...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

New Project Planning

Although I have not finished my second sleeve yet, my husband has begged for a second embroidered hood, one that is light weight and can be worn more often. There are a lot of roundels used in Anglo-Saxon art. Anglo-Saxon art also uses stories and myths in it's iconography. I, therefore, decided that I would embroider a series of roundels on the hood that will "tell the story" of Odo's SCA career. I think the overall effect may be a bit later period in look, but will be completely done in Anglo-Saxon stitches.

The roundels will include Odo's heraldry, the Drachenwald populace badge, the ID sun, our household badge, the household champion's symbol (as he won that years ago and retains the right to use the symbol), the Huscarl badge, the Silverguard and the populace badge of our previous Kingdom (which will go in the center of the back to show his past).

I have considered adding an Anglo-Saxon style "border" around each roundel to make them look more Anglo-Saxon and a bit less like a series of late period badges. I would appreciate any ideas or comments on this idea! It will be some time before I get enough progress to post.

Namaste,
Jahanara

Report of Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - Drachenwald

Report of Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - Drachenwald

2nd report by Reporter / guild head:
Lady Racaire

Time Period:
15.November 2007 - 15.May 2008

Members:
based on the Membership Guild roll started at 18.October 2007:
We have a total of 34 official members:
1) Racaire (Central - guild head)
2) Rakonczay Gergely (Aarnimetsä)
3) Thomas Paumer (Central)
4) Katherina Mornewegh (Central)
5) Lia de Thornegge (Scandinavia)
6) Edith of Hedingham (Crown Principality of Insulae Draconis
7) Baroness Mary Verch Thomas (Crown Principality of Insulae Draconis)
8) Hudd de Peth (Kingdom of the Outlands)
9) Johanna aff Hucka (Aarnimetsä)
10) Eva Grelsdottir (Aarnimetsä)
11) Arnulf der Zeilner (Central)
12) Lady Jane Devereux (Crown Principality of Insulae Draconis)
13) Katharina Woinovich (Central)
14) Lady Eilgri Beccan (Aarnimetsä - Aarnimetsä region guild head)
15) Viscountess Helwig Ulfsdotter (Scandinavia)
16) Katharina von Owe (Central)
17) Sileas von Biuira (Central)
18) Lady Ælfwynne of Eoforwic (Nordmark)
19) Renika Rikardsdottir (Nordmark)
20) Mistress Anya Mstyslavyaya (Central)
21) Alenn von Horn (Central)
22) Halfdan von Veneta (Central)
23) Anna de Byxe (Nordmark)
24) Hedwig von Simmaningen (Central)
25) Sahra (Aarnimetsä)
26) Sinikka (Aarnimetsä)
27) Myfanwy Methig (Aarnimetsä)
28) Rixende of Aarnimetsä (Aarnimetsä)
29) Jahanarabanu Vivana (Insulae Draconis - Insulae Draconis region guild head)
30) Ida Järvinen (Aarnimetsä)
31) Lady Melisende Fitzwalter (Insulae Draconis)
32) Lady Siubhan inghean Fhearghuis (Insulae Draconis)
33) Katarina von Danzig (Insulae Draconis)
34) Mave (Central)

officers:
Guild Head: Racaire
Aarnimetsä - region guild head: Eilgri Beccan
Central - region guild head: Racaire
Insulae Draconis - region guild head: Jahanarabanu Vivana
Nordmark - region guild head: Racaire (until a region guild head will be chosen)
South - region guild head: none (no members in this region by now)

planed guild head tasks for the next half year:
* still working at the restart of the embroidery guild
* rework of the guild charter
* collecting ideas, pictures, handouts,... for theguild homepage
* registration of the guild badge at coronation
* first official guild meeting at coronation

planed guild meetings:
* first official guild meeting at coronation in Insulae Draconis
called up and conducted by guild head Racaire, initiated by
regional guild head Jahanarabanu Vivana


planed projects / projects in progress:
Wallhanging Project/Challenge: of Mistress Anya Mstyslavyaya and Lady Racaire still in progress - two participants - overdue because of other projects, challenges and commissions
Something to keep you warm Project/Challenge: still in progress - finish date: September 2008 - 14 participants
A&S50 challenge: SCA-wide challenge - finish date: celebration of the 50th year (in 2015) of the Society for Creative Anachronism - participants: Racaire & Jahanarabanu Vivana
http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/: A place for the embroiderers of Drachenwald to show their own work & projects, ask questions, get answers and enjoy each other's company - no finish date - possibility to display finished projects or projects in progress

