Racaire’s wedding cloak project – 12th century inspired patch #4 from the SCA Barony Montengarde in Avacal (Canada)

It’s time again to show you another awesome patch I got for my wedding cloak project!

I proudly present to you this beautiful embroidered patch for my 12th century wedding cloak project by courtesy of lady Sorcha de Lenche.

It was hand embroidered by the lovely and very talented lady Sorcha de Lenche. Who is not only a very talented artisan but also a very kind and nice lady. She sent this beautiful hand embroidered wedding cloak patch from the SCA Barony Montengarde situated in the Principality of Avacal, a part of the mighty SCA Kingdom of An Tir. 😀

About the artisan:

• Name: Sorcha de Lenche
• From: SCABarony Montengarde / Principality of Avacal / Kingdom of An Tir
  (for non SCA members: Canada)

Thank you very much Sorcha! 
…and heartily greetings to the Barony Montengarde in Avacal!

Underneath I have another picture of this lovely embroidered patch for you. A picture without all the text and also a little bit closer for a better and unhindered look at Sorchas embroidery. 😀

Sorcha didn’t tell me much about the embroidery technique she used but after close examination I would say that she used Split Stitch for the outlines and also for the filling of the sections.

This patch shows a really cute dragon. But well – stop! Does it really show a dragon? …are you sure? *giggle* Actually this lovely painting can be found at the page for the scorpio zodiac in the beautiful and awesome Hunterian Psalter, a lovely illuminated book from the 12th century. That means it could be a dragon or it could be a scorpio… *lol*

Well, if I had to bet on it, I would rather put my money on the dragon but I like the idea that it could be both. Anyway it makes me happy because I love dragons and am born in the scorpio zodiac so this is actually at least a “double win” for me… 😉

…I fell in love with this dragon/scorpio some time ago and now I got one for my wedding cloak – thanks to Fortuna! …and Sorcha! 😀

If you like this design as much as I do, you will find more inspiration at this page:

The Hunterian Psalter
A selection of images from Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 229 (U.3.2)

-> The inspiration for this “detail of ‘Scorpio’ from October“ can be found – here –

…and why is the Hunterian Psalter so important for the 12th century embroidery and costuming nerds among us? Because you can find much more than “just” the above mentioned inspiration for this ‘scorpio’. You can find inspiration for lovely 12th century embroidery projects, for new 12th century scrolls* and most important – for 12th century clothing! 😀
(*= Oh, yes, we need definitely more 12th century scrolls – but this is another project… 😉 )

At the above mentioned page of the Hunterian Psalter you can find some awesome pictures of ladies in 12th century wardrobe. You might have already run into smaller versions of this pictures at some blogs. When you visit the page of the Hunterian Psalter you can take a much better look at them and maybe, if you like sewing, get some inspiration for your future 12th century dress projects!

Female dress inspiration:

• detail of ‘KL’ (nobles) from April
  – one dress with tight sleeves and one with tight sleeves with very long maunches, both dresses have an interesting neckline detail
• detail of ‘Virgo’ from August
  – tight dress with tight sleeves and very long maunches – nice blue/white/red combination
• Annunciation of the death of the Virgin Mary, she informs the Apostles & detail of Mary
  – Though you can’t see any sleeve details here, this two pictures are among the pictures which inspired me to start making my tight and very short 12th century dresses with the overlong underdress! …btw. they are very comfy!
• folio 86v: detail
  – I know, the cloak hides most of her clothing but look at the hair! …at the detail at the end of her long braided hair… 🙂
• …

Male dress inspiration:

• detail of ‘KL’ (feasting) from January
  – nice sleeve and headdress detail
• detail of ‘Aquarius’ from January & detail of ‘KL’ (mowing) from July
  – underwear
• detail of ‘KL’ (digging) from March
• detail of ‘KL’ (hawking) from May
  – riding a horse – nice sleeve cuff detail, also a nice detail of decoration at the bottom of the tunic and headdress detail – definitely a front slit tunic
• detail of ‘Gemini’ from May
  – look at the shoes!!!!! Want!!!!! and another picture with the “Trapunto” look at the sleeve end…)
• King David tuning his harp
  – this picture is definitely another one of my long time favorites! Many nice details can be found here. 🙂
• folio 46r: detail
  – beautiful tunic detail
• folio 54v: detail
  – a full armed fighter – I wonder how he could fight in this overlong under-tunic *lol*
• …

…the links above are “just” a small selection of my favorite paintings in the Hunterian Psalter – this is definitely a page you should check out and enjoy if you like this style… 😀

PS: You can find more about this fun & wedding cloak project here:

• Project category: Patches for my 12th century wedding dress project
• Project details:
  Embroidered patches for Racaire’s 12th century wedding dress project
• Posting #1: Patch #1 & #2 from Ireland by Hilkka Susinen
• Posting #2: Patch #3 from Denmark by Else Marie Pederson