. He laughed at me, stating he wanted a period concert t-shirt since he is a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy.  Nope, nope, nope. So, he begged a little more and said..what about on a hood? It will still sit in the same spot and i see images of things on hoods all the time!! *sigh* I relented, and below is the results. 

I had made him a hood of green wool, but went a long while unembellished.  So, I found the image of his favorite album, translated the words into runes from an online translator and after a few weeks of embroidering..ta-da! 

I used DMC cotton thread and the soluble embroidery backing for the design.  The words in the circle say "Strange cousins from the west" which is the album title. The name of the band is underneath: Clutch. It is done in satin stitch, split stitch and back stitch. I did herringbone stitch to hide the machine seams.

Now, yes I know this is no way even close or remotely period. He doesn't care...he just loves that I made him a viking concert hoodie, and he walked around wearing it for nearly an hour today (in our air conditioned house..I mean..it was 80+ outside). Now, onto the next project!! :D

Apron dress Do Over



So, the apron dress I sent to my friend in PA was not fit correctly. So after some pinning, she sent it back to me so that I could refit it for her. Before I send it out to her, I decided to spiff it up a little to make up for my mistake in measuring when I cut it out and stitched it together.  I added this little motif that I found online to the dress in matching silk embroidery thread.  I sent her a picture and she loves it! :D Going out in the mail tomorrow.

 

 

 

 



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

 

Birthday Apron Dress

 

Another project off my to do list for others! My good friend's birthday was about two weeks ago and as a present, because I miss her so much, I promised her I'd make her an apron dress for her Viking garb.  I used red linen (the second picture shows the true red. The first picture has it really orange for some reason) and silk embroidery thread by Splendor.  I did running stitches in white silk to tack down the seams and did a split stitch over the seams itself for strength and beauty. 

 

It was mailed to her this morning so after she receives it, Ill get a picture of her wearing it.  I'm very pleased with it. I put my own jewelry on it so you can see how it will look once embellished with jewelry. 

 

 

 

(close up of split stitch and running stitch on seams)

(sorry for the mess on my table..was prepping for an event)

Knighting Tunic

It was a busy couple of months. I was working on two projects simultaneously. The german brickwork pouch (previous entry) and this tunic for a friend who was being elevated to the Order of Chivalry.  At some point down the road I will get better pictures. 

The trim embroidered on the bottom of the tunic was a pattern taken from a Russian border I saw online.

 The neckline (which I don't have a picture of yet) Has an upside down heart shape with two diamonds: one within the heart and one outside of it.

The cuffs have Viking runes on them quoting great words of praise spoken by a Countess who he was champion for. The left sleeve (his sword arm as he is left handed) reads "The heart of a warrior".  The right sleeve reads "The soul of courtesy". 

Materials used in the making of the tunic:

Coats & Clark sewing thread
Splendor Twisted Silk Embroidery thread
Blue linen from fabrics-store.com

 

(photo taken by Christin Nosenchuk)

New Month..and A Gift

Well this month its the plan to do the outer gown/dress of the viking outfit as well as the caftan coat. The fabric for both is pictured above here (via my cell phone camera). The Blue linen on right is the long sleeve outer gown that will show beneath the apron dress. The herringbone fabric to the left (which is actually a lighter blue more than a purpleish...bad lighting i suppose) will be the caftan coat. That fabric was a wonderful gift from my friend Brenwen and its sooooo soft. (thank you Brewen!!)

Will most likely be experimenting with muslin patterns for the dress today as previous obligation projects are mostly done. :)