Embroidered Heraldic Banner Device

 A new family member has been keeping me very busy the last several weeks, and bringing that special level of insanity that only a puppy can add! Completed projects seem to be few and far between, and there is so much cleaning to be done. But I did manage to get a banner device done for my local device banner.

The device banner project is a group project which records local SCA heraldic registrations in chronological order, with heraldic devices sewn onto a series of banners.

The banners look great, record the history of our group, and enable a fun guessing game at events. We have six banners so far, with registrations sewn under the devices of the Baron and Baroness of the time.

                                            Banners 2, 3 and 4 on display at an event pre-Covid.

One of the locals didn't have time to complete their device so I offered to help them out. The device is made of felt with applique and embroidery.

Split stitch was the main stitch used, with a little bit of whip stitch and couching. Crochet cotton and DMC embroidery floss were used also.

Split Stitch Embroidered Slips (Flowers) for Applique

I'm still very slow at sewing and embroidery due to the wrist injury that I did in November, so I was really pleased to be able to complete a project for a friend *before* the deadline. (Only a day before, but I count a win as a win!)

These embroidered flowers were appliqued onto a 14th Century gown. They were done in DMC floss in split stitch over a damask fabric. Using split stitch on appliqued decorative fabric is a really good way to cover a lot of area relatively quickly.

Mouse Pouch for the Mouse Guard

I managed to get a Mouse Pouch finished to coincide with the recent Royal Visit to my Barony. The Mouse Pouch is the token for admission into the Mouse Guard, which is given in recognition of the contribution given to our Kingdom by children between the ages of 4 and 13 years. Pouches are traditionally made for the Crown by members of the Worshipful Company of Broderers of Lochac and need to be pretty sturdy to withstand active little people.  It is a cute pouch and I just love seeing the looks on the kid's faces when they are admitted to the Guard.

More information on the pouches can be found here: http://broiderers.lochac.sca.org/projects/mouse

I made my pouch from red wool lined in red linen. The mouse is white wool appliqued with chain stitch embroidery over the edges and for details. The eye is a black glass bead.

Although this is a specific pouch for a specific purpose, the technique is the same for a plain pouch or one with a different design.

First, I drew up a rectangle of the required size. I wanted it big enough to get your hand in, but not so big it would swamp a child. I cut my fabric with a fold at the bottom rather than a seam to reduce bulk. I then cut out the lining in the same way but took a couple of millimetres off the side edges because we want the lining to slide inside.

Next I appliqued and embroidered the design in the centre of the top half of the outer rectangle. You want your design to be nice and central, but allow a bit of extra room at the top for the fabric to be folded over and eyelets to be worked.

When I was happy with the design, I sewed the two side seams up and did the same on the lining, using the same seam allowance on both. I like to trim the bottom corner edges off so that the points come out nice and sharp when I turn the fabric right side out. Once the outer bag is right side out, I added some little tassels along the bottom of the bag.

One both pieces are sewn and the outer piece is right side out, I slid the linen lining piece inside. The goal is to have all the seams hidden inside the bag. I fold the top of the lining and outer pieces down and whip them together at the top edge so that two pieces are sealed.

The next step is to make the eyelets. I find this to be quite hard on my hands, so I usually don't do them all in one hit. I like five eyelets on each side for this size pouch. I mark the position that I want them to be with a removable pen and then make a hole with an awl. Next I go around the edge of the hole with a double running or back stitch, leaving a couple of millimetres space between the edge of the hole and the stitching. When that is done, I use a satin stitch to  bind the edges of the hole.

 

Before I add the cords, I sew in the hanging cord. For this one I used a commercially made cord and whipped it to a lacing ring on each side. Then I just sewed in the ring.

I made some lacing cords out of multiple strands of DMC  embroidery floss. I used a simple three strand braid which I thought looked quite effective. I incorporated the three colours used on the pouch.

