Holy mice-n-cheez! - closing in on the finishline....

I severly underestimated the time it would take to finish this project! I am completely done with the verticals and all the beading. Now all I have left to do it go through the horizontals. I think this portion will go faster, since I'm not beading as I go. I'm kind of bummed that my thread is fraying so much, it's looking 'fuzzy' up-close. *gah* But still, 'twill be teh awesome when I'm done. (at least in my mind!)

I am still wiffling on how to finish the edge. I am slightly leaning towards the solid band.....make it as narrow as possible, and bead gold and pearls at the edge, maybe? I can't face embroidering the band as well right now.



IN OTHER NEWS:
I really need to start working on some of my actual clothing projects soon, not just the accessories. I've washed and dried the linen and the wool for Kao's tunics. I have the black linen thread for the wool tunic, so maybe that will be my next project. I just need to come up with an acceptable pattern.

I am having a serious time coming up with Hospitaller clothing documentation. Everything on the net seems to be based on the same picture in the book I have (the only one I've found so far that touches on Hospitaller clothing), which is a modern artist's interpritation of what they may have worn based on written accounts. I'm not a research-guru, but I like to have some sort of visual basis for what I do. And I have a hard time just making a black tunic, slapping a white cross on it and calling it a Hospitaller's tunic. I'm also kind of weirded out about the whole cloak/hood thing.

Bleah, why couldn't he have chosen something 'easier'??

Cutwork Caul Update...

Close-up of the caul. I am about 1/4 of the way through the vertical.



And here is the whole thing. If I were to ever do this again, I would use a stronger thread. The linen thread I'm using keeps shredding and I have to start the row over. It's a big 'ole pain in the bootocks. The beading is working well, however I wish I had used my next size up bead. The ones I am using now are teeny, and don't show up that well.

The whole structure is amazingly delicate. I don't think I've ever worked on something that had such tiny, delicate structure. That being said, the pieces that are completed are quite strong, and I think when the whole thing is completed with the horizontal, it will be even stronger.

At this point, I am pondering how I'm going to finish off the edge. Do I want a solid band caul like the previous one? Or do I want to do a casing, and use it more like a hairnet? Hmmm. I am unsure at this stage how I will proceed. Any suggestions??

Caul (2) Progress Update

At this rate, I'll never get my coif done! But, I'll have other spiffy nifty things! I'm nearly done pulling the threads!! I am doing a 10/10 pattern. My next pulledwork project (if I ever do it again) I might try a 8/16 or 10/20 or something like that.


But anyway, what I'm thinking for this essperiment is to combine beading and the drawing threads. Does that sound kooky? I wish I had some teeny pearls to use to do an every-other type thing like so......(heh, Paint rocks.)


But I will probably end up doing only the gold, every other, like so:

The only thing I am worried about is the spaces inbetween.....will they be pulled wonky by having beads in the neighboring spaces? I guessl I'll have to find out!

New mini-projekt

I've been on some sort of weird headwear kick lately, and I'm working on yet another mini-project. I really wanted to mess around with cutwork, so I decided I needed a cutwork coif/caul. (And possibly down the road try out a cutwork partlet)


(Tester piece to see if I could do the stitch)


(Back view of linen mounted on the frame. I have learned that ironing the linen is good, but starching it is BAD. If I was not so far along, I would start with a fresh piece, but I don't want to waste the time I've already put into it!)


(I stitched a 13" circle in white thread as a template. I will probably anchor the stitch threads to this as well. Blah, I've got miles to go on the drawing out!!)


(Close-up of outline stitch and pulled threads.)

Continuation of the A&S goodness....

Many thanks to dragonfly_sidhe for teaching the A&S class and giving me the beautiful trim!


Side view


Back view


Close-up of trim and beading


Construction

Coif-y Update

I've been plugging away on the lighter green foliage, the close-ups are pretty boring, but the over-all effect is pretty rockin' if I do say so myself. It's coming right along!


I've run out of the darker green I've been using for flower bits. At this point I need to decide if I want totry to find a color that will work, order a whole new package of colors to get to the few I need, or hope against all hope that I can find a color that matches.

Hmmmm.

Test Lizzie Coif Construction, Creation, and Finished Product...

