A Koala Visitor

 

Look who's back! It is winter here, and the roaring of koalas and possums fills the air at night.

Small Embroidered Pocket

Here is something that I have  been working on, on and off, for a while. It is a small pocket which can be used as part of my group's static A&S display for demos.

The main stitches are chain, split, double running and seeding stitch. All the motifs are taken from sixteenth century modelbuchs.

The next step is to make it up. I have some red bias binding that might be a nice decorative highlight.

Trading Cards - Red Dragon with Shoes

 Most of my scribing time over the last couple of years has been taken up with paperwork and communication. I've found it hard to get back into the swing of award scrolls and have certainly noticed a drop in skills and confidence.

One way that I am trying to combat this is by working on small projects which are 'just for fun'.

Here is a trading card that I completed. The dragon's little shoes tickled my fancy!

 The card is worked in Winsor and Newton Gouache.

I've had a lot of trouble identifying which manuscript this fellow is from, so please comment below if you know! Thanks.

 

Another Book To Hide A Phone In

Recently I was lucky enough to have a friend gift me their old phone - I'm excited thinking about the better quality photos I can take. It did mean, though, that I needed a new book to hide it in for SCA events.

One of the hardest parts about making the book cover is finding a book that you are willing to cut up. It also needsto have no visible title, author name etc.

You might remember the last one of these I made: http://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-book-to-hide-phone-in.html

I changed the process this time, based on what I learned last time. I added the metal corners to the book first, and used a piece of felt under the prongs of the pliers to reduce damage to the metal. I used a craft knife to cut each page individually.

I also changed how I glued the pages. Initially I tried a glue stick, but it was not strong enough so I changed to white craft clue. I watered it down more than last time I made one of these, and used a bit less so that the book didn't get quite so saturated with glue. I used E6000 glue to stick the phone cover into the hole.

I used gold gouache to paint the edges of the pages gold.

I did remove several pages completely because the built up glue adds thickness. Sticking the pages down also distorts the pages as well. It is important to start from the back when gluing the pages down, and to pull them quite tight until they stick. I left the front pages free. 

I cut the hole at the back for the camera lens a bit larger than the holes because I found with the last book that the overhang caused some shadowing on my pictures.

Using less glue meant that the book dried much faster than the last time. I was able to use the book to hide my phone at the last event, and it worked very well.

 

 

Birds and Flowers Green Embroidered Caul

I recently finished this long term project. I have worked on this and a couple of other pieces every year at one of our Medieval Faire demos. I was trying to work out how long I have been working on them - probably one day a year for ten years! It is nice to have it finally finished. It is a record of how my skills have developed over that time.

 

The embroidery is worked in DMC embroidery floss on linen ground fabric, and the spangles are metal.

The fabric circle is gathered into a band which is decorated with green ribbon, I have added a metal comb inside the band to help keep the caul in place, and a couple of little buttonhole rings to slide bobby pins through.

This link to a previous post gives more information on the construction process: http://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2014/05/purple-velvet-caul.html

Heraldic Embroidered Napkins

I made these napkins some time ago as a gift for a friend. They are embroidered with her heraldic animal in split stitch. There is a line of running stitch around the edge of each napkin. I find cloth napkins to be really useful, especially for covering plates of food at events.

Embroidered Camicia Sleeves

I recently completed the sleeve panels for a new chemise. The motifs are worked mainly in stem stitch with  some double running stitch for some of the internal details.

The inspiration page from Shorleyker's 'A Sholehouse for the Needle'

The panels with the designs marked out in Frixion marker.

The completed sleeve panels.

I'm currently adding a motif to the front and back panels, and then will do the sleeve gussets.

Then I plan to hem each panel by hand and assemble them with a decorative faggoting stitch.

 

Gold Tie-On Sleeves

 I've been working on that perennial project again - the Sleeve Pile.

I got this pair of gold tie-on sleeves completed last month.

I ordered a silk fabric from a vendor on Etsy and got this fabric instead. It arrived with grease stains on it. I managed to launder it but never did get the silk I ordered. Still, I think this mystery fabric is pretty.

Bonnet and Coif

 Some pictures of the new bonnet with one of my embroidered coifs. (My actual head is a lot bigger than this foam hat form, so the bonnet and coif sit better.)

