…my medieval islamic inspired embroidery project – the embroidery

And today I am going to show you more pictures of my medieval islamic inspired embroidery for Gloria’s OvO pouch.

Due to the time restraints of this project I didn’t get to take many pictures. However, I did my best to capture some of the more interesting parts for you. Therefore I hope that you’ll enjoy my progress pictures as much as I enjoyed working on this project.

And apropos progress pictures – I also took some pictures of how I started my very first thread for this medieval islamic inspired embroidery. But then I remembered that I use the very same technique to start my Klosterstich projects. If you would like to read more about the quite simple technique which I use to start a thread and to see some pictures, please enjoy the following posting where I already covered this topic: “Klosterstich hands on tutorial – part 1 – how to start your Klosterstich embroidery 🙂”

But after all the previous postings about the project development which led up to this posting (you can find a list of them at the bottom), let’s cut a long story short and get directly to the promised pictures – enjoy! 😀

At the picture above and underneath you can see the very first section which I finished in this rather special medieval islamic inspired embroidery technique. The picture above provides you with a better look at the basic threads which cover the fabric. And the picture underneath shows the placement of the holding stitches better.

And yes, there is not much difference to the “Bayeux Stitch technique” as I already pointed out in my previous postings. However, it seems to me that the slanted holding lines – which are slanted in relation to the basic threads – with their couching stitches on top add a slightly different feel to the embroidery. 

Btw. the section behind the letters is actually not embroidered when it comes to the extant piece. However, it didn’t feel right to me to leave this section empty. Therefore I decided to fill it with white which also helps to emphasize the letters a little bit more. And to add some more play to it, I decided to go with the slant direction which I found in the bottom part and which is perpendicular to the one I used for the letters. 

The direction of a slant or the play between two slanting directions of two adjacent section might be only a tiny, little detail which is not really important. However, it can sometimes add a very lovely nuance to an embroidery. And this slant in relation to the basic threads could be just based on a “mistake” a period embroiderer made or – on the other hand – could really represent an actual medieval islamic embroidery technique. I guess we will never know until we find the time to examine much more similar embroidered pieces of this area and time period. Well, I have to admit that small technique differences and details like this make exploring and examining medieval techniques and extant embroidered pieces so much fun. 🙂

Last but not least, and because I know how much some of you enjoy to take a look at the backside of my embroidery, here is a picture of my backside for you:

And also the backside looks quite similar to the one you get when you use the “Bayeux Stitch” or “Refilsaum” technique.

Btw., as you can see at the picture above, I tend to use the small tiny stitches at the backside to “start” and to “end” my threads. The stitches at the backside act like little tunnels through which I pull leftover threads and then I finish them off by securing them with several small stitches into the opposite direction. I got used to doing this nearly 10 years ago and it keeps my backside proper as well as leftover wool threads out of my way. And though it might be quite some extra work – I can say that I consider it properly invested time if you want a good looking embroidery as it keeps your threads where you want them to be…

Well, I think that’s enough for today. And in my next posting we will take a look at the embroidered owl with which I had a ton of fun… Stay tuned my friends… 🙂

…and here you can find some other postings about this project:

• my super secret project revealed: OvO pouch with medieval islamic inspired embroidery
• Gloria’s OvO pouch with medieval islamic inspired embroidery – my period inspiration
• …my medieval islamic inspired embroidery project – from the medieval inspiration to an actual pattern or “an interesting journey” .1
• …my medieval islamic inspired embroidery project – from the medieval inspiration to an actual pattern or “an interesting journey” .2
• …my medieval islamic inspired embroidery project – from the medieval inspiration to an actual pattern or “an interesting journey” .3