Anglo-Saxon Goldwork LOG Pouch Done

I finished off the Goldwork Anglo-Saxon LOG Pouch on the weekend. Just needed to be made up into a pouch. I forgot to put the hanging cord on, so I did a bit of a cheat and made the drawstrings extra long, they can use those to tie to belt. Only a small cheat as there are examples of pouches done like this in period. I also got the Anglo-Saxon collar onto the frame. I am using my nice period slate frame for this. Still deciding on the colours, thanks...

Read More

Not Much Sewing

Not much sewing going on, too hot. I did manage to watch 6 episodes of Jewel in the Crown. Can't wait to finish it o...

Read More

Tuesday Rooster Underway

Just a take to work project until I get the big projects on the frame over the weekend. This is the Tuesday Rooster with about 3 hours wo...

Read More

Anglo-Saxon Round Collar

This collar and cuff set will be for my nice green Anglo-Saxon under tunic. This goes under my other Anglo-Saxon tunic. The base fabric for this one is a nice chocolate brown. I am still deciding on colours for the embroidery. Instead of a key-hole neckline, I am going for plain round facing this time.To transfer the pattern, I printed out the pattern in reverse (so that when transfered, the heart shaped leaves would be facing the right way!). Then...

Read More

Sweetbag and Coif

I did about half an hour on the sweetbag. Finished on leaf. It really does look good once there is some colour on it. I think I will keep working it this way, outline then fill, rather than doing all the outline and then filling in. Really gotta knuckle down and workout the plaited braid stitch. I got it working a while back, but it's one of those stitches that if you don't do it regularly, you forget. Also, most of the problem is when you are just...

Read More

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Well, it was a very non-stitching weekend. I ended up spending most of Saturday shopping, got some nice food from the new markets in the Mall. Then we went tin-pin bowling on Saturday night.Sunday was spent catching up on the house work. I planned to go to Sunday gathering to show off my shirt, but I got stuck watching a totally soppy Hallmark movie. There was eye candy, a simple, happy ending. Perfect Sunday afternoon fair. Then I watched The Pacifier, another no-brainer. Got no stitching done. Not sure what to work on next. Thinking about keeping...

Read More

Blackwork Shirt Complete

It's finished!!! Yah, happy dance, can't wait to ware it! Just a matter of interlacing the sleeves to the body. Took about an hour. Below is a photo of the finished shirt. I will be getting some better photos done on the weekend. But this is to show you that it is indeed finished.Before that is an image showing a close up of the interlacing used to join the pieces together. All the pieces of the shirt had their seams finished before I started embroidering....

Read More

Collar and Neck Gussets in Body

Got the neck gussets and collar on as well as the front facing. The neck gussets are fiddly little buggers! But they do make it a stronger garment. I must have been tired cause it took me two goes to get the collar on. I realised after it was all together that I should have made the front facing wider. It would've then covered the back of the embroidery when the shirt is worn open at the front. Ah well, I keep that on record for the next on...

Read More

Sleeves Finished

I was able to get the cuffs on both sleeves done. Machine stitched the front seam and then hand-stitched the inside seam. I was then able to sew the gussets in and finish off the sleeves. I ran out of silk thread, so I used some cotten perle I had on hand for the whip stitching. Probably better to use that than the silk anyway, as I am going to have to deconstruct the shirt each time I wash it. The perle will be easier to deal with and cheaper as...

Read More

Outling Body Piece

Nothing special, I started the buttonhole outlining on the body section of the shirt. I got about half of it done. I was so tired, I decided to have an early night. So I should get it finished tonight. Then tomorrow night I can start on the collar and cuf...

Read More

Outlining of Shirt Pieces

After a mild panic attack, the washing has worked. All of the pink transfer pencil is now out of the linen. It was touch and go, but a little bit of press wash stain remover got the last really tough bits of pencil out. Even in the edge seams where it was folded over into the seam. I washed and pressed all the pieces twice. After the second soak, quite a bit of black dye came out of the silk, but it didn't bleed into the fabric, so all is good. The...

Read More

Blackwork Shirt Embroidery Complete

Well, the day has finally arrived. I have finished the embroidery on the shirt. The next stage is to wash and press the panels a couple of times before they get sewn up. I can do this one of two ways, just traditional sewing together or I can do it like the original, which is to use insertion stitches to put it all together. While I am really keen to get it done, doing it the second, traditional way is really appealing to me at this stage. After...

Read More

Transfer Techniques

There are a variety of ways to transfer designs onto fabric. One of my favourite ways is to use an iron on transfer pencil. These are very simple to use, all you need some tracing paper and a design. You basically trace the design onto the tracing paper using the transfer pencil. You then flip over the tracing paper and use an iron to transfer the design to your fabric. You need to be using a light coloured fabric for this to work, but it doesn't have to be super light coloured to work. Also, you have to be careful as this type of pencil requires...

Read More

Shirt Again

Did another few hours on the shirt last night. Up to 33 hours on the body. Will probably only get a couple of hours in tonight. But if I do that all week, I should be well on the way for a weekend finish of the embroidery.NOTE: For Beth and Julie, I will do a post tomorrow about my transfer technique, need to get some photos etc togeth...

Read More

Post Wedding BBQ

Went to Adam's Mum and Dad's for the post wedding BBQ. Hung out. Did some sewing. Got photos of wedding printed out on the way, showed them to everyone. Gave his cousins a lift to the airport, since it's just down the road from us. Settled down and managed some sewi...

Read More

Sally's Wedding

Did a big post about the wedding, it got eaten by the Internet. Anyway, spent all day getting ready. It was a bit windy but the rain held off. Everything went off without a hitch. Adam's speech was great. Didn't get home to about midnig...

Read More

Shirt Final Stages

Another few hours done. Up to about 25 hrs for the body of the shirt. I could probably get it done this weekend, but I've got a heap of housework and a wedding, so that will take care of most of Saturday and alot of Sunday. But I will have tonight, so that should be another 3 hours at least, so enough to do the other band, which will just leave the floral motifs (no peascods, yeah!) and the two bands on the shoulders. I will probably also do one...

Read More

Back From War

War was fun. We had a full schedule of A and S classes, all the teachers showed up and there were students for every class. There was talk of plots against me for having the audacity to run A and S at Spring War, so I know I was doing something right!! ;-)Didn't get any sewing done, I never sat down long enough. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so that was good. Picture below is an update I didn't get a chance to do before I left. I am getting...

Read More