Fanciful Flowers

Per fess indented
flory at the points
sable and argent 

My husband and I have been entering Middle Kingdom Crown Tournaments for about the last five years. I've traditionally dressed in his heraldic colors (black and gold) which can lead one to feel like a marshal, however this year I decided I wanted to spice things up and dress in my own!

For the average bear a change from black and gold to black and white isn't much, however the color scheme in the Midrealm is all but synonymous with a household I am not a member of! And the line of division on my heraldry is striking, but exceptionally daunting to recreate - the dance, or dancetty was fitting at the time of heraldic inception as I was heavily involved in the dance community and my name in the Society is from Florence, Italy whose heraldic identifier was an exceptionally fancy fleur-de-lys! 

I chose to attempt the line of division using wool and used the familiar Londinium Hood pattern. I changed it up a little; instead of the inverted gore installation (Opus Elenae) I chose to try the method as described by Morgan Donner in the hood video linked below around minute marker 14:15. The gist being you lay the right side of the gore under the basted edge of the hood. It's hard to explain, see video for details! Ultimately, I found the Donner method of construction to be quick and easy to do, especially with with hand sewing.

After the hood was constructed, I went back and measured the average width of the dags from the expansion pack and created my own dance dag for the zig zag, which was about 4 inches in width. Prior to cutting, I added a the natural Pendleton wool of a similar drape underneath, then tacked it all down with an inverted hem stitch. Then I proceeded to add the laser cut fleur-de-lis tips in position with a similar stitch to keep them in place.

Resources:

• Morgan Donner Hood Video (14:45)
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Video
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Pattern
• Opus Elenae Londinium Dagging Expansion

Inspiration doodle.

A heraldic dance.

Fleur-de-lis tips.

Flory at the points!

Finished project!

Magenta Madness

Midrealm Coronation.

Dame Roana and I took a walk near the end of Pennsic to Royal Blue Traders to source some wool for cool weather projects. Having just finished the purple and teal hood, I decided to try my luck at another,  but one with a little more sparkle to it. What I found however was (in retrospect) a light weight magenta wool that existed somewhere between eye blindingly red and pink, thus I was sold! 

I acquired a yard and a half of the wool then created a classic 14th century dagged hood, courtesy of Opus Elenae's base pattern paired with the dags expansion. After some back and forth thinking each dag would be turned into a strawberry, I opted to let this bold and beautiful wool stand on its own, especially after adding the  printed diamond weave cotton as the lining.

Sir Bran was kind enough to take a picture (or three) of its premier at Midrealm Coronation. Here it is paired with a charcoal bycocket adorned with peacock feathers, green pin on sleeves, and the pewter plaque belt created by Crispin.

Resources:

• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Video
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Pattern
• Opus Elenae Londinium Dagging Expansion

Inking the dags.

Instagram teaser!

The dagged hood is finished!

Grapes Ahoy

A few months back, the Barony of Cleftlands had a yard sale in which I scored roughly a yard and a half of a lovely deep purple lightweight wool from a dear friend who said she thought I would love it and it would make a beautiful hood. Challenge accepted!

I washed the wool to felt it more then quickly transformed it into a 14th century hood. After a quick throw over my shoulders, it was confirmed that I would need to line it, but with what color? I parsed through several linen candidates and settled upon a moody dark teal color that really popped when paired together. 

The color combination inspired my aubergine needle felted hat.

Resources:

• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Video
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Pattern

The finished hood.

The hood and hat.