I wanted to make a test coif to make sure that I knew what I was doing when it came to hacking into and stitching the coif I've been laboring over for months! I ironed and starched a piece of fabric large enough for 2 layers of the coif. I cut two pieces out exactly the same size as the coif I'm embroidering. I sewed the sides and top together, clipped the seams, and turned right side out.

I then stitched the top together. (Next time I will make the seam about 4" shorter) I cartridge pleated the open section with heavy thread at the back and tied off.


(Back pleated and tied off, top seam)


(Top, stitched together, the back is gathered together, and the front edge has lace whipped to it.)

I turned under the bottom edge, stitched together, and created a casing for the lucet cord

(Bottom edge, gathered on lucet cord)

I spent about 2 minutes messing with my hair to get a "frysse" hairstyle. When I do it for real, I'll take more time and do straight parts, and use more pins. (I only used 2!!)

I parted my hair from ear to ear, and then sectioned down the center. I rolled each section backwards and pinned in place. (There are very few times I am thankful for super-curly hair, and right now is one of them!!)

I need to get a swatch of fake hair to braid and use as a bun, since my hair is not thick or long enough to fill out the back of the coif.


(Side view of hairstyle and coif)


(Front view of hairstyle...coif peeking out!)


(Top of hairstyle and coif)


(Back of hairstyle and coif)


(Top/back view of hairstyle and coif)

Stitches Con't....

Muahahahaha.....I finally found the Wikipedia page the stitches came from! The Plaited Braid stitch is not listed with the others.

realm_of_venus got me thinking. (I know, scary, huh?)

Here's a break-down of some extant coifs collected from Elizabethan Costume --

I think this is the coif that is in PoF4 that has the funky vines.

(Click pic for larger web pic)

I do not know what stitch is used to make the vines, but it's not gold, and it's not plaited braid.....

(My crop and blow-up....Looks like it should be worn while viewing the Bayoux Tapestry, no?)

Blackworked coif, with the vines outlined, and the insides packed with spangles....(I can't seem to find the blackwork example that had buttonhole stitch filling the vines. bah.)

(Click pic for larger web pic)

I can't tell for absolutely sure, (I'm no embroidery expert) but it looks to me like these vines were done in a chain stitch with gold....(So maybe chain stitching w/gold is an option after all? Dunno...gold still might be cost prohibitive, and I am not sure my quality of work would stand up next to gold.)

(Click pic for larger web pic)


I do not know what the stitch is (anyone have any ideas??), but it's worked with gold.....

(Click pic for larger web pic)

But now onto the actual coif that is (mostly) the pattern I used.....They used chain stitch for filling (as I did) and used plaited braid for the vines. (Which I am probably not going to attempt) The stitching is very dense and fine. Mine is not so. ;) The original also uses silk, where I used wool.

(Click pic for larger web pic)

There are other techniques that were used on the original, such as detached needlelace (buttonhole??) for the textural and structural qualities of the pea pods, tudor roses, and butterflies. Some flowers were padded, I padded nothing. There are also lots and lots of spangles, which I fully intend to distribute liberally all over mine.

(My crop and blow-up....Spangles, chain stitch, and plaited braid stitch)

Depending on how sick I am with this project when I am finally done with it, I may go back and do the veins on the leaves like on the original...

(My crop and blow-up)

All in all, I'm still completely wiffle-waffled about the whole vine stitch/thread issue.

One teeny-tiny section down, dozens more to go....

Here is a hoop-size "finished" section. I'm counting "finished" as everything other than the yellow, since I still have not decided what to do about the vines. I'm trying to keep balanced by moving to opposite sides every "finished" section, as I am quickly running out of colors. Yikes!


The leaves are nice and easy and are going fairly quickly, so that is encouraging. the fabric is getting noticeably heavier with all the wools starting to bulk it up. I have not quite decided if I'm going to go back over the leaves and flowers and such with veins, I'll have to see how it all turns out when finished and check if it 'needs' them. I am kind of dissapointed in myself that I didn't trust my skills to shading. Everything is turning out totally cute, but it's much more cartoon-ish than I had originally pictured. I was kind of hoping for a more naturalistic look, but I thought that would be far too difficult. I am fairly confident that if I started over now, I would be able to pull it off semi-proficiently, but there is NO WAY IN HECK I'm going to stop this project only to start it all over again now.

I need to do some testing with the wool and silk to see what kind I'm going to use for the scrolls, and in what stitch. **ANY INPUT AND IDEAS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED** Ahem.

