Short but sweet....

Well, here they are. Second pair of socks I have ever made. The first went fine. The second one...well....I had to tear it out twice: once before the heel and once after Id gotten the heel done. I was ready to throw it in the fireplace and be done with socks FOREVER!!! But...I picked it back up and finished it last night.

Im happy with them.  I may even make more.  Yea, yea I know what I said. Hush you!

Two years later.....DONE!!! (procrastination at its finest)

Well, this was a "christmas present" that should have been completed two years ago but a mix of getting busy, moving, kids, procrastination and a little bit of fear had me not finish this piece till last week.  Its a viking wool tunic for a good friend of mine.  The  pattern at the neckline was actually his own design from his college days. I secretly photographed it and saved it to recreate it as embroidered trim, which is what is on the neckline.  On the arms, are knot work snakes as a tip o the hat to his household's arms.  I think the fear of properly executing the neck trim embroidery so as to do the design proper justice is what kept me from completing this project sooner.  All in all, I am happy with how it came out (once I sucked up the nerve and did it).

Materials:
The tunic is a worsted wool and the trim is silk fabric with Splendor Silk embroidery threads used on the design, the snake knot work and the seam finishing on the cuffs, collar and hem.  

Knitting fun!

So I have been a bit remiss in posting, but that does not mean I have not been busy! The holidays had me running all over the place visiting family and friends and enjoying myself immensely!  Last year, by this time, I think I had made about a dozen hive hats for friends and such. This year, I made a few more but tried a different pattern and made three. One for my guy and two for his parents. Though I dont have pics of the ones I made for them (they were made from a natural color cotton yarn), I do have the one I made for Ryan in a variegated dyed olive green wool that I picked up from the Sheep and Wool festival.  It isnt a really hard hat pattern, just a basic cable knit style hat but not having done a cable pattern in quite some time, this was a refresher. Anyway, here are the pics. As you can tell, he is sooo fond of his picture being taken. *rolls eyes*

After finishing up another couple sewing projects on my plate its back to knitting fun! I want to master socks. Im having issues with ankle down style so perhaps the toe up style is for me...stay tuned!!!

Surcoat for My Consort

So I neglected to post updated pics of my most recent embroidery project. What I was working on was a new heraldic surcoat for my consort Lord Rory MacLellan.  He use to fight in a kilt but sometime back decided to go with a more appropriate kit.  After much discussion and a great amount of assistance in designing, we came up with this.


                               

 Materials that were used were linen fabric, DMC black embroidery thread, Coats and Clarks sewing thread and fusible webbing.

It is a sleeveless surocat to allow for movement and room for the invisible armor.  Obviously we used the fusible webbing to adhere the shapes to the surcoat then I machine stitched them to the tunic.  

In a previous post, I had shown some embroidered words I was working on. They are attached to the sides of his surcoat roughly knee level. The words say:
"Heroes non sumus nati...ispi erant'ANGULAUERUNT!"

Translation: Heroes are not made, they are cornered!



I used split stitch in contrasting colors to edge the seams and make them pop. Though I did not get the chance to work on it before this day, I will be hand stitching the edges to hide the mundane machine embroidery.   Overall I am very pleased with how the surcoat came out.  The embroidery I was most happy with.      Now...Onto the next project!!!!  Though what it is yet, I do not know... STAY TUNED!!!

Front view. (Doesnt he look thrilled to pose for the pictures?! tehehe)

Right side: "Heroes are not made..."

Left side: "...they are cornered!!"

Newest Project

So, this is the newest project I have started.

Materials:

Linen fabric

Cotton DMC embroidery thread

I use cotton thread on garb for friends that tend to wash and wear the pieces often. These pieces of clothing tend to take a greater beating (IE: fighter tunics, etc) and I have found it to be stouter in dealing with the punishment the piece of clothing goes through.

 Also, being on a tight budget, the amount of silk thread I would need for the projects would be more than I can afford at the moment. So, I make do. I know what was used in period, I just have to work in my budget.

 

The finished product will be revealed in a few weeks. But Ill post updates on this embroidery. 

Cheers!

Norse Viking Tunic

Materials Used:

100% linen fabric 4 yards washed and dried
Cottom DMC Embroidery thread
Coats and Clark sewing thread

Made this tunic for Ryan for his first event, River Wars in Iron Bog in the East Kingdom. He chose a 12th c viking persona (still hashing it out) and i made this.  It was unembellished at the time so afterwards I took some time to spiff it up.  I used a double herringbone stitch around the cuffs, collar and sleeves and used a split stitch to line all the seams. I am very pleased with how it came out as was Ryan.

Tunic completed, folded up

Detail of hem embroidery

Detail of cuffs

Detail of the neckline embroidery

close up of neckline

Detail of split stitch in the arm pit

whole tunic image (yes, he is tall)

Now that it has been given....

This little medallion was a joint project by me and my friend Ryan as a gift for my friend Markessa when she was inducted into the Order of the Maunche at River Wars yesterday. He made the bronze framework and i did the blackwork embroidery. It is black silk thread on white linen. She seemed to really like it.