Embroidered ferrets

It is change of season here, and the weather has gone from quite warm to suddenly very wintry. Naturally there has been a spike in coughs and colds and other illnesses, and I have been sick with various viral and bacterial infections for over a month. This coupled with a hand injury has made my usual slow progress even slower (although that hardly seems possible)! I have had a lot of projects to work on for other people. Here is one that I was working on for a friend.....

One of my friends was invited to join a peerage Order, and his partner asked me to help her with a new jupon for him. She designed it and provided the materials, and I just needed to embroider some stem stitch outlines for her.

I worked these cute little guys in three strands of DMC floss in a split stitch. Once I was finished, I gave them back to my friend and she cut them out, needle-turn appliqued them down and couched thread around the outside.

The finished product was a work of art and a real credit to her. It shows how relatively simple (although time-consuming) techniques can be combined to create very dramatic designs. It has also inspired me to start thinking about different ways of incorporating embroidery into clothing.

Photo credit: C. Lindner

Banner Device Project- White Dragon Device

Here is a recently completed device for our Baronial device banner project. It is made of wool felt, and has embroidery, silver cord and applique. Stitches include couching, whip, stem, chain and split stitch. The eye is made from a red glass bead. DMC cotton floss, rayon floss and cotton crochet thread have been used.

Laurel wreath cloak project applique

I am part of the embroiderer's guild of Lochac  ( http://lochac.sca.org/lochac/guilds/index.html ), and volunteered to do a piece of goldwork applique as part of a group project. The second half of last year was absolutely atrocious, with serious real life issues consuming my family. As I wrote a New Year's list of things I needed to achieve in the first quarter of 2014 I was horrified to realise that I hadn't completed the piece. I was also really nervous about starting it because it is not a technique that I am very good at or confident with, and that can be really intimidating (especially when the article is for someone else.)

However, procrastination has not won me any awards lately, so I took advantage of the public holiday and just started. Nike really is on the right track with their little motto. Once I got into the project, it became less intimidating. Perhaps it was the sparkly sparkly twist braid lulling me into a false sense of security, but I quite enjoyed working the piece. I did the laurel outlining on the first day and was pleased with the result.

I was more concerned about offsetting the two pieces of braid when doing the circles surrounding the laurel wreath. It is not perfect, but not absolutely awful either.

The finished piece still in the hoop

The double twist of gold braid was couched onto the silk with a single strand of yellow silk sewing thread.

I couldn't iron or block the piece - I will leave that to the experts in the WCoB

The piece has been sent to the designer to be added to the cloak. This piece was researched and designed by the talented Mistress Rowan Peregrynne.

Roses

This week I have been very busy embroidering roses onto white wool for a friend. She designed the piece, I just put the stitches in. They will be cut out and couched down. I am very pleased with how they turned out. The project gave me the chance to refresh my memory on split stitching - not a stitch I usually use very often.

Completed banner device

Last week I finished the banner device that I had been working on. It is predominantly made of felt, with lucet cords and embroidery.

When it came to doing the harps or lyres, I ran into trouble. Originally I had planned to use a metal foil tube, but it started to catch on the felt fibres and pull out of shape. The banner that this device will be applied to gets rolled up, so it wasn't a practical choice.

Next, I tried sparkly glass bugle beads. Because the end of each bugle was slightly irregular, they didn't sit as neatly as I had hoped.

Finally, I tried small pieces of lucet cord. Although not shiny, they sat perfectly straight and could handle the stress of being rolled. The extra details were added with matching crochet cotton and cotton sewing thread embroidery.

Many thanks to Heather for whipping up the little lucet cords for me so quickly!

Banner device

I am still plodding along with all my projects, although today it is so cold where I live that I can hardly feel my fingers!

Here is the central panel of a device that I have been working for my Barony. We have the registered devices of the populace on a series of banners. They are a great hall decoration and also make for a great guessing game at feasts. The device is predominantly done in felt and applique.

I hope to have this project finished within the week.