Next project

My next project is another set of sleeves for another persian robe. I have completed the outlining on one sleeve and have started filling it in. I realize that how I did the outlining made it a bit confusing as to which colours went where, but now that I've got some filled in, it is clearer.
Here is a picture of the progress I have made so far. This project is my summer project as I've not felt like having the cloak on my lap much. Even if my husband decides to have me fill the pattern on his cloak, it may have to wait until cooler weather.

The fabric is a very soft blue wool that I absolutely adore. The design is being stitched using a fine silk. I'm very happy with how it is going so far, especially since I'm doing much better at keeping the stitches smaller and much neater than my last set of sleeves.

Wallhanging project - additional window finished :)

Another window of my wallhanging is finished by now (only one last window has to be done now)
:D

How much is too much?

Well I finished 4 more rays today and have only 4 more to go! Now I need to finalize the plan, will this be filled in, left as an outline or somewhere in between. So I'm asking, if this were for you what would you want?
Ultimately it will be up to Lady Salonge, but I thought having some other opinions never hurts.
Cheers,
Jahanara

Cloak Progress

I spent much of today embroidering. I, therefore, made a lot of progress on Lady Salonge's cloak. I was originally going to use this cloak, but I had to use a stitch that I have used a lot int he past. As you can see, it is all done in outline stitch. I tried the Opus Anglicanum stitches, however, the split stitch was not meshing with the silk that I was using or the design. I therefore fell back on outline stitch, to produce a nice embroidery. I have finished 7.5 rays and have 8.5 rays to go! I completed 5 rays today. So in theory, if I don't get distracted by any other projects, I could have the embroidery don by this weekend! I still need to sew in the lining and hem, which is my least favorite part!
Please feel free to give any advice on hemming, as I'm always keen to improve that part!'
Jahanara

A&S 50 challenge :)

Dear talented artisans of Drachenwald,
the number of artisans from our beautiful kingdom increases but to catch up with the other kingdoms we still need more of you to participate in this great A&S 50 challenge (some basic information provided by Jahanara can be found >here<).
To make it easier for us to keep track on the progress of our participants Jahanara and I started the A&S 50 Challenge - Kingdom Drachenwald Blog.
If you also want to join the A&S 50 challenge - please contact me or Jahanara.
I hope to see more artisans joining this challenge and remain with
best regards
Racaire

Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - Members

If you do not want your SCA name and/or group to be listed here,
please contact the guild head

New members of the Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - July:

~ added 15.07.2008: ~
36) Adelina (Central)
~ added 21.07.2008: ~
37) Honor of Restormel
~ added 23.07.2008: ~
38) Tamara Stefanova (Central)

-> Guild Member-List <-

additional information:
Guild Head: Lady Racaire
Aarnimetsä - region guild head: Lady Eilgri Beccan
Insulae Draconis - region guild head: Lady Jahanarabanu Vivana
(Central (& Nordmark) - region guild head: Lady Racaire,
South: no members until now)

Yis
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

Progress on hood

Although I have focused more on weaving this summer, I managed to get a bit of work done on the hood project. I was not best pleased by the result of this work. However it looks very medieval (read passable) and I have learned a lot about the fabric I am working on and the thread with which I am working. I think on the next roundel, I will use linen to outline and the silk to fill the roundel.

I think the embroidery is well worked, however the cross is not lined up the way it ought to be. Looking back this was a fault with the original outline, not a fault with the technique of putting the outline one the fabric.

I would greatly appreciate any advice or comments. I hope to differentiate between a few of the arms when the background gets filled.

Jahanara

Teaching & other A&S Opportunities in ID

Greetings everyone!
There are several opportunities to teach and further Arts & Sciences in Insulae Draconis, and thus our fair Kingdom, coming up. Fortunately you can volunteer for one or more of these opportunities by contacting me! I an coordinating A&S classes at War of the Roses and the first combined Protectors & ID University! If you are willing to to teach at either of these events, you may contact me via this blog, or the ID MOAS e-mail.

