Sneak peek at my next embroidery project – a 14th century inspired pattern worked in surface couching .6

*Gosh* I think I started too many embroidery projects! But unfortunately there is just not enough time to work at them all! At least not at the same time… 😉

Yes, I really wish I could duplicate myself or at least grow an extra set or arms but I doubt that this will happen anytime soon… But well, who doesn’t know this problem… *lol*

Ok, enough self pity for now. I anyway don’t have the time to complain about too many embroidery projects and well, if I complained, who would actually believe me? *lol* You all know that I love embroidery far too much to not enjoy my dilemma. But – *sigh* – there are so many of them –  the embroidery projects I just started and the ones I would love to start next and which are haunting me… At least all this embroidery projects keep me busy and prevent me from getting bored. I guess, I can’t complain about that, can I?

Therefore – what have I been working at during the last days? Well, let me give you a short summery:

I drafted a new XL hood pattern for a good friend. This XL hood pattern is based on my favorite 14th century hood pattern as well as my friends head and upper body measurements. As I am still struggling with measurements in inches – and still might do in the future – my friend was so kind to supply me with his measurements in Centimeter. This made drafting the pattern so much easier for me! *lol*

As soon as I finished drafting the pattern, I found some fabric in my husbands fabric stash which is very similar to the one my friend sent me for his hood and started working at a sample hood. And now, after several evenings and nights filled with cutting the fabric and hand-sewing the pieces together, I am very glad to say that I only need to do some more stitches at the hem and the sample hood should be finished today.

I really can’t wait until the SCA event “Midsummer Day’s Brawl” this weekend where he finally will be able try on the hood and tell me if I have to make some further adjustments. Please keep your fingers crossed for a well fitting hood! 🙂

…and my husband is also very excited about this hood sample. In order to use his fabric I promised him that he can keep the sample hood for himself. That’s ok for me – I already have a nice 14th century hood which I really like and the new pattern is far too big for me. And he likes his future new hood, though it is even a little bit too big for him too but he would never admit it… 😉

And not only that, I also managed to work a little at my Surface Couching embroidery project in the meantime. It is such a great feeling to see how my 14th century inspired pattern is growing with every little Surface Couching stitch I add. Especially now, that I started adding all the small details. This details really embellish the basic framework. Every stitch adds more “bling” to the surface of my beautiful red silk and I admit it – I love the sparkle of silver thread! 😀

And to be able to turn my 14th century inspired embroidery project into an even better tutorial for you, I also started working at some drawings which will show the Surface Couching technique in detail. This “technical” drawings are planned as an addition to my close up pictures of the Surface Couching embroidery and should clarify the proper execution of this medieval embroidery technique. It will take me some more days to finalize this drawings and to convert them into a technique handout for you but I am working at it.

Yes, I think I was really busy during the last days. *lol* However, my new hood project will be the content of a future posting – today we are going to take a look at the detail work I just added to my 14th century inspired embroidery project – enjoy! 😀

…and here a closer look at the embroidery for you:

I really love the effect and the added sparkle of the silver thread. Just some silver thread couched with white silk on top of lovely red silk does make quite a difference, doesn’t it. 

And now let’s take a closer look at the added details next to the border – here a picture of the detail embroidery in the middle:

…and a picture of the same detail from a slightly different angle:

…and last but not least a picture of the embroidered pattern detail in one of the corners:

Unfortunately the surface couching stitches executed in white silk aren’t as clearly visible as I initially thought but I hope that you can still see some of them and that they give you at least a basic idea of the technique. However, the “technical” drawings of the Surface Couching technique – at which I am working at the moment – should clarify most of your questions concerning this technique. 🙂

…and yes, I will soon start with the tutorial and do my best to answer all of your questions…

I hope you enjoyed the new progress of my 14th century inspired embroidery project as much as I do. Well, I admit it – every embroidery progress has something magical for me – from time to time I catch myself thinking of embroidery as magic with needle and thread and I get so easily enchanted by it… 😀