Just a quick note to let everyone know they can see some great photos of clothing from the Colonial Williamsburg collection online now.
What's even better, there is going to be an online exhibit of their reproduction clothing as well.
I am very pleased that I decided to add an extra day to my Williamsburg visit next week. I haven't had a good look at the Colonial Williamsburg textile collection in a while!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Coif progress and travels
This is the latest coif photo - as of January 10, 2011. I'm working on stitching the motifs that don't have instruction sheets yet. I've been alternating between writing about the coif here and on the Gentle Pursuits blog, but since I just posted there about our upcoming events, I thought I'd cover the coif here - just to keep you all on your toes.So here is the borage. I started doing this flower in a very dark blue - scroll down on this post to see what we had decided on. A strange thing happened as I started stitching the dark blue on the coif. It looked awful! So I hunted around and found an Embroidery Motif wiki with just what I needed. It was created by a couple of bloggers I follow - quite a coincidence! It was a great help and I was able to find a really nice borage. However there are only 2 whole ones on the coif, so only one other person will have the fun of stitching a whole one.
The Mystery flower also needed to be stitched. I've done this one several times, so it was easy.
The pomegranate is not complete, but the rest of the filling and the bits at the top will be gold, so this is it so far.
Finally, the carnation. This was another problem. When the silks came, the new dye lot of the pink was totally different than what I had practiced with, but I thought I'd just work with it, since there was no way of knowing if I could get the old dye lot. I was also unhappy with the large block of solid colour in the center section, and since most of the motif photos showed a colour change I decided to do that. I couldn't find any two pinks in the selection I had that worked together well and so I used a mid-range pink and white.
When I first looked at this I thought it was too bold or something. But strangely, as I've been stitching the motifs around it, it is looking more like it belongs. There are only two other whole carnations on the coif, so I think it will be fine. But I'm stitching a few other things around it, including some leaves, just to be sure.
The Mystery flower also needed to be stitched. I've done this one several times, so it was easy.
The pomegranate is not complete, but the rest of the filling and the bits at the top will be gold, so this is it so far. 
Finally, the carnation. This was another problem. When the silks came, the new dye lot of the pink was totally different than what I had practiced with, but I thought I'd just work with it, since there was no way of knowing if I could get the old dye lot. I was also unhappy with the large block of solid colour in the center section, and since most of the motif photos showed a colour change I decided to do that. I couldn't find any two pinks in the selection I had that worked together well and so I used a mid-range pink and white. 
When I first looked at this I thought it was too bold or something. But strangely, as I've been stitching the motifs around it, it is looking more like it belongs. There are only two other whole carnations on the coif, so I think it will be fine. But I'm stitching a few other things around it, including some leaves, just to be sure.Speaking of stitching, do you want a chance to work on the coif? I'm going to be in Williamsburg, VA for A Gathering of Embroiderers from the evening of Feb. 2 to Feb. 5. I'll have the coif there if you are going to be there for classes or if you live nearby and want to stitch. There are lots of leaves and buds that won't take too long if you want to sit and stitch for a while.
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