Tudor Brimless Bonnet and Sleeves

 I have been feeling more motivated and enthused to create lately. With the SCA in many parts of Australia starting to get back to normal, there is a lot to be done. Last month I plodded along doing little jobs and this month I am starting to get some things finished.

Here is a set of Tudor/Elizabethan sleeves and bonnet that I made from a mystery wool blend that I got from an op shop. It is the first  time that I have made unlined sleeves. If I was planning on making unlined sleeves, I would probably enclose the seam that runs down the back of the arm. In this case, the wool is reasonably thick and I was concerned that an enclosed seam would be too bulky. Instead I whipped the seam edges down after the seam was sewn. The hems are all hand sewn. 

Before sewing the sleeve, I cut slashes with a very sharp pair of embroidery scissors. I marked the slashes out with a Frixion marker on one sleeve, cut them, and then turned the sleeve over to use as a template for cutting the second sleeve. I put a couple of stitches top and bottom on a few of the slashes near the top of the sleeve where I thought the pressure of being pinned to the bodice armscye might put too much strain and cause the split to shred or pull through. I might have to end up going around each slash with stitching to stop them fraying; only time will tell. 

I very much liked using pins to put the sleeves on rather than faffing around with eyelets (making eyelets is a job I dislike). I used florist pins for lack of a better resource, and I would like to find some more suitable and period appropriate pins.

The brimless bonnet (or 'barret') was made from the leftover wool. I have a decorative cooking mould that looked to be around the right size for my head. I traced around it onto sandwich paper and added 1.5 cm seam allowance. I cut out two pieces from  that pattern and sewed them together on the machine. Then I carefully clipped the curves. 

I made a guess as to the size hole I would need for my head and cut that out carefully after marking it evenly with  chalk. (It needed a bit more after the first try on, so I marked another line slightly outside the cut line and took a little more off.) Another try on revealed that it looked pretty right, so I turned the hem of the 'hole' under and sewed it by hand. Then I turned the bonnet right side out and ran a blunt knitting needle along the inside of the seam a few times to make it sit nicely.

This is an extremely easy hat to make, and it looks great over a coif. I love fast projects and I like the look of this style of hat.

Here are some examples of similar types of bonnets in sixteenth century portraiture:

'Mary, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset', c1532-1533

Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (1519-1557), formerly Lady Mary Howard, was the only daughter-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, being the wife of his only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset. The drawing is part of the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle. From The Drawings of Holbein at Windsor Castle by K. T. Parker. [The Phaidon Press Ltd, Oxford & London, 1945]. Artist Hans Holbein the Younger. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images). Image and background information from: https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/mary-duchess-of-richmond-and-somerset-c1532-1533-mary-news-photo/624177878

Portrait Of A Woman In A White Coif by Hans Holbein  (1497/1498–1543) c 1532-34. Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_in_a_White_Coif.jpg

A portrait of Catherine Parr (1512–1548), sixth and last wife of Henry VIII of England by an unknown artist. In this portrait of Catherine Parr, it looks like she might be wearing a brimless bonnet over her coif. My bonnet is un-decorated, to go with a more middle-class ensemble, but this portrait shows potential decoration ideas for future bonnets. Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Parr#/media/File:Catherine_Parr_from_NPG.jpg

Portrait of an Englishwoman c. 1532 by Hans Holbein the Younger. Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hansholbeintheyounger12.jpg

Happy Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums, Nanas, Foster Mums, Step Mums, Pet Mums, Bereaved Mums and people who wish they could be Mums!

A Beginner’s Introduction to Common Medieval and Renaissance Ingredients

This is a guide to some terms which may be confusing to cooks who are new to SCA period recipes. The list is by no means exhaustive, and terms should be taken in context of the period that the recipe is from.

Abalana/Avellana/ - Hazelnut or filbert 

Allium – garlic or leek 

Alkanet – plants whose roots produce a red dye {*potentially toxic*} 

Almandes – almonds  

Amygdala – Almonds 

Anas – a duck or drake 

Architricoes – prepared sheep testicles

Apium – celery or parsley 

Apricocks - apricots

Aqua – water 

Artemisia – the herb mugwort, motherwort or tarragon 

Astacus – crab or lobster 

Avena – a species of oat 

Avens – a herb which has a clove-like flavour, also called Herb Bennet

Barm – live yeast found on brewing (‘working’) beer and ale

Blitum  - orrage, arrack, pot herb or possibly spinach 

Bragot/braggot – a sweet, spiced or herbed ale

Brassica – cabbage or kale 

Brawn – flesh or meat, often boar or pig.

