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.

Embroidery Designs - Strawberries

I'm trying to keep track of different types of embroidery motifs for easy reference. Here are some strawberry designs; I plan to keep updating them when I have time.

From 'A Scholehouse for the Needle' (1624):

https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/texts-films-customs-and-event/designs-and-design-books/schole-house-for-the-needle

 

From 'The Trevellyon Miscellany' (1608):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevelyon_Miscellany_of_160

 https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Word_%26_Image:_The_Trevelyon_Miscellany_of_1608

 

Calontir Clothing Challenge - end of Nov 2020 Update

As with last month, most of my time has been taken up with SCA officer commitments, and the Challenge has been temporarily put aside. I have finally decided on a specific mid-sixteenth century Italian noble lady’s gown, and I will now be using blue cotton drill fabric.

Add cPaolo Caliari (Veronese), 1561: Detail from fresco at Villa Barbaroaption

The pale coat I have already cut out will work well with the blue dress that I am planning, especially as white cutwork sleeves and decorative elements on the bodice and sleeve head will work well. I managed to obtain some white cotton to line the coat, and that has been laundered and is waiting to be cut out and sewn.

The collarless white linen partlet that I have already made will go perfectly with the dress I have chosen, but I have also cut out another in white cotton voile with a lozenge pattern. It has been sewn up with enclosed seams and is waiting for hand hemming.

  Cutting out the partlet pieces

The design on the voile fabric

Partlet pieces waiting to be sewn 

The partlet ready to be hand finished and hemmed

 I would also like to make a net partlet out of ribbon, but that is likely to be time-consuming and the voile partlet will be a good stand-in if I don’t get it done in time. I am considering using grey or silver net instead of white (as in the original portrait) because my dress fabric is a darker blue.

 I got an aqua blue underskirt cut out and partially sewn. It has been flat pleated into a band. I wanted volume without too much bulk as sometimes I wear several underskirts at once. The first lot of pleats I used were too big, so I pulled them out and did the pleats half as small again, which looked much better. The skirt is hanging to let the fabric drop, and will be hand finished and hemmed next month. I am considering adding a heraldic element also; possibly seahorses around the hem.

  Underskirt fabric ready to be cut

  Seams ready to be hand sewn 

Marking out the gathering lines 

The first pleats were too big

Smaller gathers made nicer pleats

Pinning pleats into place to check how they look

 I was happy with the pinned pleats