I wanted to have a go at creating some Anglo Saxon jewels as a possible ornament for however I end up displaying Aethelflaed. It was enough of a success that I felt that, with some fiddling around, I might be able to produce something suitable. And since this one was very much thrown together from things I had to hand, there’s a lot of fiddling around to do!
And here you see some of it. I went looking for materials, this time, and thought it through a bit more.
So, crimson gauze laid over gold tissue, laid in turn over calico for support. The gold tissue may be a good idea for the effect in real life, but it is a complete nightmare to photograph, and I apologise in advance for the peculiar changes of colour the fabric will undergo!
I used back stitch in a single strand, rather than split stitch in two, but took more or less the same approach to the outer channels, filling them with woollen thread. I was a little inconsistent in how I did so, which is why you see little bits of wool above the gauze – something I didn’t want, but struggled not to do. There must be a trick to trapunto quilting without going permanently demented, but I’m not sure I have it yet!
I should probably also apologise for my photography..
Anyway, the next bit was why I wanted to include the gold tissue in my sandwich of fabrics. If you look at the Sutton Hoo helmet and some other Anglo Saxon items, you will see that in some cases the gems look lighter than others, and it has been determined that that is because they’ve been backed with gold foil. I’m trying to get the same effect here, but in the case of fabric by inserting the filling behind the gold tissue.
This was very nearly as unnerving a proceeding as when I was doing much the same thing at the beginning of Akhenaten. You’d think I would have learnt sense by now, wouldn’t you!
With sixteen angels to do, it seemed like a good idea to work out a plan of action. My first idea was to have green capes with red stitching and red capes with green stitching, so that was the first thing I tried. Red on green is certainly working, and looking at the comparison between petal stitch or an upward pointing stitch for the trim on the cape, it seemed to me that petal stitch was the clear winner, so I put that in place.
Yes, definitely, that works.
And I like closed feather for the trim around the shoulders, too.
The red neckline and hem – not so much. It looks like a failed attempt to link the trim on the cape, rather than a harmonious trim on a dress. Ugh!
Part of the problem, I think, is that the border is too narrow, but I was afraid of the red pulling itself forward too much.
So, here’s what I’ve settled on.
The cape is edged with Mountmellick stitch, which makes a rather charming edging stitch. I think of it as a cross between blanket stitch and chain stitch, even though it’s not really, and wasn’t used as such originally. The dress edging is much broader than the first one, two rows of up-&-down blanket stitch face to face, and you will note that I’ve patterned them, with a V-shape alternating with a short pair of stitches. Then I’ve added two rows of cable chain stitch to broaden the edging further.
I really enjoyed working the Hares, and I thought you might enjoy a few close up and oblique views. I think there’s not much to say, as I’ve already said it, but if you have questions, please use the comments section and I will do my best to respond usefully!
So, after my first two attempts at Aethelflaed, I had a fascinating day with my reenactor friend Vara, talking about the garments and decorations of the period, and she showed me this photo of her daughter riding astride, but in a modern riding dress inspired by early medieval garments.
Rowanne is apparently intrigued by what I’m doing, and has given permission for me to put this picture up, showing her and her horse Lola!
I also had a chance to do a sketch of a woman in profile, wearing the right sort of veil, complete with a fillet, with the added suggestion that Aethelflaed should be wearing a bright white veil, since that would be a sign of wealth and authority, and that sleeves would have been all in one with the dress.
So, I’ve had a bit more to work with, and had another go.
This is better, I like the straighter back, and the dress covering the horse’s rump. But my goodness, if you compare her with Rowanne and Lola, she’s much too long in the body. I need to shorten her somewhat.
Furthermore, I think the horse has got too tame – back to the cross-eyed one staring out at the viewer!
But then, I think, I might be able to start playing around with placing her on the background and choosing colours for her. Which, my goodness, will be About Time!
