14th century French Pouch .1 – sneak peek progress .16 – Endspurt! :)

…and the first outlines for my 14th century French pouch – enjoy! 😀

Though I don’t know yet with which color(s) my customer would like to see the hood filled and the figures outlined, I took the freedom to already start with some of the “not-so-important” outlines.

In my opinion this “not-so-important” section is the small yellow section between the red and green sections and looks like a very slim cross. For this section in the middle I decided to use my white wool-silk thread for the outlines. The white thread nicely accentuates the section but does not distract from the embroidery as you can see on the following picture. I decided to leave the decision concerning the outlines of the figures to my customer because this is really a matter of personal taste.

It took about 2.5 hours to finish the white outlines. The outlines are nearly not visible but they make a nice and subtle difference in my opinion. You should be able to see the difference when you compare the photo above (with the outlines) with the picture underneath (without the outlines):

Some extra information for the Advanced and Premium users concerning the outlines:

Nevertheless if we like the outlines and the extra “touch” they add or not, based on what I researched and saw at extant pouches which are worked in the same or a very similar technique (and which are in a better shape and condition as the extant pouch I based this commission on), they show that outlines like this seem to be a common and also rather important part of this style.

In my opinion the outlines add a more elaborate and “finished” appearance to the whole embroidery. They are mostly worked in another color than the embroidery itself and add a certain “extra” to the appearance of the whole embroidery.

Btw. this different colored outlines are very similar to the outlines used in Klosterstich wallhangings and the most popular Refilsaum wallhanging – the Bayeux tapestry. In this wallhangings the outlines are (normally) also worked in different colored outlines and add a special and in my opinion also very elaborated effect to the whole embroidery.