my super secret project revealed: OvO pouch with medieval islamic inspired embroidery

And finally a picture of the OvO pouch with the medieval islamic inspired embroidery which I put together for Gloria, my awesome mother-in-law.
(OvO -> Order of the velvet Owl, Kingdom of Meridies, SCA)

Yeah, this quite special piece of medieval islamic inspired embroidery was the super secret project on which I was working on from the first day of January until our favorite SCA event – Gulf Wars – in March. And at Gulf Wars Gloria finally got introduced into the Order of the velvet Owl. Just right before the knighting ceremony of her son, my dear husband. And not a moment too soon as keeping this project secret was killing me… 😉

But regardless how happy I was to welcome Gloria into the Order of the velvet Owl, it also came with a little drop of bitterness. Despite all the work and time I put into her pouch in order to finish it on time, I just couldn’t make it. I delivered her OvO pouch with an unattached and only half finished shoulder strap right before the ceremony. And yes, I was quite heartbroken about this fact.

Nevertheless, it was a very special moment as the introduction into the Order of the velvet Owl took Gloria completely by surprise. And after everything was over, she tried her best to assure me that the unfinished shoulder strap wasn’t that much of a deal. Based on her smile I think that she really liked her OvO pouch with the medieval islamic inspired embroidery I put together for her:

And now let’s take a closer look at the medieval islamic inspired embroidery I made for Gloria – enjoy! 😀  

In order to adapt the extant medieval islamic embroidery to look like an OvO pouch i had to alter some things. First I replaced the animal in the top with an owl, then I added the owl symbol in the middle of the filling pattern at the bottom and last but not least I also changed some of the colors…

And as you might have already guessed, the symbols at the top are actual arabic text from the 10th – 15th century. As parts of the text visible at the extant piece were unfortunately missing, I had to find someone who was fluent in arabic and especially in arabic writing first in order to help me to fill the missing parts before I could even start with the embroidery…

…but all the changes which I made to the extant design in order to make it an OvO pouch, the help I had to fill in the missing parts of 10th – 15th century arabic text and the discoveries I made while examining the extant embroidery technique in order to execute it myself are the content for several upcoming postings. Today I would simply like to share some pictures of the medieval islamic inspired embroidery I made for Gloria’s OvO pouch with you as I am still quite proud of the outcome. 🙂