Canelle, canel – cassia. A less expensive alternative to cinnamon

Cardamomum – cardamom [not to be confused with ‘Cardamum’: cress or nasturtium]

Cheat – bread made from whole wheat with the bran removed

Cicer – chickpea 

Clapbread- a type of bread made from barley

Clowys – cloves

Coddlings, pippins – types of apple

Coffyn or coffin – a pastry crust

Comfits – sugar coated seeds used as a palate refresher and to freshen breath. Often caraway, fennel, anise etc are used.

Costmary – mint geranium; used as a vegetable, medicine and to flavour ale

Coney, conins, cunins – rabbit 

Condio – to salt or season 

Crocus – saffron 

Cubebs, Quybibes – dried black berries used as a spice; flavour is a cross between allspice and black pepper

Curcuma – turmeric 

Damascena – plum or prune (fresh or dried) from Damascus 

Dittany of Crete – a herb which is also called Wild Basil or Stone Mint. A relative of oregano, which is a good substitute.

Dulcia: sweets or confections 

Eruca – the herb family Rocket 

Faba – bean or pulse 

Far – corn or grain or grain meal [Farina: grain meal] 

Fissile – cottage cheese 

Frumentum: grain, wheat, barley 

Garum- fermented fish sauce 

Galingale – a tuber used modernly in Asian food. It has a hot, gingery flavour

Gingiber or zingiber – ginger 

Glis or glires – doormouse /dormouse

Grated bread- breadcrumbs made with fresh bread

Graynes of Paradise – grains of paradise; a warm spice. This can be difficult to find and a mix of cardamom and black pepper can be a useful substitute. 

Great raisyns – raisins of grapes

Gum Dragon – gum tragacanth; a gum derived from Middle Eastern legumes and used for stabilising and stiffening (especially in sugar plate recipes)

Holus or olus- kitchen vegetables, often cabbage 

Horse bread- a type of bread made from pea flour, bean flour or similar

Hydromeli or hydromel – rainwater and honey boiled together to form a reduction 

Hysitium or Isicium – a hash, sausage or mince 

Jus or Ius – juice, liquor, broth or sauce 

Lactua – lettuce 

Lepus – hare 

Mace or maces – a spice made from the blade between the seed coat and the husk of the nutmeg

Mallow – marshmallow, common mallow, hollyhock

Malus – fruit tree or apple tree 

Manchet – fine wheat white bread, also Pandemaine and Cocket (less fine than pandemaine)

Mel- honey 

Mentha – mint 

Mespila – medlar fruit 

Morat – a mix of mulberry juice and honey

Morus – mulberry 

Mulsum – mead or honey wine 

Muscadine – a type of sweet wine

Mustard – mustard plants produce seeds which can be used as flavouring and as a condiment, and the leaves can be used as a salad herb

Myristica – nutmeg 

Myrtus – myrtle berry [often called, and used instead of, pepper] 

Myrtus pimenta- allspice 

Napus – turnip 

Nux – hazelnut or walnut 

Offa- a lump of meat or a meat dumpling, morsel or chop or other small meat portion 

Oignions, oygnions, ongnions or similar – onion

Oleum- olive oil 

Ormentum – caul or abdominal membrane 

Orchil or archil – a colourant derived from lichen 

Oryza or Risum- rice or rice flour 

Ostrea – oyster 

Ovum – egg 

Oxalis – sorrel plant 

Oxalme – an acid pickle such as brine and vinegar 

Oxygarum – vinegar and garum sauce 

Panis – bread 

Papaver – poppy seeds 

Pastinaca – parsnip or carrot 

Persicum – peach 

Perna – ham 

Petroselinium – parsley 

Pinioles, pignions, pynots, pynes etc. – pinenuts 

Piperitis – pepperwort, Indian pepper or capsicum 

Pipio – a young bird 

Piscis – fish 

Pommes – apples

Pomum – fruit from a tree 

Porray or porray – a dish of green vegetables

Porrum – leek 

Portulaca – the plant purslane 

Poscca – an acidic drink 

Poudre (douce/forte/fine etc) – fine powdered spice mix [spices used varybetween cooks and publications] 

