I am finally ready to share the journey with my German Brick Stitch Bag!

This project was absolutely wonderful to work on! It was challenging enough that I learned a lot, but I felt that I had enough skill to enjoy the process too. It’s very important to have a good balance of that when I am learning new things to prevent discouragement.

The project I chose to work on can be viewed more in detail HERE through the V&A Museum.

For my materials I used 28ct Irish evenweave linen, along with white, green, red and blue cotton DMC thread.

Some may have seen this in a few previous posts, but the Haus Badge that I have been working on for over a year is finally finished. Off and on I would take needle to fabric, and it is finally complete.

For my methodology on the embroidery itself, I include a bit of a description HERE. The padding and border use the method taught my Mistress Amalie von Hohensee HERE.

To all those who have taught me, both directly and indirectly; I am beyond grateful for your expertise and guidance.

I have been busy with a myriad of projects the last few months, and OF COURSE one of those being embroidery work.

I had the honor of being invited to make a special gift for Magistrissa Theodora, as she received and accepted her Peerage as Pelican. I wanted to create something that she would be able to use for both her ceremony, but also out and about at SCA events. After chatting with a few people, it was decided that an embroidered hankie was exactly what I would make.

To start the hankie I first cut the desired size hankie, with an additional inch margin. This would account for the hem I would create and room for mistakes. Then, I created the drawn work border; something to interest the eye but not anything that would take away from the main component of the hankie (the Pelican). To accomplish the drawn work, I first measured about 1 inch from the bottom of the cut of fabric. I then chose where I wanted the pattern to start, pulled a single horizontal thread and snipped it. I made sure this was in about the middle of the hankie. Then, I took a needle and gentle pulled each tail of the thread to their respective sides, and weaving them through the end of the fabric. For each side I did this for about 12-15 threads, trying to get the size of the drawn area relatively similar in size, even if the thread counts were different. When this has been done to all four sides, there is a neat little open, empty square that I find very appealing.

Once the drawn threads were complete, I then went in and gathered groups of 6 vertical threads at the base of the draws, and used that gathering to anchor the hemming of the border. To do this I took my thread behind a group of 6 threads, wrapped it around the base, pulled taught, and the then looped back around the back of the gathering and whip stitched the hem. If I came to the end of the road and there were not going to be enough threads to group as 6, I would try and group a few with 5, so they wouldn’t look awkward. When done, this creates a beautiful “V” shape pattern along the border.

This whole process took the longest of the the entire hankie making. The thread pulling

is tedious, but if you can find a way to do it in small chunks it isn’t so bad. For instance, I took it to work with me every day, and worked for it 30 minutes in my lunch breaks. Though this took a few weeks, I found I did not get overwhelmed by how much there was to do, and my hands and eyes did not hurt as much as they could have.

Finally, I was on to the embroidery. I first embroidered three small blue tassels into 3 corners (a symbol that Magistrissa Theodora has chosen to represent her) and a couched pelican to the final, fourth corner. To accomplish the Pelican, I first traced a shape in pencil (lightly) the best that I could. I wanted the pattern to be light and airy, to allow the hankie to be used whenever, and wherever; therefore, I chose to couch an outline of a pattern, rather than completely filling it in. I felt that a completely filled in embroider might lend the hankie to be too stiff. I laid the thread exactly where I wanted it, along the pencil markings, and couched down the outline. I chose to use two DMC threads instead of one or three, because I felt that it gave an appropriate depth without making the embroidery bulky. After the embroidery was done, I whip stitched the tails to the back of the pattern and the gift was complete.

I want to personally thank Mistress Amalia von Hohensee for her video tutorial of the drawn thread work!

https://youtu.be/Zvp8YFt-Ku8

Hello 2021! I am here for you with a smile on my face, because this is the year of ALL THE EMBROIDERY!

Since the pandemic started I have made it a goal for myself to take advantage of this time to grow in the SCA, develop my persona, work on ALL THE ART, and most importantly learn new things.

Over the last 1.5-2 years, I have been doing my best to learn embroidery: I have a post prior to this that talks a little bit about my start on this path. It has been so fun to learn from so many people, and watch the development in my own skills, though still very new.

Recently I attended the 8th Annual Embroidery Schola, and boy-oh I learned so much fabulous techniques and styles of embroidery that I was just BURSTING at the seams to try!

