Caulling

After Beth let me wear her beauteous caul at our recent VA Faire trip, I knew I had to have one of my own. So as to adhere to our unwritten "similar but different" costuming rule, I have been searching for a cool (but simple) blackwork design that is not a grid. I don't have much time before I need to wear this (2 weeks in fact, but who's counting), so I want something simple that I can gussy up "later". I did my best at freehanding the swirling stems from this hood (at the V&A museum, pic taken from Gostelow's Blackwork)


I figure I can just embroider the swirls for now, and fill them in when time permits. I'm actually thinking that I'll fill them in with a peapod design, since I've been drawn to ye olde peapods for quite some time! Here is an example, though I think I'll probably do only 1-2 peapods with more fancy stuff instead of 3 "simple" ones:


jacket embroidery in maidstone museum, this pic also from Gostelow's Blackwork

So, here is my anticipated swirly design (pattern on left, beginnings of my work on right). I'm going with a simple Holbein stitch on the swirls (I originally wanted to do stem, but habits are hard to break). I'll figure out some peas to fill it in later (likey over the winter?):

caul design