'Bunnies' Heraldic Device

I finished another heraldic device for the Baronial device banner a while ago. It has a felt base with applied felt on top.

I had a couple of tries at working the bunnies, with slips being my first idea. It was unsuccessful, and in the end I appliqued a bunny shaped felt base to add a bit of dimension, and then split stitched on top of it.

The central chevron was stitched in place and then gilt thread appliqued over the edges. The pink dots are guidelines for where ermines need to be embroidered.

I did the back legs of the bunny in a very pale grey to look a bit like shadow and add depth. I did a black outline for definition and added shiny black beads for eyes. I used smaller black beads for the centre parts of the ermines. They really catch the light.

The teeny cotton puffs came in a Christmas craft pack and I was just thrilled with them. 

Pinning and sewing another piece of felt on the back for extra stability (the banner gets rolled up).

The completed piece. I like how this one turned out.

Some of the banners from the Baronial Device Banner Project on display last year.

Wolf Head Heraldic Device for Baronial Device Banners

You might remember that my Barony has a banner device project where the registered heraldic devices of the populace are recorded in order of registration or moving to the Barony. Well, I've recently been helping some friends by creating their devices for the banner project.

Some of the banners on display in a hall

I finished this one recently and I was quite happy with how it turned out. It is blazoned as 'Purpure, a wolf's head cabossed and on a chief argent a rose azure between two ivy vines vert'. (And a big shout out to the people who keep the Lochac Roll of Arms updated and running - it is a fantastic resource for scribes and artisans!)  Kingdom of Lochac Roll of Arms - Home (sca.org)

I embroidered the rose and ivy with DMC cotton floss on a separate piece of white fabric using split and stem stitches after marking the design out with a Frixion marker. After ironing the finished piece, I cut the base fabric down and sewed it to a small piece of white felt which would become the chief part of the shield shape.

The wolf head was cut out of white felt and stitched onto a purple felt base. I added an extra piece of felt for the muzzle part, to add a bit of depth to the piece. The image on the Roll of Arms showed a smiling wolf, but the recipient preferred it drawn looking a little more fierce. 

A piece of black felt was added for the nose, and some cream felt for inside the ears.

Then I started embroidering on details in black and white cotton.

I added a few extra lines to add definition and visual interest.

Finally, I sewed the chief in place and used some gilt embroidery thread to define the purple and white backgrounds. I had a luscious deep blue bead that looked good inside the centre of the flower.

Decorating complete, the very last task was to sew another shield shape in felt to the back to add strength to the piece. (The banners get rolled up when not in use, so a backing layer is a good idea to stop fabric distortion.)

The completed piece is now sewn in it's proper place on the banner and looks good!
 

A Baronial Bunting Experiment

Several years ago, a clever and generous gentle from another Barony sent out templates for Baronial bunting to all the mainland Lochac groups. I had planned to start a group project to create some, and did some tests with different types of paint and fabric mediums - and then the pandemic struck and closures happened.

In the mean time, other projects took precedence but I didn't forget the bunting. I wanted to do a test run, and the recent Crown tournament seemed like a good opportunity. I adjusted the template slightly by adding seam allowance, as I planned to use coloured backing panels on each tab.

I traced the heraldic design with pencil onto pre-washed and ironed cotton broadcloth.

I used acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium to colour the designs. It took a couple of coats and the paint was still a little patchy. (I suspect this would not happen with better quality paints.) I was also rushing to get the project done on  time. After drying, the paint was set with a hot iron.

I sewed each tab to the backing piece by using the 'bagging out' method (i.e. putting right side to right side, machine sewing along the seam line, trimming and clipping the edges and then turning right side out. Then I gave each one a good press.

I sewed a double bias tape along the top of the tabs after spacing them evenly. I added little loops of bias so that the bunting could be used for a variety of purposes/on different structures. I made sure the backing colours alternated.

I was fairly happy with how the bunting worked out, given the time crunch. The bias tape was horribly slippery and hard to sew, so the sewing lines are awful. But it looked nice on the field and was a lot of impact for relatively little work. The bunting got wet and muddy at the event, and has since been washed. It is sitting in the ironing basket waiting for an iron, and then I will be able to assess whether the paint has run at all.

'Baronial Beautification' Group Project

I'm currently involved in our Barony's efforts to prepare items for a future royal visit. Lots of projects are planned to improve our infrastructure and increase the pageantry at the event. 

I haven't been well enough to attend weekly meetings, but the project manager (Sir Eva), is very empathetic and likes to give everyone a chance to be a part of these sort of projects if they would like to. So I had the opportunity to work on some sewing for the project at home.

It felt good to be able to contribute to a group project, and nice to have a change from the UFO pile. Who would have thought that 'sewing homework' would be such a breath of fresh air?!