Poyres – pears

Ptisiana – a grain broth or gruel 

Rapa – rape or turnip 

Raysins of Corinth – currants

Raysins of the sunne, risins, confiz – raisins 

Rosatum – flavoured with roses 

Rumex – sorrel or sour dock herb 

Ruta- rue [*potentially toxic*} 

Saccharum – sugar 

Sack – a type of fortified wine

Sal – salt 

Sanders - sandalwood

Sarda – small fish like a sardine 

Saucites – sausages 

Scandius – the herb chervil 

Soused – something that is salted or brined

Strained yolkes – beaten egg yolks

Sulsum – meat that is salted or pickled 

Tourte- bread containing husks

Uva – grape 

Vermiculi – noodles, vermicelli 

Vervex – mutton or wether (sheep)

Vinum- wine 

Wastel – a type of bread of good quality

References

Brears, Peter; 1999. All The King’s Cooks, Souvenir Press, London.

Brears, Peter; 2015. Cooking and Dining in Tudor and Early Stuart England, Prospect Books, London.

Dommers Vehling, Joseph(translator); Apicius – Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, Dover Publications Inc, New York.

Renfrow, Cindy; 1990.  Take a Thousand Eggs Or More, Vol 1, 2nd Ed. Royal Fireworks Press, Unionville, New York.

Renfrow, Cindy; 1990.  Take a Thousand Eggs Or More, Vol 2, 2nd Ed. Royal Fireworks Press, Unionville, New York.

Scully, Terence (translator); 2010. On Cookery of Master Chiquart (1420), ACMRS, Tempe, Arizona.

https://www.medieval-recipes.com/glossary/

http://www.godecookery.com/glossary/glosss.htm has a short introduction to medieval cooking terms which may be helpful

Trying to stay motivated

I have a lot of projects on the go which are going to take a LOT of time, and I have been feeling a bit unenthusiastic for the last few months. I'm having some 'extra' health issues, so I would guess that a lot of the problem is tiredness. 

Feeling overwhelmed and directionless, or unmotivated, seems to be a very common issue for makers, especially since the start of the Pandemic. It is a theme that keeps coming up again and again in conversations and Zoom chats with other SCA people. The way I am minimising it is:

1. Make a list of to-do items (so you don't forget anything) and then stop thinking about your project(s). Put it on your list or in your workbook and get it out of your head. If you are at a loss for a project to do (it could happen, I guess!) get out your list or book  and pick a project that fits your time frame or energy levels. (I also list ideas and plans for future projects in my project planner.)

2. Keep plodding along. Do a little bit every day, even if it is only five or ten minutes to get into the habit of making A&S a daily priority. Whittle it away gradually. One day you will realise how much you have achieved and you will be able to enjoy the enthusiasm of that downhill run to a completed project.

Some people find that joining online groups of like-minded people can help keep them motivated because there is an element of accountability. Others find that it makes them feel guilty if they don't achieve what they wanted and have to announce it to the group. Do what works for you and helps you feel good about what you are doing.

I found this image on one of my feeds and cropped it to show the numbers. I've stuck it up on my wall as a reminder to myself to stop procrastinating:

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.

Kumihimo cords

I'm still not getting much done at all except for puppy related activities. Lack of sleep is not helping either. It's hard to imagine at this point that one day she will be able to sit calmly beside me while I sew!

Cord making is about all I am able to attempt at the moment without Kamikaze style attacks ensuing. These were done on a Kumihimo disk. This is the simplest 8 cord, round cord pattern which is worked in pairs (so there are 4 sets of cords on the disk at noon, six, three and nine).

Calontir Clothing Challenge - January Update (and a new family member)

 

There are still a few days to go on this Challenge, but I *know* I won't get my projects finished. My plans have been completely derailed this month by the arrival of a new family member. 

This little Bean is the best sort of disruption!

It has been seventeen years since I dealt with a puppy, so I am well out of practice and underestimated the destructive and disruptive impact 😊

I didn't get to finish anything from the Challenge this month, but I did achieve the following overall:

* camicia cut out, embroidery marked out and underway

*coat pattern drafted, cut out and underway

*gown pattern and gown sleeve pattern underway

*linen partlet complete

*patterned partlet mostly complete (just needs a small amount of hemming)

*knotted partlet underway

*jewellery made

*masks made

Not even close to what I had hoped, but not too bad considering the massive amount of administrative work I was doing for the first two months, then Christmas projects, and then.....puppy!

