Silky Goodness

I've been eyeing silk embroidery threads for sometime. Laren provided me with some very good advice, and I ended up purchasing several bundles of threads from an ebay seller for a reasonable price. I couldn't be more thrilled with how beautiful they are:


Taste the Rainbow!

The colors are beautiful, and the luster of the threads when I unwrapped them made very, VERY happy. The texture isn't what I expected (but I've never worked with silk before)--it’s easily snagged. I'm gonna have to give myself a good manicure/lotioning so my hangnails don't catch on it quite so easily ;)

I will say that the green bundle furthest to the left is a lot brighter than I anticipated, so I'm not sure how well it'll fit into my scheme--maybe as some highlights here and there. And I do wish I'd picked up a bundle of black (duh), but it completely slipped my mind.
My favorite is the orangey pinks on the right (me, like orange?! there's a surprise). Anywho, I know this is certainly not enough thread to do my whole crazy embroidered gown, but it’s a start--I wanted to make sure I liked them before buying too much. :)

Thanks for the recommendation, Laren!

An Overdue Thank You

Last month, I recieved an absolutely splendid package from a fellow online costumer, Adele. (I hope you don't mind a public thank you!). Some of you may be familiar with her from the many online costuming groups she participates in, and her work is always lovely. She was very generous to offer me some goldworking materials from Berlin Embroidery when I expressed interest in various embroidery projects.

You can see all of the golden gifts below. The bottom-most one is gold metal. The best way I can describe it (since the picture didn't get much detail) is that its very thin gold wire coiled very tightly into a spring of "thread". Its quite heavy, and really beautiful. I very much appreicate having the chance to work with it so I can decide whether or not to go the "real gold" route for my future embroidery/goldwork projects. She included extra wonderfulness in the form of gold lace trim and two different gold (non metal) threads. I kinda feel like Scrooge MacDuck--anyone care for a swim? ;)


goldwork/trim

And, as if offering me precious metals were not kind enough, she decided to include some leftover material from one of her latest costuming projects, a jacobean style jacket. Here is an extant example of one, it was Margaret Laton's, and Adele's version is a very close and impressive copy of it.

The absolutely stunning fabric is here, alond with the beautiful card and yummy smelling lavender sachet from the package. I am pretty certain that there is enough fabric here for me to make a very similar jacket, and I'm absolutley thrilled by the prospect:

jacobean jacket fabric
I think I even have the wool I'd like to use as the skirt/kirtle for the complete outfit. My goal is to use September to make the entire outfit and wear it to festival the last weekend of the month. Hope I can do it!

But wait, there's more. Oh yes, Adele is not simply generous, she is generous to extremes! She also included some crosswoven gold/red silk, which comes off as a firey orange. And since orange is one of my favorite costuming colors, I, of course, love it! Best part? Four of the pieces are already cut out sleeve patterns! Something soon will definitely have orange lined sleeves. :)

orange silk

Adele--thank you so much, I haven't forgotten about you, and I will find a way to return your generosity! I'm wishing you oodles of good karma in the meantime.