I´m being framed...

Since my qoute of sleeves is filled, I decided to get started on a framed purse, 15th-century style. My main inspiration is this: http://weavingandcooking.blogspot.se/2010/08/late-medieval-burgundian-framed-purse.html. Beatiful! I did find a frame on the market at last year´s Medieval week here in Visby so I can´t blame lack of materials.

My aim is making it in wool instead of thin suede, but I´m a bit worried that it will be too thick and bulky. Need to scan my piles and boxes and see what I can come up with.

Meanwhile I´m making a toile in cotton just to sort out the size, where to fold and how to attach it to the hoop frame. Starting out with a strip 1,5 meters long and almost 40 cm wide gives a decent result but there´s room for improvement. I´ve folded it so that it makes two pockets and some extra material to put in a tightening cord in the middle of the hoop. Put some pins in so that I can get  hint of how it works. I think the width is just enough but the purse is a bit to big lengthwise.

So tomorrow I will try shortening it a bit and see how that looks. I´ll keep you posted!

Can a girl have too many?

People talk about women collecting shoes, handbags and the like. And yes, I have to admit that I love shoes, but since the garb-fitting-ones are so hard to find online and even harder to make, I have filled my closet with other accessories. But really? I think I have to find another obsession than sleeves. Or at least aim for more elaborate ones next...

Time to actually make those new shoes and finish off a number of pouches, I guess.

Pinned and ready

Yesterday I suddenly got a whole lot of time all to myself, and got lots of stuff done, and inspired by a friend that is trying hard to finish off embroidery projects, I finished my first piece of patterned darning. It is really small, 5 times 5 centimetres or so, and I thought it would make a lovely pincushion. I saw the Attack Laurel wearing small pincushions in blackwork pinned to her skirt and thought it was a great idea when sewing. No need to put pins in your sleeves and then forget about them, as I tend to do.

Said and done, I found a piece of dark purple wool fabric that matches the outerline perfectly and got going.

However, the embroidered fabric is a loose weave and I thought pins would easily escape, so I decided to line it with a little tighter woven linen fabric. I cut out a square and stitched it onto the backside. Then I cut a piece of the back fabric, turned the pieces outside in and pinned the together along three edges and stitched them together. Turning it inside out was a bit tricky but manageble. I stuffed it with scraps of wool fabric and then stitched the last edge, first putting in a cord loop in one corner for fastening.

I finished it off with a chain stitch edge and some small tassels. And it turned out rather pretty!