The Baronesses birds

Baroness Jennet of Loch Salaan surprised me awhile ago with a large box of feathers she'd been collecting.  She raises alpacas (and I have a closet full of fleeces from her last shearing destined to be rugs and boots) but there are also peacocks and chickens running around the farm. 

I was busy teaching classes at Collegium when she handed the box over so I didn't get to really talk to her much about the projects, but she asked that I make her a fan in payment for the feathers.  Seemed like a more than fair trade.  Especially since I didn't actually have to start from scratch.

Jennet had a fan she had received that used to belong to Constance de la Rose.  Constance was one of the greats.  I met her only briefly once, but her legacy is extensive.  Everything anyone has to say is glowing and sweet.  There is a memorial cooking competition held at Uprising in her honor so her love of cooking and learning continue. I found this beautiful article she wrote published on Florilegium about what makes a peer that hold some of the magic the SCA Dream embodies.

The fan needed some rehabilitation.  It had come in contact with something that left big pink and black mess on some of the feathers.  They also needed to be combed and fluffed a bit.  I tried spot cleaning the feathers but whatever it was was not coming off.  And it was hot pink.  I ended up trimming the feathers a bit to remove the worst of it and then adding feathers to cover.  The inside of the fan now has a layer of  new black and white feathers.  I picked out the feathers Jennet had collected from her silver laced Wyandotte chickens.  Her Barony's heraldic colors are sable and argent. They have a populous use badge of an ermine spot so the white spots on the tops of the black feathers were absolutely perfect.  I added pearls and black pear shaped rhinestones to continue the theme.  Then I topped it with a little dragonfly button since dragonflies are one of Jennet's heraldic charges.  The silver Celtic knots also bring her persona into the composition.

Here's hoping she likes it and it's what she had in mind.

Praxilla-- but no pear tree

I'm working on my own 12 days of Christmas as I scramble to finish my dress and gifts for 12th Night.  Yesterday was focused on beading the billiments for the dress.

Yes, I know billiments and oodles of bling is more English than Italian, but it actually isn't unheard of.  I was just going to do a total fantasy as I used up some questionable things in the stash, but then I found this Tinteretto over at Starlight Masquerade (thanks Angela-- again.)

As you can see, there are ouches on the partlet and a heavily jeweled billiment type band across the top.  The dress is also a greenish brocade, which fell in with my plans perfectly.  My colors are a tiny bit less pastel, but a pretty good match.  How fortuitous!  I love it when my crazy ideas turn out to be documentable.

So yesterday was consumed with wiring 28 pearl ouches and stitching on the 15 red jewels (they're buttons) and 14 large black rhinestones. The gold trim underneath is lined in red linen to give a bit of contrast. It also happens to be the same trim I have on my chopines, so I'm considering wearing them to 12th Night.

I'm joining the Historical Sew Fortnightly

I always accomplish so much more when I have deadlines.  I was really excited when Lorna McKenzie of The Tailor's Apprentice pointed out The Dreamstress Historical Sew Fortnightly.  26 themed challenges and you can pick and choose what you want to participate in.  There's a bonus challenge starting now.  #0 is to start simple with a due date of New Year's Eve.  Make something quick or something you've done before.

I'm just starting on the much procrastinated 12th Night dress made from the sideback lacing pattern that was drafted for my red IRCC I dress.  I used the same pattern for my green camping dress. Projects already started and UFO's finished are fair game so here's hoping the extra challenge gives me a bit of extra motivation amidst the craziness of Christmas.

Go look at Angela Bacci's Zibellino

Angela Bacci/Starlight Masquerade (you know the place where I go to drool over galleries when I'm not haunting Realm of Venus) just made an adorable zibellino for Mistress Laurellen (Tammie Dupuis/Renaissance Tailor) for 12th Night.  Mistress Laurellen is getting her Pelican at that event I believe.  Anyway, go look at the zibie.  It's adorable.

And she mentioned my crazy pink zibie.  So I get to have another fan girl moment where people I deeply admire talk about me.  Squee!

So what about the hobby horses?

Remember the 30 stick ponies and the dollies I spent way too much time cutting and sewing together?  And then I followed it up by getting sick and missing the event?  Yeah.  Well, I've been wanting to get some pictures of a complete stick pony from the event.  Unfortunately, every picture taken seems to have someone's child in it (go figure.)  Which is why this one was impossible to resist.  His Royal Majesty Khan Timmur IV of Artemisia with his stick pony and the paper dolls made in HRM's image in commemoration of his attendance at Toys for Tots by Lord Yamanuchi Eidou. Seems like the hobby horses were a hit.

Photo taken by Katie Fullmer

 

 

 

 

2 white scarves

Photo courtesy of Katie Fullmer

I didn't end up getting my grand blackwork plans accomplished, but the scarves were well received and done within the short window, so I have to say they were a success.

Here's Kynewynn the Kind, Artemisia's premier Dona of the Order of the White Scarf about to attend the ceremony for her son, Giovanni Il Ratto, as he becomes the youngest Don in the Kingdom.  Research is still out as to whether he's the youngest Don in the SCA Known World or not.  He also might be the first second generation Don.  He certainly is the first in Artemisia.

I was so honored that Kynewynn chose to wear the scarf I made her for the ceremony.

I have to say, I'm totally nuts about drawnwork.  I think it may be my favorite type of needlework,  That's rather amusing to me since I am such freak for color and I would swear I don't really care for counted work. There's just something peaceful and easy about the white on white and the manipulation of threads though.  It makes me happy.  And it looks classier than I really am.

Here's a couple of in process pictures since I never went back and wrote up the post I'd planned on it.  Here's the mess of drawing the threads after I'd stabilized the ends.  The scarves are just over 2 yards long so, while there really aren't that many threads pulled, they're long and make quite the pile. 

Still not a great picture, but this is a little better at giving you an idea of what the laced hemstitch looks like.  Each side is 3 passes with the first one securing the hem and bundling the edge threads.  I did bundles of 4 threads.  Second pass is going back the other way and bundling the other side of the drawnwork section.  Final pass just takes a thread down through the middle.  The lacing is really easy.  Rather than doing a bundle of the bundles, which is what several other patterns call for, you just pull one bundle over the other and the thread keeps them from flipping back in place.  It's one of my favorite stitches.  I did the same one on the towel I made for Serafina's Laureling last year.  This was just a lot more of it.  There's a little over 24 feet of hemstitch.  I was working pretty solid on them starting just before Thanksgiving, other than the week I took off to make Mikey's doublet.

Photo courtesy of Sue Fullmer

I ran out of time for the more complex borders I'd planned, so I settled for simple backstitch monograms with some elements from their heraldry.  They both have vert  and sable and Kynewynn is well known for her heart (both heraldically and as one of the sweetest human beings ever.) Gio wants a frame drum as part of his, but it didn't translate well, so I settled for rapiers.  The fringe is handknotted.  It's just Gutermann  white silk sewing thread and their gold metallic.  I secured the short edges with a buttonhole stitch after hemming them and tied the fringe into those stitches. I use a crochet hook to pull the bundles of thread through and then do larks head knots. Super simple, but a lot more time consuming than you would hope.  Definitely worth it.  I love the fineness of this fringe rather than the perle cotton I usually use on things.  

Terrible picture of Mikey's new doublet

 Hoping to get a better picture on Saturday when he wears it to Solstice, but this is at least proof I've been working on something.

And here's the "boring end" of Gio's scarf with the fringe.  I'll get a closer picture when the sun is a little higher and show off the laced hemstitch.