The yellow wool was really a lovely fabric to be stitching on, but being a bit mobile around the edges, I decided I wanted the circle of blanket stitch in quite soon, and didn’t keep it quite as neat as I might have hoped.
However, it looks lovely, the red contrasting nicely with the ground and will the brown hares (I keep wanting to call them bunnies, but hares have bigger ears, which must make it easier to share them!)
The innermost line on the ears is a pinky-cream mohair, and I’ve also used it for little pink pads on the hind paws. I’ve no idea whether this is accurate to life, but it gives the design a lift at the edges, and I think that has helped enormously.
You will note that I’ve kept all three Hares at the same rate of development all the way through. That’s made it easier to think of it as a single design, “David’s Hares”, rather than three versions of one hare. It also means that when I was working the progression of shades in the ears, I didn’t have to make notes, and while it’s true I’m a more note-taking-minded stitcher than I used to be, something like this is meant to be more freestyled!
I don’t know what I’m going to attach the Hares to, but I’ll think of something..
Here you see I’ve actually finished the stitching, including a pile stitch for the tails. I’ve not cut it, but left it soft and curled, which makes for a slightly stronger shape, and possibly more hardwearing too. But my goodness, pile stitches take more thread than you expect, even when you’re expecting it (if you follow me!)
Close ups will come in a later post, but in the meanwhile…
In Memoriam, David Singmaster, mathematician, metagrobologist, mischief, and friend. Thank you, David.
Some of you may recall this design, which Mam and I were thinking of developing into the background for the crib figures I inherited from one of my great aunts. I’ve not managed to think of a way to make it work in embroidery yet, so I keep on looking at it and thinking “No”, and moving on.
Sigh.
However, it has occurred to us that using the same angels as the basis for a design for the Christmas tablecloth might work quite nicely, and will give us another chance to play with the shapes and design.
So, sized for the purpose, planned out and tweaked. And we’ve decided, rather than embroidering directly on the tablecloth (if you’ve ever embroidered a tablecloth, you will have a fair guess why we aren’t!), we are going to prepare the applique separately and attach those to the tablecloth.
We’re using quilting cottons in red, yellow, and green, and we’ve got everything cut out and pinned approximately in place, and now we’re not sure what to do next!
So there are some experiments ahead. I’m thinking of restricting the colours to stranded cotton in the same red, green and yellow (as far as possible), and using a variety of interesting edging stitches. And we both have samplers of those in our embroidered Coat of Many Flowers and the Little Jacket!
You may recall that the planning and designing of Aethelflaed is proving quite a long winded process, with a lot of repetition and rethinking going on.
I’ve been looking for medieval women on horseback, because I want Aethelflaed under her own steam, as it were – not lead on a palfrey, but mounted on her own horse, with the reins in her hands.
The best I’ve found so far is this one, which I think was in the Holkham Picture Book Bible.
I started with the lady, and began some alterations. I want her horse to have some personality, so I’ve turned the head towards us, and lifted it a little.
I’ve extended the skirts somewhat, and given the rider a veil that flies a little, held in place by a golden fillet.
But the high contrast suggests a silk or brocade, and I want something that suggests a sensible woollen riding dress.
Then I found some Viking and Anglo-Saxon reenactors and talked to them. And goodness, that gave me food for thought. In particular, yes, riding dress was indeed a garment that an Anglo Saxon woman like Aethelflaed might have worn. But Anglo-Saxon dressmaking was not at all like ours.
In particular, whereas we tend to have pattern pieces that start with the widest part, and remove fullness by means of darts, pleats, or gathers, Anglo-Saxon dressmaking started with the narrowest width and added fullness by means of gussets and gores. In fact, an Anglo Saxon riding dress would have a full circle’s worth of gores inserted into the side seams, resulting in something roughly like this.
But not quite. I’ve actually been to talk to my reenactor friends, and there are a few bits which don’t quite ring true. I have some photos to work from, so there is more to come…
I have a rather nice spectacle case which is surplus to requirements for spectacles, but which I thought I could make useful for other purposes, so it’s now a mending kit!
