Finally finished – 112 hours of sewing and embroidery and I really hope my friend Ebbi likes the result – I am very pleased with it and even thinking about making a hood with daggings and dagged liripipe for myself *lol*
I already posted about the single steps of this commission:
1.) mounting my embroidery (rolling) frame
2.) my very first try of a padding for embroidery
3.) my very first try of embroidery on top of a padding
4.) more embroidery on top of a padding – “R” progress
5.) more embroidery on top of a padding – “J & R” finished
6.) felt padding for a “medieval jewish wedding ring” metal thread embroidery
7.) “medieval jewish wedding ring” metal thread embroidery progress .1
8.) “medieval jewish wedding ring” metal thread embroidery progress .2
9.) “medieval jewish wedding ring” metal thread embroidery progress .3
10.) “medieval jewish wedding ring” metal thread embroidery finished
11.) Margarets commission – cut-out of the metal thread embroidery
12.) sewing the metal thread embroidery to the new fabric
13.) adding the blue outlines for the applied metal thread embroidery
14.) more embroidery underneath the metal thread embroidery
And now the last photos of the commission – the embroidery/commission is finished! wooohooo!!! 
time needed for the embroidery: 76 hours
I used following materials:
…and I think something as beautiful as this embroidery – indeed I think this is the best embroidery I ever made – also needs a good cover for the shipping and this is how I packed the embroidery:
…and to get sure that it arrives without any harm, I also wrapped it into a plastic bag (to prevent water damage *knock on wood*) and I also wrapped it into an additional thick soft plastic layer and a last layer of packing paper…
Today I got the message that the embroidery arrived – Margaret likes it very much and now it will travel to the US – a patch for a jewish wedding baldachin
Recently an eMail with a question arrived my mailbox:
Was just admiring the pics of your 12th C. dress. Wondering – when you couched the pearls onto the neckline, did you just leave them on the threads they were strung on (i.e., is that strong enough), or did you restring them first?
I’m getting ready to attempt to replicate that red hat with the pearl pelican for a friend’s elevation – you had pictured from a museum trip.
Thanks – love your work!!!
Jaqueline de Molieres
I think that’s a good question for my “Ask Racaire” category – and here my answer:
…what I do depends on following facts:
loose pearls
I have many pearls that aren’t allready fixed on a string and I store them seperated by color and/or size in small boxes. When I need them, I string them on a very strong “Nylbond” thread from the company “COATS” – a very good and long lasting sewing thread – just to be sure that they will where they should be and this is also the thread which I use to sew the string with the pearls to the fabric – I can highly recommend it
All pearls which I used for the 12th century dress were single pearls and I had to string them first…
What else comes to my mind? …just a recommendation for the pearl embroidery – I worked the pearl embroidery with a very high tension, couching the thread with the pearls after every pearl to the fabric – the only thing that I would change the next time - a little bit less tension. Why? …to reduce the wavy parts of the embroidery which result of the high tension and even couching it a second time I just could reduce this effect a little because the tension of the pearl thread is too high…
…and here an example for pearl embroidery with less tension (still worked with a rather high tension but not as much as for the 12th century dress)…
pearls on a string
…is the thread strong and long enough? Take a look at the thread and let your feeling decide – some pearls are stringed on two threads and if the threads look good enough and are as long as I need them, I use them like they are – here an example, this small pearls were strung on two threads which looked very good and I had the feeling that I could trust them:
I normally “just” open one of the knots which holds the pearls in place and carefully fix the end of the thread inside the fabric and continue like I would with any other… be sure to leave some space between the beginning and the first pearls to give yourself some room to work with the pearls… as soon as you finished your circle,… or whatever… open the other knot and give yourself as much thread as you need to properly fix the end of the thread. Collect the ‘leftovers’ and if the threads of the remaining pearls are too short, you can restring them anyway…
I hope I could answer your question successfully
I am very happy that you love my work and I wish you many fun for your hat project with the pelican
Today I was asked for more information about this painting and here we are:
Hans Maler
von 1500 – 1520 in Ulm nachweisbar (verifiable in Ulm/Germany)
Bildnis der Maria Welzer (portrait of …)
1524 datiert (dated)
Tempera auf Holz (tempera on wood)
…and here a detail photo of the lovely pearl embroidery of her hat – such a beautiful pelican:
…btw. this embroidery reminds me on another pearl embroider which I found on display at the KHM collection Neue Burg – “Hofjagd- u. Rüstkammer” – I think this gives a very good example how this embroidery could have looked like in real:
Geweihter Hut (holy? hood of)
Erzherzog Ferdinand II (archduke…)
(1529-1595)
Italienisch, 1567 (italian)
…and the best of all – according to the information given by the museum – this hood was made “just” about 43 years after the portrait!
…and here the lovley period embroidery goodies found at the “Gemäldegalerie der bildenden Künste Wien” – some of my favourite pictures (for the complete paintings please visit my Flickr account):
…this could be embroidered or woven:
…maybe woven and/or embroidered:
…lovely pearl embroidery:
You can find all photos in my new folder at Flickr: “Austria, Vienna – Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien“
…my mind started working at this project again – imagination is the key and a good collection of photos of medieval purses helps also a little 
I found a painted picture with a trapezoidal purse with “Fransen” (fringes) at the bottom – see the Manesse Liederhandschrift ‘Herr Dietmar von Ast’, the purse on the right – and therefore I am thinking about to add some colored fringes at the bottom like the one found at the bottom of the book pouch on display at the Schloss Gottorf and which technique I described here: …my opinion on the stitches to create this trim… Raca’s 5cents
btw. with the help of Master Giano, who found the book “Webereien und Stickereien des Mittelalters”
– I could support my guess of this technique (page 116 – “Z 30. Fransen.”)
You can find this kind of colored fringes also as a border decoration for big Klosterstich wallhangings (Teppich: Die Wurzel Jesse, Kloster Lüne, dated 1503, vollendet 1505), Klosterstich “Banklaken” (Banklaken des heiligen Bartholomäus, Kloster Lüne, dated 1492), even for woven “Banklaken” (Pelikan-Banklaken, Kloster Lüne, 1500), cross-stitch “Fürleger” (Kloster Lüne, about 1500) …take a look into the small booklet Bildstickereien des Mittelalters in Kloster Lüne. Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher
a very small but also a great book!
I also think about adding a yellow border of yellow wool or silk and to embroider “Drachenwald” – above the embroidery section – and “We have Dragons” underneath the embroidery section… and also to add some small pearl embroidery at the border because I found a photo of a pouch with lovley small pearl (maybe glass bead) embroidery looking like small blossoms…
soooooo many ideas… soon you will see which of this ideas I will realise
Finally, I finished it
