VPC2017: Meisterin Christian & Dona Isabel Maria's Refurbishing of Cushions and Cushion Bags

This joint project is for the categories Show Us Your Arms, One Metre Material Project, Give What You Get, Fly the Colours,  Remake, Reuse, Refashion, Reconsider, Containment System.

Meisterin Christian says:

Baroness Ginevra recently completed embroidered Baronial augmentation cantons for the baronial kneeling cushions, having been commissioned by Baron Oswyn and Baroness Isabel Maria to do so.  She asked for a volunteer to sew these to the kneeling cushions and I obliged.  She also asked for bags to contain and protect the cushions (the baronial cushions had never had bags, and the Lochac kneeling cushion bags had disappeared).

On close inspection the cushions were very dirty, and the velvet fabric very faded, so I offered to refurbish them so they would not look a  little tatty against the new embroidery. The cushions were original embroidered and constructed by Baroness Eleonora and Mistress Madeleine more than 20 years ago, so its no surprise that they were in need of a little care and attention.  I dismantled the cushions and vacuumed the embroidered pieces (it is best not to try and wash or dry clean embroidered needlepoint, as this can ruin the piece, esp. anything red).  The canvas had become very soft over time and had started to come apart in places.  I mended and over sewed the edges and seams to keep them together.  Thanks to THL Ydeneya for donating some red velvet for the project when there was none to be found.

The augmentation of arms cantons were stitched on by hand, with some additional tacking stitches to ensure the soft cushion canvas did not rub against the stiff new canvas and become damaged.  The cushions were reassembled and the canvas bottom layer was renewed.  The canvas needlepoint of one cushion has always been out of square, which makes this cushion a little awkwardly shaped and wrinkled.

The cushion bags are simple and practical (and fairly ugly) and have their purpose written on them in hope they will not be lost again.  Please take care of the cushions and bags, and ensure they don't get lost or further damaged!

VPC2017: Dona Isabel Maria's Camping Shelf

Dona Isabel Maria brings us this ingenious camping shelf for the category Containment System.

She says:

Being an old hand at Canterbury Faire, I try to regularly make improvements to my camp schmutter. In this case, the specific purpose was to facilitate better event-long organisation by containing my feast gear and giving me a place to hang my hand towel. Although an unlikely pairing, it proved to be not uncommon in period artwork.

This shelf is not constructed using period techniques.  It is very much in the "quick and dirty", "prototype" and "lets attach as many pieces to one another as we can to stop them getting lost between Faires" school of manufacture. Additionally, I have not seen any evidence of this type of shelving in period tent imagery. However, since I tend towards "playing house" rather than "being on campaign" at Faire, it seemed reasonable to add this shelf to my tent.

Materials & Equipment: dressed knotty pine in the desired width, jigsaw, coping saw, sandpaper & block, hand drill and drill press (thanks to Adrian for use of the latter).

The disassembled picture gives a pretty good idea of the pieces and how three of them are attached by hinges that allow it to be stored flat.  The right side of the shelf sits on a block, and is held in place by a nail that just slots into a pre-drilled hole in both pieces. The back of the shelf sits on the shelf, so it can't flop back past 90 degrees. The whole thing gets suspended from the top of my tent's perimeter poles and lashed to them using calico tape.

Verdict: a bit tricky to put up (apologies for the near concussion Christian), but then really quite secure.  Displaying my pewter was so helpful in maintaining track of my feast gear that my long lost St Jude spoon (not seen in over 4 years) also found its way home.  I call that a success!

VPC2017: Mistress katherine's Garters and Swaddling Clothes

The garters are presented for category Hitting Below The Knee

Mistress katherine says:

I saw the trim at Pennsic and loved it as it has my tower, even if I had to settle for green, rather than white. But I knew the pattern was far too mundane to use visibly (I'm sure I'm not the only one who asks herself "What would Mistress Rowan say?"). So, having repurposed the lovely garters Catherine d'Arc made me into a travel coronet, I thought a pair of garters would let me use the trim in a hidden but useful fashion, and answer another VP challenge. I sewed petersham ribbon on the back for sturdiness and grip, added pewter buckles cast by Sir Sebastian, and whacked a grommet in for a hole. They keep the new hose (Mistress Ginevra's creation) up nicely.

The Swaddling Clothes are presented for the category of Containment System, and Mistress katherine adds that this is for the baby, not their by-products! 

Futher, she says:

This is part of the Venetian swaddling band my mother wrapped me and my short-lived brothers in.

Swaddling bands appear in a number of Renaissance paintings , such as  Laviania Fontana's Newborn Baby in a Crib (1583)

Extant Italian examples from the 1570-90s can be seen in the V&A and Met. Typically they are made of white linen doubled up and edged with a lace or embroidered band (including whitework, reticella, stem sttich, interlacing); rectangular at the wider end (12-24cm) and tapering to a point along a 2-3-metre length. The shape is to allow a spiral band of the fancy work to show as the final layer of swaddling cloth is wrapped around the child. A V&A example can be found here.

This one is made of a linen-like cotton from my scrap pile; with lace purchased on Burano, the lace-making island in the Venetian lagoon; and Spotlight trim whip-stiched on as an edge.

VPC2017: Her Excellency Ginevra's Pin Book

Her Excellency Ginevra has completed this project for the Challenge: a pin book to hold veil and sleeve pins.

It is entered in the categories of One Metre Material Project (definitely less than one metre of fabric here!) and Containment System.

Categories 12 & 25- a book to contain veil and sleeve pins. Made from remnants of velvet, linen and felt.  I put pins on the felt to figure out what size it needed to be, then cut 2 pieces of felt- one that size, and one 1/2 an inch larger on both sides. I wrapped the velvet around the larger piece, cut away some excess fabric, and sewed it to stay put.  I then sewed a piece of linen to cover the edges of the velvet and the middle section of the felt.  This made the cover. I sewed the pages to the cover along the spine of the book, and made some cords to tie it closed out of silk embroidery thread.  It was a quick and easy project, and something I'd been wanting for a while.