A Sad Anniversary

Today marks the two year anniversary since my little friend left.

 

Six Months of Reduced Productivity

Today marks six months since my furry helper passed away. In some ways the time has flown by, and in other ways it has dragged beyond belief.
I've been sick almost constantly. I've tried to maintain a reasonable level of productivity, but it has been a real struggle. I underestimated just what a good 'helper' she was.

I miss her every day.

Elizabethan Forehead Cloth for A Friend's Birthday

I normally love giving projects away, but I confess that this one was a bit of a wrench. It was the last project that Bitey and I 'worked on' together, and I finished sewing it after she had gone.

It was designed to go with an Elizabethan monochrome coif I embroidered many years ago. The design was very slightly different to that on the original coif because I no longer had the pattern for the original piece, only an enlarged design based on it that I had planned to decorate a partlet with.

My post about the original coif can be found here: http://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-world-elizabethan-coif.html
Here are some photos of the original piece-

The forehead cloth was sewn with black DMC floss on linen base fabric with a mix of double running stitch and stem stitch. 

 Designing the pattern

 The design traced out with Frixion marker

I left it unlined to reduce bulk and heat, and omitted the spangles so that it sat flatter and closer to the forehead and had nice, clean lines without the edges of spangles sticking out on odd angles.

A strip of the base linen was bound to the un-hemmed edges and used as the cords to tie it on.

Machine zig-zagging the edges of the embroidered piece for extra durability.

Ruling out the binding strips/ties.

Binding/ties pinned on and ready to be hand sewn.

The finished piece.

The not-so-neat back!

My dummy head is quite small so the forehead cloth looks a little big on her.

 

A gift for a friend made with the help of a friend.