A few things that really stuck with me – gold and padded work, and couching!

The above acorn was done during Lady Amalia’s class on Gold Work. I had never used any of these techniques before but I wanted to learn them – bad! Outside of the class I think I worked another 30-45 minutes on the acorn and was just so pleased with how it turned out. It isn’t perfect by any means, but I was happy to see that it was something that I could do having only basic embroidery knowledge.

Today, at Studium Generale I paneled my very first embroidery piece. When I originally thought to do this, I did NOT believe that I had enough knowledge to present anything. But with some encouragement form my teacher (Baroness Audrye Beneyt) I decided it was worth sharing the things that I have created. The above badge was what I decided to submit.

This badge had been almost a 2 year work in progress. When I started it I only knew satin stitch and thought about creating the entire thing in that stitch. I was quickly talked out of that, but had already stitched the gold border and blue and red background. I was successful in ripping out the blue and red and re-stitching them in stem stitch, but left the gold. It was going to be another 6 months before I started to learn couching. The falcon was then outlined in back stitch and filled with couching.

The thing that makes me the most happy about this badge is that I can see the evolution of my own embroidery knowledge in it. I know that most people may not find that agreeable in something they plan to panel or keep, but it actually makes me happy. It grounds me in a way that words cant, because often we don’t have the chance to SEE our selves growing when we are learning a new skill. It’s hard to see those changes over time… but with this piece I see those changes so clearly, it reminds me to be proud of my work, to practice my skills, and to set clear, attainable goals if that is something I desire.

Today I was ranked competent in two embroidery categories, and though I feel they still need a lot of work, I am proud.

During this time of quarantine I have been diligently working on my embroidery. The wonderful thing about embroidery (or at least mine) is that it is mobile. I can pack it in my bag if I decide I want to spend the afternoon outside, or I can walk away from it when my eyes have had enough.

I have been working with a lovely group of people (remotely) in my area to improve my embroidery skills, introduce me to techniques I was not familiar with, and become aware of period methods and their relation to modern methods. It truly has been a fun learning experience. We have been working with cotton or linen fabric and DMC for thread. We will address other materials as we progress in the class, but for now as I learn, these are the materials available and easy to mess-up with!

I started by learning the basics (stem stitch, chain stitch, split stitch, running stitch, double running stitch, and back stitch). The easiest way to learn these stitches was remotely, through video chat, YouTube and great book recommendations. Our first goal was to create a reference swatch where we practiced each stitch. This would give us something to look back on to either see how a stitch should look, or (if we are planning an new project) give us reference for shape, texture, etc. We would then share with the group (for help and critique) and improve over the next month until the next class. I really struggled the first month being a hands-on learner, but by the second month of review I got the hang of the basics.

Just before the quarantine, I started a few projects; one being my Haus’ badge, stitched and then backed. The second project was making EK hankies sporting our lovely Blue Tyger. I had made a few hankies in the past but really had no confidence or direction in my creations because I had never formally learned any stitches. My hope was these classes would change this outlook and hone skills so that I could go on to make even more lovely creations.

Up to this point the only things that I had ever embroidered were done with satin stitch. I had made a few little gifts for friends and didn’t know anything else about stitching. The Haus badge started off completely satin stitched, with back stitch outlines. After convening with a few individuals, and starting my embroider classes, I ripped it all out and used stem stitch as the filler and back stitch as the outline. Though it was not the easiest for me to do, I agreed with my mentors that an item that is to be used so often and is out in the open world will snag and pull less if it has a more sturdy stitch. I carried this method over to the hankies, as the past hankies I had made were also satin stitch. I took to the materials and away I went! 15 hankies later I figured out how to work tight curves, and embroider certain areas to stand out from the rest (like a leg in the background that should appear to have a different texture than the fore body).

Though I still have a long way to go, I have really enjoyed this learning process. Embroidery is something that I have been interested in for a few years, but really had no idea where to start. I am sure that we have all had that past-time looming over us that we so desperately want to try but are very intimidated by how to get started. I want to say thank you so all of those individuals who listed to and answered my questions, reached out to me on social media, and are still active in my learning process: Lady Ciarnait ni’Bhroin of Lochleven, Lady Ástríðr Sægeirsdottir, and Mistress Camille de Jardins.