I am also asking for volunteers to run an A&S tent at Raglan. Dafydd, the autocrat, has been so kind as to arrange for a tent and very visible space for such a tent. I would like to have two volunteers, at least, for the public hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am asking all volunteers for a mere 2 hours of their time. All you have to do is sit in the tent, craft, watch the items on display (perhaps have some of your own work on display) and chat with anyone who shows interest! Again please volunteer with me via this blog of the ID MoAS e-mail.

Yours in Service,
Jahanarabanu Vivana, ID Minister of Arts & Sciences/ ID Regional Guild Head

Dragon Needle Embroidery Guild - Newsletter July 2008

Dear honourable Lords and Ladies, gentle members of the "Dragon Needle Embroidery Guild" & "-eMail Group"!

I want to send sincere thanks to all guild members who attended the Coronation event in Insulae Draconis and to all members who attended my rather short class or our first guild meeting.
I especially want to send sincere thanks to all guild members who had to work during the guild meeting and therefore couldn't attend it - you all made this beautiful event because of your hard work possible - thank you so very much!

I was very happy to see some of your beautiful work at the guild display and also during the guild meeting in real - pleas keep on working on such beautiful work and please share pictures of your work at the internet with us!

During the guild meeting I also got the possiblitiy to discuss my thoughts concerning the new guild charter with some of you and I am very happy about the common consent that we should get away from the old and also rather confusing rank system and that we should have our main focus at networking, helping and inspiring each other and also starting interesting challenges, guild competitions,... , and at going on a journey through the beautiful lands of medieval embroidery :)

...and now some guild information:

Guild Membership Roll:
At the moment we have 35 members and I think that we soon will have more members :)

Guild Badge:
I paid the fee for the registration of our badge at Summer Coronation and now I am waiting for the information concerning the next steps - I will let you know as soon as I get them :)

Guild Charter:
Still in progress.

Dragon's Embroidery Workshop:
If you would like to join the Workshop please don't hesitate to contact me, I am very looking forward to see your work and would really love to send you an invitation for the blog :)

Upcoming Events:
I will soon start my 'Embroidery and Needlework Evenings' in Vienna again and I would love to get to know about your embroidery, needlework or sewing events/evenings/afternoons - regardless if small or big events, please let me know :)

Misc.:
- "Something to keep you warm" Project/Challenge
- "Embroidery Workshop Blog" if you would like to join the Workshop, please don't hesitate to write me an eMail! :)
- A&S 50 Challenge - it would still be great to see more artisans from our beautiful kingdom joining this challenge.

Yours faithfully
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

...some new progress :)

I finished my new dress for Coronation :)

Coronation Newsletter - A&S display / Guild meeting / Queen's basket

Dear gentle Lords and Ladies, members of the Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild!

There is just one week left until coronation and I am very looking forward to see some of you there :)
... and btw. I have some very good news:

1) A&S display / Guild display :
Kingdom A&S Minister Mistress Jaelle invites you all to join and enrich the A&S display at Coronation with your beautiful projects of embroidery, needlework and everything else you would like to show - therefore please bring and show your projects :)
Mistress Jaelle will be very busy during the event therefore I propose that you contact me on friday evening if you want to join the A&S display and I will try to coordinate our part of the A&S display with Mistress Jaelle.

2) Guild meeting at 2 pm :
A big thank you to Lady Jahanara for all her help that made this guild meeting possible - due to a very full schedule we decided to hold the guild meeting at 2pm.
I very apologize to Lord Giano Balestriere that we decided to hold the guild meeting while he will hold his class but it is the best time-frame we could find (after Lady Melisende's class and before my class).
I am very looking forward to see you there and to talk with you about the future of our guild :)

3) Queen's basket:
If you would like to contribute to a queen's basket, please let me know on friday evening :)

...I will be travelling to London on Wednesday afternoon :)

Best regards & yours in service
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

Project Photos

I have the first roundel outline begun! You can see this progress in this photo. As I said in my earlier post the roundels on this hood will tell the story of my husband's SCA career. I am beginning with the very back, as I am working with a new thread and want to work out any glitches before I attempt the designs on the front! Also many of the front, "current", designs are more difficulty so I want to be confident in the technique and and application before attempting those.
You can see the other roundel designs to the right. This is a very poor rendition of these designs, but you get a sense of what they will look like. I am a bit concerned that due to the heraldic nature of these designs and this story, that the hood will look a bit late period, rather than Anglo-Saxon in nature.