A list of persons who are willing to share theirknowledge, answer toarts and sciences related questions and help other people in their interest area:
Guild Head: Racaire
Aarnimetsä - region guild head: Eilgri Beccan
Insulae Draconis - region guild head: Jahanarabanu Vivana

Yours in Service
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

A&S 50 challenge

Summery of my A&S 50 challenge progress :)

...some new progress :)

...here is my latest embroidery progress - 6 designs for the coronation dress for our gentle princess Fiona :)

Embroidery - a winning concept.

Hello all, it's been a while since my last entry, mostly because I have not done any new embroidery. However, I thought I should post a report on a success I had at Double Wars.

Meisterinne Katheryn asked me in the middle of the week to enter the A&S competition with my apron, which I had out at the time to show off, and I agreed. My documentation was not exhaustive or very long, so I quote it here:

ITEM: Embroidery, 16th Century on an apron. PLACE: Italy.
Documentation:
The embroidey on this apron is done in madder dyed silk thread on linen. The pattern is taken from the facsimile of a 1561 pattern book by Giovanni Ostavus(*) and the stitch is long-armed cross stitch(**) which was commonly used in the period(#).
This kind of counted embroidery was commonly applied to aprons, shift, smocks and shirts. Black and red were the most common colours, being very effectful against white linen. Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlockd lists an apron with "carnacion in graine silke"(##) - being a red colour. In Moda a Firenze a photo fo a detail of a painting by Alessandro Allori shows an apron with embroidery done in black(¤).

* La vera perfezione del disegno di Giovanni Ostavus, 1561. Available on-line at the University of Arizona.
**, # Embroideries at Hardwick Hall, a catalogue. Levey, Santina M.
(Stitch diagram drawing here).
## Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlockd. Arnold, Janed. Page 225.
¤ Moda a Firenze. Orsina Landini, Roberta & Niccoli, Bruna. Page 130.

I had no expectations, so when they called my name in court as the winner of the competition it was a complete surprise. But there you go, embroidery can be a winning concept. :)

Dragon Needle Embroidery Guild - Newsletter May 2008

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

Less than two months are left until the Summer Coronation event - I am very looking forward to this event and I hope to see some of you there to get to know you better. ...and again there are some very interesting news concerning the kingdom overall "A&S 50" challenge, our Guild Meeting & Guild Display & Classes at Summer Coronation,... therefore again a small summery of all Guild News:

Guild Membership Roll:
No new members joined during April - we have still 34 members :)

Guild Badge:
The fee for the registration of our badge will be payed at Summer Coronation by myself and I hope that I will have a layout for our Badge available soon for you :)

Guild Charter:
In progress - I am very sorry that I still don't have news concerning a new guild charter but I am still very occupied with a lot of different challenges, projects and also with my real life and my rather new job - I am very sorry for this delay and therefore I ask for your understanding. I hope that I will be able to put the Guild Charter down on paper soon (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:
A big "thank you" for every photo of your beautiful work and of your projects in progress that were posted on the Dragon's Embroidery Workshop in April; therefore many thanks to the contributors of the Dragon's Embroidery Workshop Blog - please keep on posting! ...and once again: for all who would like to join the Workshop but haven't dared to show their work till now - 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 - http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com :)

Upcoming Events - Summer Coronation:

1) Guild Meeting: First I would love to get to know each of you better and second I would like to talk with you about the Guild Charter, the next project/challenge after the "Something to keep you warm project" started by Mistress Anya and myself, the A&S 50 challenge - I would really love to see more of the great artisans of our beautiful Kingdom involved in this challenge :) ) and last but not least - third I would also love to see some of your great work in real :D and therefore I would also like to mention my next "point":