I also need to do a tester coif to work out the construction, since the last thing I want to do is go into cutting and sewing without a clue. I have enough linen and lace to make a nice plain coif, so if it all works out the way I'm hoping it will, I'll have a fairly decent plainer one as well.

I've been on the lookout for gold lace, specifically the kind of lace that Val used on her smock. I don't know what it's called, or where to get it, but I want it....BAD! It's a fairly tightly-woven metallic lace (it's definately metal, it's cold to the touch, and warms up in your hand), and to my eye, it looks 'right'. I don't know if it is or not, but it surely 'looks' the part. I ordered two sizes of paillettes from Reconstructing History yesterday, and once the coif is totally completed, I'll figure out if I want to use paillettes, boullion, both, or nothing at all.

In other news:
I cannot describe the enormous amount of love and adoration I have for this ensemble......*drool!* I wants it so bad, but there is no way I'd ever do it! My work looks so amateur and childish next to this! (Well, my work *IS* amateur, and definitely beginner, and I have been accused of being childish)

Possible stitches for the vines

Couching, or one of the below (in the event I don't find the *perfect* braid or cord to use).....none of which I have tested yet, I need to see if my fingers will cooperate with any of them!

Apparantly, this is the "Van Dyke" stitch. Looks fairly easy, and I think I could do it.


This is the "Interlaced Braid" stitch. There is 3x the stitching involved, but I think it might be the easiest for me to comprehend.


This is the "Braid" stitch. I recognize components of this stitch in the plaited braid stitch, so if I do end up going that route, I'll practice this one to death first, then attack the plaited braid.



This is the "Basket Weave" stitch. Another one that looks kinda fancy, but I might be able to force my fingers into submission and do it.

Coif-y Update

My goodness, I've been slacking once again! Instead of a one-picture post update, it's a multiple-picture update! I'm sorry.

(2 purple carnations...that's the last of the carnations!)


(2 red roses...there are 2 more roses to be done, but they took *forever*, and I'm not sure what color I want to do, so I'm holding off on them for a little while)


(A little green worm, and a small something....the beginning of all the filling-in!)


(Continuation of the filling-in stuff. Some leaves, a butterfly, and the stems of a couple of flowers...not done with this section yet, but I wanted to show ya anyway...)

More coif-y updates

Here is the general color scheme for the rest of the coif. (Mostly so I remember what goes where!) Oh yeah, the purples at the top? Those are the supre-cute wooden thread winders from the event!


And now onto what is actually done......
(4 blue carnations)


(1 giant yellow carnation)


(1 mutant something....a thistle? It didn't turn out very thistle-y if that is what it is...)


That leaves only 4 'major' flowers to be done. Then comes all the tedious filling-in work. All the leaves and teeny flowers and such. I'm ignoring the scroll work for as long as possible since I have no idea where to even start on that. I need to find out what the best gold to use is, and how to actually *do* a plaited braid stitch. *dies*

I may end up doing something else for the scrolls, but I really want the gold! :(

Embroidery Project Update (sort of)

I think I'm going to start posting each set of flowers as they finish. Some flowers only have one or two sets, some a ton, so I will post when I've finished an entire set. I need to catch up on some, though! (Don't worry, the set I'm working on right now (carnations) actually has6 7 of them, so it will be a while before I post those! The damage so far......(close ups of what I posted earlier)

I did the daffodils first because there were only two of them! I think they're super cute!
(2 daffodills)


The pea-pods came next, because their uber-cuteness was calling to me. I did chain stitch everywhere but the peas themselves...those I did in satin stitch, because they're soooo tineh!
(4 sets of two pea pods)


Next up were the gilly flowers (or what I *think* are gilly flowers!) I love these little guys too...they're cute! The pointy yellow bits are satin stitch, the rest is chain.
(2 gilly flowers)


I finished the two orange-y red flowers last night. Not sure what these guys are supposed to be, since there are other flowers that I'm sure are tudor roses, so what are these dudes? Anyway, mostly chain stitch, with the pointy bits satin stitch.
(2 orange flowers)


Next up, carnations! I just recounted, and there are acutally 7 of these! I think I'm going to do half in blue, and half in yellow. Mebbe. I have to see how the color palette is looking after I finish the matching set of blues.

I'm still being a wuss about the plaited braid stitch. It's stressin' me out, man!!