I said,previously, that I chose roundels, as you see many roundels in Anglo-Saxon designs. I would appreicate any suggestions that anyone might have to help give these a more Anglo-Saxon feel. I will be using Anglo-Saxon stitches, but I'm not sure this will be enough to bring the design into line with Anglo-Saxon embroidery & designs.
Thanks for all your help and inspiration,

Jahanara

Dragon Needle Embroidery Guild - Newsletter June 2008

Dear honourable Lords and Ladies, gentle members of the "Dragon Needle Embroidery Guild", my dear friends!

June has already started and therefore I am very looking forward to Summer Coronation. I hope to see some of you there to get to know you better and to see some of your work irl :)
I am very happy to tell that I got a positive response from our Kingdom A&S Minister concerning the recently sent semi-annual guild report and therefore I want to thank you all for joining the guild, helping the guild growing and participating in the challenges and our workshop blog - you all really enlighten my live as guild head!
Please keep on showing your lovely work and sharing your great work and talents with others. Please don't forget that every piece of work shown can be a great inspiration for someone other!
...and now some interesting information:

Guild Membership Roll:
I am very happy to announce that we got one new member at the start of June and now have 35members :)

Guild Badge:
The fee for the registration of our badge will be payed at Summer Coronation

Guild Charter:
In progress - I hope that I will be able to put the Guild Charter down on paper at the latest after Summer Coronation in July/August and I really hope that we will have a working basic Guild Charter until the end of the year. I am also very looking forward to talk to all of you who will visit Summer Coronation at our Guild Meeting, where we could discuss your wishes and ideas for the new Guild Charter.

Dragon's Embroidery Workshop:
Many thanks to the contributors of the Dragon's Embroidery Workshop Blog - please keep on posting!
...and once again: If you would like to join the Workshop please don't hesitate to contact me, I am very looking forward to see your work and would really love to send you an invitation for the blog :)

Upcoming Events - Summer Coronation:

1) Guild Meeting: I hope we will find some free time for a guild meeting at Summer Coronation :)
2) Guild Display: I only got little response concerning a guild display and therefore hope that we may show our work at the A&S display.
3) Classes: I will hold my "Klosterstich" class at Summer Coronation :)
4) Queens Basket: If you would like to contribute something for a guild's queens basket, please don't hesitate to contact me - every small gift is welcome :)

Misc.:
- "Something to keep you warm" Project/Challenge
- "Embroidery Workshop Blog" - if you would like to join the Workshop, please don't hesitate to write me an eMail! :)
- A&S 50 Challenge - it would be great to see more artisans from our beautiful kingdom joining this challenge.

Yours faithfully
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - Members

If you do not want your SCA name and/or group to be listed here,
please contact the guild head

New members of the Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - June:

~ added 03.06.2008: ~
35) Himiltrude fan Austrasia (Central)

-> Guild Member-List <-

additional information:
Guild Head: Lady Racaire
Aarnimetsä - region guild head: Lady Eilgri Beccan
Insulae Draconis - region guild head: Lady Jahanarabanu Vivana
(Central (& Nordmark) - region guild head: Lady Racaire)

Yis
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

Greetings and Introduction...

Greetings. I have been with the SCA and Drachenwald for about 2 years now. Before the SCA I mainly did cross-stitch. Now I am enjoying learning new stitches and techniques that are Medieval.

Currently I have the split stitch down pretty well and I'm learning the basic laid couching. The latter I learned to work on Princess Fiona's roundels. The split stitch I learned to make a household badge for my Knight, Sir Gerhardt and then a badge for my friend, Lady Sapphira who is now in Mesopotamia. These badges are my best work to date. I plan to make some more household badges for Sir Gerhardt for all us members and also some PCS awards for the Kingdom. Much smaller than what I've done thus far. These took me too long to mass produce. I finished their borders with a fingerloop braid. It just seemed right and I have since seen other people do the same, so I just need to find documentation now.


I will post a photo of what I've done with Princess Fiona's roundels after I finish another one. I already gave her a few. It's rather embarrassing after seeing Racaire's roundels, to even admit I did any. :-)

Himiltrude