I have also got a lot of ideas and inspiration from the other participants and I am looking forward to seeing the completed entries.

I'd like to thank the admins, judges and entrants for giving so much time and energy to this project to inspire others. I would certainly enter again, and even though I couldn't finish this time, I would definitely recommend it as a great way to focus time and energy for new projects.

Calontir Clothing Challenge - December Update

Once again, the month got away from me and I didn't achieve what I had planned. I didn't beat myself up about it too much because December is always a crazy month with festive preparations, and time seems to go extra fast in the lead up to Christmas.

I cut out my camicia panels and marked out a design for the sleeves. This motif is taken from Richard Shorleyker's 'A Scholehouse for the Needle' published in 1608 and 1624. Several pages from this English pattern book can be found reproduced on Pinterest and more information is available here https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/texts-films-customs-and-event/designs-and-design-books/schole-house-for-the-needle

Similar designs can be seen on extant Italian undergarments, as well as paintings from the region. My real problem was deciding on the colour of the embroidery; red, black and blue were very popular colours, and there are extant examples of gold, purple, pink and green as well as polychrome. In the end, I decided on classic black, and started working the motifs in split and double running stitch.

I experimented with a partlet made out of silver grey ribbons. I used an existing rectangular partlet as my guide. The inspiration portrait has diagonal ribbons or knotwork, and I already have a partlet like that in the works, so this one is set with the ribbon going horizontally and vertically. It is tedious work.

In amongst all the other projects, I painted some faux blackwork on masks for an event. It was predicted to be a warm day, and I didn't want to have to add a fourth layer to account for the embroidery holes, so I tried painting the designs. I did not have my good paint bushes at the time, so had to use a very poor quality craft brush that was much too big for the task. Considering that, I think they turned out alright. (The paint was acrylic mixed with fabric painting medium.)

I made some beaded necklaces for gifts and made a blue and white one for me, to wear with this outfit. It has 4g seed beads on tigertail wire.

I also got a small amount of sewing done on my underskirt.

Woven, wooden- base buttons

 December and January have been very busy. A small, portable project that I was working on in December was making some bound buttons (as per my photo tutorial here:  https://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2014/01/woven-button-tutorial-back-stitched.html  ). I haven't put the final decorative decoration on; I will do them all at once.

It has been quite some time since I made this sort of button, and it took me a while to get back into the swing of it and get my speed up. A sturdy needle with a large eye really helps. I am using crochet cotton for these buttons. I've found that mercerised crochet cotton is the easiest to use if you can get it. I'd also like to try silk thread.

Happy New Year

 Wishing you all a safe and happy year in 2021.

Best wishes for the Festive Season

 Compliments of the season to you all. Stay safe and have a much better year in 2021!

Seljuk Lion Embroidered Napkin

 

In July I attended Polit Uni online and was lucky enough to see Mistress Miriam’s embroidery class. Mamluk and Middle-Eastern embroidery was a new area to me, and I suggested to my local group of embroiderer’s that we challenge ourselves to try some embroidery from this region.

I was particularly taken with this strange looking lion found on a 10-11^th Century textile which is now held in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston https://collections.mfa.org/objects/66368 (Accession Number 31.445, dimensions 11 x 9 cm).

It was found in Mesopotamia but believed to be of Egyptian make. The stitching is predominantly split stitch in silks, highlighted with metallic threads on a cream mulham (silk/cotton) base fabric.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use it as decoration on a pouch, or to decorate a tunic with the design, so I decided to work it in cotton on a cotton base fabric to see how it looked, and decide then. I used two threads of DMC cotton and the design was marked out in frixion marker. Originally I planned to use blue thread, but changed to classic black.

Even though the sample is unfilled, it worked up fairly quickly, which actually has done little to solve my dilemma. I think I might work the design as an outline on a tunic because the design is quite striking even as an outline.

I knotted the ends of my threads for durability as the sample is worked on a napkin which will get thrown in the washing machine.I also did a running stitch in black around the hem of the napkin to finish it off.

 

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Mistress Miriam for sharing her knowledge, and the MFA Boston for their excellent online resources.