Stitching....

 

 And Charting...

It may not Surprise you, Dear Readers, to find out that I had to make changes to the headdress of the Maiden I was stitching from the Janet Granger Kit. Above, you can see my progress, so far a faithful rendition of the kit design! But you may also remember that I had altered the headdresses of the first kit I had stitched a year or so ago. The kit designs just don't quite capture for me the extreme "Medieval" nature of women's head-wear in that era. 

Here you can see the first "Tapestry" I stitched,

 and the lady on the left has a much elaborated

 veil from the one in the original design.

In order to practice the art of charting a stitching design,

 I made a rendition of the changes I wanted to make

 on this lady's headdress.

 I started by drawing the parts of the kit I would use,

 so the scale would be correct, and then drew the changes.

This way I could see how my version would look

 before I began stitching!

Here the stitching is begun....

Here the veil has been begun....

And here it is completed.

I wanted to keep the colors mostly as the kit placed them,

 with the veil being blue rather than the whites

 I had added into the first tapestry.

And because I was planning to add another

 entire figure to the Tapestry, 

I needed to get a sense of the colors and balance of this addition.

My inspiration is the lady in this RL Tapestry, 

one of the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries.

The era and the colors were perfect.

The scale of my print-out is too small, 

but you can get an idea of what I am aiming for!

Here you can see I have begun the charting of the Lady,

 with a few adjustments to colors in her headdress.

I am trying to add a minimum of new thread colors to the kit design!

The subtleties of the Devonshire Tapestry just can't be rendered 

in this small scale without a higher count fabric.

 So I am working with what we have!

And at a certain point, I just had to start!

I carefully counted stitches to get the 

face and headdress placed correctly...

And because I am still sort of "designing as I go"

I was stitching with three or four threads.... 

leaving the ends dangling while I made sure

 the positioning worked well....

Working out the "blurry parts" in my chart 

as I got to each poorly defined "square" in my drawing!

And skipping past the parts I was unsure about....

(Which is most of the veil details....)

And adding the parts I am sure about first...

The sleeves....

And then just jumping in to the veil

 and trying to make it look a little bit "transparent"...

 but gold at the same time....

The effect will hopefully be more apparent

 when the background has been added.

And adding the little dog....!

And with the other Tapestry Ladies beside it....

to show the "Procession" they seem to make!

But I know you will not be surprised, Dear Readers,

 that I have yet to begin to chart the gown!

It is a complicated pattern

 and I might have to convert it to solid colors

 instead of the glorious brocade

 of the Devonshire Lady's gown.

I have a long way to go,

 but I am having a great deal of fun

Charting and Stitching this design!

Stitching....

 

 

And More Stitching....

About the only thing I accomplished this week, Dear Readers, was more stitching on the Medieval Ladies Tapestry. You saw last week that I had changed the headdress of the Lady on the left to look more Medieval. The Middle Ages are considered to be the years between 500 AD and 1500 AD, so there were more than a few centuries of Fashion to consider. But Tapestries as we know them - large woven "pictures" for hanging on the walls - were only begun around 1400AD. That reduces the clothing options quite a bit, but it includes years of very "outlandish" headgear for both men and women. For most of this century women covered their hair unless they were bathing, or unless they were young maidens. As with all things, generalizations are dangerous, but more often than not the women portrayed in Medieval art wore "headdresses" often covered with a "coif" or veil of linen. 

Here is an example of a Medieval illumination 

depicting feasting nobles, dated around 1470.

You can see the variety and elaborate nature of the head coverings.

 

 

All of this is by way of saying I was still not satisfied

 with the "hairstyle" of the Lady on the right, in my Medieval Tapestry.

I was hoping I could "unstitch" some of her hair

 and maybe convert it to a "turban" style.

I spent quite a while trying to undo the hair

 and gave up before I had ruined everything.

I decided instead to just add the "veil" 

and a narrow band around her crown.

Of course, it is nearly impossible to see the pale gray

 of the "veil" against the white unstitched cloth.

It will really only show when I stitch the background.

And then because I was getting carried away 

with inventing details, Dear Readers,

 I wanted to add something to the draped skirt she is holding.

Why would she be holding it thus?

Perhaps she is gathering blossoms?

Of course she is gathering blossoms!

Her Mother (in a more old fashioned headdress)

 is handing her some flowers...

She, young Lady of Modern persuasion and barely covered hair...

 is saying she has enough already...

Her skirt is full!

And to make these dots look like blossoms, 

I had to add the green of the leaves...

First the darker green and then the pale green.

I know, you can barely tell!

But I did want to see how the colors would all look together.

And here I am moving on with the stitching

 the pale highlights on the skirts...

I think it is looking more like I wanted it to.

And that's all I did, Dear Readers....

Stitching and More Stitching!