archer's shirt- polychrome blackwork, cotton on cotton (originally published 13 April, 2008)
Now Himself needed something I'd embroidered. I still hadn't the vaguest idea about research, or what was historically accurate, and so I took liberties...
By this time we'd left So Cal and the Ren Faire behind; I'd met some SCA folks, but alas this was early days and a lot of our "history" came from D&D books. The nearest thing to linen available was cotton onasberg from Walmart; the closest thing to silk was DMC cotton floss.
Himself is an archer, so I set out to make him a comfortable and appropriate shirt for SCA archery. I began with a very basic t-tunic shape, slightly flared toward the hem, close-fitting sleeves. I drew the shape on the fabric (all one piece, with lower sleeves added) and started embroidering - I chose a simple acorn meander from Erica Wilson (which was still my only reference, sigh...) chose some colors (did I mention I hadn't really done any research?) and happily began to embroider. The meander stacked beautifully, the colors made a kinda cool optical illusion, and I assembled the garment with hand-sewn French seams. Himself was thrilled with it, many kindly folks complemented the work, and he still wears it today.
Now Himself needed something I'd embroidered. I still hadn't the vaguest idea about research, or what was historically accurate, and so I took liberties...
By this time we'd left So Cal and the Ren Faire behind; I'd met some SCA folks, but alas this was early days and a lot of our "history" came from D&D books. The nearest thing to linen available was cotton onasberg from Walmart; the closest thing to silk was DMC cotton floss.
Himself is an archer, so I set out to make him a comfortable and appropriate shirt for SCA archery. I began with a very basic t-tunic shape, slightly flared toward the hem, close-fitting sleeves. I drew the shape on the fabric (all one piece, with lower sleeves added) and started embroidering - I chose a simple acorn meander from Erica Wilson (which was still my only reference, sigh...) chose some colors (did I mention I hadn't really done any research?) and happily began to embroider. The meander stacked beautifully, the colors made a kinda cool optical illusion, and I assembled the garment with hand-sewn French seams. Himself was thrilled with it, many kindly folks complemented the work, and he still wears it today.
closeup of the yoke. Not historically accurate, but I like the effect - 3 colors of floss, a simple acorn border pattern.
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