More practising on miniatures.

I'm trying more miniatures. Here is one and a half socks. Embroidery needles with polymer clay handles did not work very well, so I ended up buying the finest knitting needles I could easily find (size 1,5). The knitting went quite well, but I still need finer needles. I'll use these untill I can find better ones.

The miniature needles are made of polymer clay in a hurry. They need sharper points. Now they just look like spaghetti. Actually spaghetti might be good for this, if it can be sharpened. Polymer clay does not break as easily though.

The unfinished sock is fixed with glue, so that the needles won't slip away. The fifth needle can be removed. The yard ball is fixed as well.

Now I need to get more colours. The yarn is ment to be used for fixing well worn old knitware. It was the only one I could find that's thin enough and still looks like knitting yarn. Unfortunately there is not much colour choises available.

Dollshouse miniature embroideries

I wanted to try making miniature textiles. This is my first try. I made three small embroideries and made them look like they would still be on emboidery hoops.

A heart

A flower
And a duck

I tried cross stitch first, as it is easy. Any suggestions what to try next? I have an idea about miniature knitting, but I have to make the knitting needles first. I'll use a pair of bigger embroidery needles and make handles for them out of polymer clay. I'll put the embroideries on E-bay to see if anyone is willing to pay for them and how much that would be. Then I just might start doing more of these.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol VI

And here we are. With the sixth one. This time the Kingdom coat of arms, twice the size of the previous ones, so I was able to play a little with the details.

Here we go, first step: Transfer the picture on the fabric.

The next step: Embroider the thing.

Step three: Try not to think of the other side.

The stretching of the fabric made the picture bigger than what I had drawn, hence the black stripes outside of the embroidery. I'll take a break with the wall hanging project and do some other things for now. I'll jump back onboard if I'm needed again.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol V

And the next one. The Shire of Aventiure. Made on linen, with linen and cotton threads. Techniques include aplique, intarsia and embroidery with split stitch. I've never done the first two techniques before, so I'm not sure if they are exactly as they should, but it works nevertheless.

And the back side:

The traces of yellow on the second picture are left over fibers of a thread I used to help me keep the stars on place during the work.

I've noticed that my camera has started to leave a grey spot in the pictures. Not nice.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol IV

And another. I'm getting quite boring.

The Canton of Kaarnemaa. Linen and cotton, split stitch and Klosterstich.

And the back side:
I desided to try Klosterstich, since I had not tried it before. It used noticeably less thread than other techniques I had used for the other patches. I run out of black thread in the middle of the bird. You can notice it, if you know it, but othervice one black is like another. It doesn't matter, but it bothers me nonetheless. Embroideries are the only things with which I tend to be a pain in the butt perfectionist. That is also why I make so small stitches. I'm incapable of making them bigger. I have tried...

Now what to do next? I'll think about it. I have a plan, though. I'll try if it works first.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol III

And here is the Canton of Torna. Linen and cotton, split stitch and laid work (or refilsaum or bayeux stitch or what ever you happen to call it. We need a Stitch Dictionary! An idea for a guild project?).

I'll move just a little southwards on the map and make the coat of arms of Kaarnemaa next. Kaarnemaa was my home when I started my SCA hobby in 1993. Oh that time when we were happy to have a polyester garb, because then we would at least HAVE a garb, or to eat with a wooden spoon instead of a metal one, and when we used novels as our reference literature. Happy days, they were.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol II

Another one for the Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging. Canton of Unikankare. The place and it's people mean a lot to me.

Linen and cotton, split stitch and laid work. I love the way that tower turned out to be. I should have done the "tiles" more even though. I'll tackle Torna next. That is one place I have feelings for, and I've had my best SCA moment this far while at an event in Torna. Nope, not at a court, in the kitchen!

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol I

Since I got my embroidery gear on full speed, I made my first contribution to the Kingdom Coats of Arms Wall Hanging Project. This is the Shire of Ma'ale Giborim. I love this coat of arms. It is very beautiful. This one took me three days to make. I had a lot of time on my hands, because of Easter and one kid being ill, and therefore we stayed inside the whole holiday. Linen and cotton, split stitch and laid work, 10x10cm:

Resistance is futile, they will be assimilated.

I had made a tunic for my son. He needs one this summer, when we will take him to his first SCA event. I have not embroidered this myself. I had once bought an old dress from a small shop in the old town of Jerusalem, and since it was now too small for me, I made it to a child sized tunic and a cloak. It looks now a hundred times better than when it was a dress. It's red cotton cross stitch on thick dark blue polyester fabric. (Click the pictures to make them bigger.)

When my son had the tunic, I had to do something for my daughter as well! She has the same reason to need a new SCA garb. So one sunday morning I decided to embroider something for her. It became a collar that can be sewn to what ever dress I end up making for her, and it can be resewn to new dresses when she grows. She picked the flower colours herself! 12 days later I can now proudly present this one. Cotton, polyested, what ever threads, stem stitch and laid work on white cotton (old bed linen).

And some details, front and back:

This was very fun to make. I had not done something this free for ages! I just made up the pattern as I went, and used a bag of left overs and flea market threads. And she loves it! Perhaps I'll make other decorations to match this in the future, maybe on the sleeves?