A short post for once!
Yesterday I cut out the pieces from my Spanish Renaissance dress.
Hey pattern companies! Everyone hates these stupid tissue things! Please observe Truly Victorian and use actual paper.
I decided it made the most sense to do the “blackwork” embroidery before sewing everything together. Blackwork is in quotes as I am not using black and I was informed by a rather entitled and slightly obnoxious lady at the shop that it’s only true blackwork if both sides are the same. I can’t be bothered to do that and it was slow enough as is.
I selected the following pattern from Blackwork Made Easy as it is very geometric and I like how it tesselates.
I measured 1/2″ for seam allowance, added a bit for safety, and sewed a thread along a single line of the fabric to the edge.
The bottom of the front piece is slightly curved but the blackwork must go straight across so I had to measure it from the center.
Four episodes of The Great British Bake-Off later, I had this.
And that’s a 6″ embroidery hoop.
So…. This is going to take a while. I’m ok with that– it looks great!– but as a result I’m going to machine sew the straight seams. Two years ago I was very sick and the only crafting I could do was basic handsewing and spinning and I sewed enough long seams to last me the rest of my life.
Still trying to decide how to carry the embroidery from the front to the back panels…. And I might do a larger motif at the bust center-front, just for a little more intricacy with the plain fabric.
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