Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Princess of the Mists Haversack

Last fall I was asked to take over a little project, and this was the outcome

A fellow artisan had been making small pouches with a white rose on a blue background for the ladies who had reigned as Princess of the Mists. During Alfar and Letitia's reign she moved to Cynagua, but still wanted Letitia to receive one. After speaking with my laurel about it, it was decided that I would make the pouch for Letitia. Since Letitia has been wearing mainly Norse garb, I decided a haversack would be more useful for her and got started!


The rose itself is a very soft and lightweight wool, with stem stitch embroidery in linen or silk floss. This was my first time using stem stitch, and I fell in love! Like on my tattoo haversack, the rose is stuffed with cotton to create a little pincushion. This was actually my first haversack, and first time using applique with wool. I cut out the rose a little too close to the actual embroidery and had to stitch around the entire edge to prevent the wool from fraying, and quickly learned never to do that again! All in all I think it turned out quite nicely.


The haversack itself is made of a nice coating wool. I decided to add the green strap and white lining (instead of just a blue bag with white rose) because I like to have color combinations of three. Odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye, and by lining the bag with white, it's much easier to find things that have sunk to the bottom. The seams along the strap and top of the bag are all closed with blanket stitch, and the seams up the sides of the bag are done in Vandyke. This bag was 100% hand sewn and the only non-period material used was the cotton which stuffs the little rose.


I'm very happy with the finished product and am proud to say that the recipient is too!!

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