I’m notorious in the family for reaching for needle and thread even when a machine stitch might be better (I was doing some mending when visiting with friends a few years ago, and when their father rang, they said “Guess what, Rachel’s been here half an hour, and she’s already got a needle in hand!”), but what I don’t have is a mending kit I can just stuff in a suitcase/glove compartment and be sure it’s to hand.
I put some thought into what I wanted to have to hand, and embellished various elements with embroidered motifs inspired by the motifs on the case.
There are pockets for small cards of thread. I’ve used half metre lengths of stranded cotton in a variety of colours so I should always have something close-ish to what I need.
Other pockets hold some round elastic and a measuring tape. The measuring tape isn’t often necessary, but it’s hard to improvise when you need one.
I’ve found a small pair of folding scissors and attached them at the back of one of the sections, as well. I’ve seen an idea for a captive blade for a really minimal mending kit, and I’ve a small packet that idea might be perfect for, but I don’t have to be minimal here!
I’ve ended up with three sections.
The top one is essentially a needle book, but I’ve tacked four shirt buttons to one page, and I’m gathering safety pins for another. I’ve got two sewing needles and one rather larger eyed needle on the one page with needles in.
There are three cards with three colours of thread on each, in their own pockets, one pocket with elastic (black and white) and one with a tape measure. If I find a flatter tape measure I’ll swap that out. I’m sure I have one.. and on the back of the middle section I’ve got a strap for the scissors.
You just watch, I’ll not need it for a year at least!
Last year, The Australian’s world of mathematics and recreational mathematics lost one of its titans: David Singmaster, mathematician, metagrobologist, and discoverer of the wreck of a Punic warship (as you do!). David had a fine mind, contributing hugely to pure mathematics over the years, but his intense curiosity about, well, everything, lead to him writing the first book about solving Rubik’s Cube, and being involved in a fabulous book detailing the spread of the Three Hares pattern along the Silk Route. He was also a really lovely man, who enjoyed sharing puzzles with all and sundry. He was always seen with a drawstring bag embellished with those Three Hares, from which an assortment of physical puzzles and embodiments of mathematical principles would be taken for the bafflement of anyone within range.
It follows that when the British Society for the History of Mathematics invited The Australian to speak at a one day conference in David’s memory, I decided to sit quietly at the back, stitching a new version of the Three Hares. It’s a lovely woollen fabric, and I’ve chosen some wool I rather like to stitch it with, and started by transferring the design using running stitch through tracing paper.
I got it to this stage in the hotel the night before, and then got rid of the tissue paper in short order.
It was a wonderful day, many old friends, some lovely tributes to David, and some fascinating expositions of his work. And all through the day, I sat quietly stitching away at the Hares, for some of the time beside David’s widow, Deborah, who made the original bag that gave me the idea.
I’m quite pleased with how it’s going so far, especially as I was using my new Sketching Glasses (aka bifocals), so that I would be able to see the slides as well!
So you may recall that, when last seen, I was working the Surrey Stitch boss for the centre of the Parterre. This is something else that uses a lot of thread, so I had a nervous time wondering whether I would run out of the wool I wanted to use before I finished it. And because the stitches were pushed down for quite a while as I was working it, I tied some thread around the finished stitches for a few days to help them stand up to be trimmed.
Then I realised that some of those stitches were still loops and might not be standing up to where they should.
So the semi-final trim took a bit longer than I perhaps hoped, and is maybe not quite as short and trim as it should be. That’s because I don’t have enough wool to do it again, and I am absolutely terrified of trimming it too short!
However, any further trim can wait – it’s something that can be done off the frame, and I wanted to see how the whole Parterre had turned out.
Pretty well, I think. It is squarer than it looks, I just need to block it a bit to take the frame-kinks out of the canvas!