2) Guild Display: For everyone who would like to show work in progress or finished projects (or who can't or don't want to join the A&S challenge for some reason) I would ask you to join me and display your work at the "Guild Display" - please tell me if you would like to join this Guild Display because I would like to give the coordiators of the event some facts (because I hope that more than one person - me ;) - wants to display something and that we will need some free space at one or more tables) - I hope we will be able to cooperate with the A&S display in some way :)

3) Classes: Maybe some of you know that I will hold two classes at Summer Coronation (my Klosterstich & Refilsaum classes) and besides that I hope that some people will attend my classes, I would love to attend one or two classes also by myself and therefore I hope that all of you who would like to hold a class have allready contacted Lady Jahanarabanu Vivana and if there are some members out there who would like to teach something (like smocking, blackwork, goldwork, beadwork, ...) and haven't written an eMail to Lady Jahanarabanu Vivana till now - please do so! Please share your enthusiasm for your favourite techniques with others - please keep on to inspire others with your work and also with your classes! (If someone of you would like to hold a class and has never done a class before - please tell me, because I would love to attend your class and help you if you like, or to give you some extra encouragement if needed :) )

4) Queens Basket: A very talented lady and good friend of mine who does beautiful embroidery and needlework by herself will become Queen at this Summer Coronation event - Lady Fiona Wiggins - but regardless to this facts the Queens Basket was always a matter of importance for me since I got my very first small precious gift from my very first queen at my very first SCA-event and get to know about what the Queens Basket is. I would love to surprise the new queen with some gifts from our Guild and the talented hands of the great artisans of our Kingdom and therefore I would ask you if you would also like to provide small gifts for the Queens Basket - please contact me if you would like to provide something - I am very looking forward to every small gift you can and want to provide ( ...and I think that the gift has not to be only something embroidered - every small gift is welcome :)

Misc.
..and once again: If you would like to participate in the "Something to keep you warm" Project/Challenge of Mistress Anya and me - there are still some months left for starting and completing a small project! Really! :) ...and if you would like to join the Embroidery Workshop Blog or know someone who would like to join the Guild - please don't hesitate to write me an eMail! :) Furthermore I would like to draw your attention once again to the A&S 50 Challenge - it would be really great to see more artisans from our beautiful kingdom joining this challenge.

Yours faithfully
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head

Sahra´s new hood

Sahra is a member of Aarnimetsä Embroidery Guild, and she has made a marvellous hood. I only helped with posting ;) - Eilgri

Sahra:

I had a small piece of nicecoloured wool, so I made a hood embroidered with few decorations.

Two horses are originally from a piece of whalebone that was used to iron seems, the original piece is in National Museum in London (I think).

I drew the model on silkpaper and sow it on fabric using thin white thread. Then I did the embroidering and took the white thread away.

ALL the thread in decorations is thin wool, dyed with plants from Finnish nature! No, not me, I know an old lady who was a biology teacher and has a private arboretum... she makes wonderful colours!

In horses I tried the Bayeux tapestry´s stich for the first time, as you can see...

Still, I´m pleased to present this work to you, the hood looks actually very nice : )

And of course the hood is all handmade.

Yours

Sahra, Aarnimetsä

More Progress

I've finally completed one border! I now need to draw in the ivy, fill the middle and then do the second border! I had hoped to have this finished for Viceroy Tourney, which is about a month away. I also need to get some rigid heddle weaving done for prizes for the A&S Competitions at Viceroy. I seriously doubt that I will be able to get both projects done in time! I still have a bit of hope though. I am very pleased with how this is turning out so far. I think it will be a very good representation of my work!

Sleeve Progress

Well I am still working on the second sleeve, for the blue linen dress! I have one complete row of red swirls done and two yellow swirls completed, with the third one nearly complete. The red swirls went really quickly as I completed approximately two per night over the course of two weeks, obviously I had to take a few nights off! Once the red were finished, I quickly started on the yellow. However almost a month has passed between finishing the first yellow swirl and now! The good news is that I did finish the third swirl before I left on vacation.
I don't have a picture at this time, but it's nice to be able to at least announce a bit of progress! It's a good thing I don't feel compelled to keep up with Racaire and Siubhan!