Mists Cynagua War Pouch - AS LI

It was the Cynagua Needle Workers Guild's turn to present the pouch for the war between the principalities of the Mists and Cynagua at our semi-annual war. When Michaela put out the call for a volunteer to make the pouch, I jumped on the chance. I've been getting a lot better with my embroidery and am eager to get my work out there to be seen on a greater scale than the occasional person who walks up to one of my costume pieces and admires the needlework. So I had a couple of projects to finish up first (Vittorio's shirt and belt favors for Jorgen and Vittorio) both of whih were due by March Crown and then it was on to the pouch.

I didn't want to go with a typical haversack, as I kind of feel like those have been done to death lately. And I knew that I wanted a very large embroidery piece. And I wanted something in a substantial fabric.

 I asked the Hubster's opinion and he suggested a bag based on the styles from the Hedeby finds. I did a quick Google and Pinterest search and decided it was the perfect idea. I also asked him to sketch me a battle scene between the two healdic animals on the arms of both principalities (especially because the Mists just finally passed their populace badge earlier this year). He set to work researching some jelling beasts (the norse knotwork animals) for inspiration. While he didn't come up with a knotted style so much, the black swan and the seawolf locked in battle with the kingdom populace badge won out as favorite from his drafts.

I found a large enough scrap of dark green melton wool that Michaela had given us last year and bought up a skein of the "team colors" acrylic yarn at Joann Fabric & Crafts (in the Green Bay Packers - I mean West Kingdom - colors) to weave a strap on the inkle loom I transferred the design onto a piece of heavy white linen and set to work. I also practiced a new stitch I recently learned, long and short (aka brick stitch).

The medallion is roughly 10" round. I worked it in DMC cotton embroidery floss and metallic braid threads. Mostly it's worked in REALLY TIGHT split stitch (the Princess of Cynagua kept commenting that she thought the swan looked like he actually velvet) and stem stitch for outlining. For the tail of the seawolf I did the long & short stitch to emulate scales. On the knotwork, I decided to try a new stitch, Hungarian braid, and to use the metallic to give the braid a bit of beefiness. Overall, I think I spent about 200 (+/- a few) hours on the embroidery alone. The inkle woven strap took about 2 hours total. The medallion was appliqued onto one piece of the green wool and the whole bag serged together in just about an hour. Lastly I attached the bag to the wooden handles that Hubster made out of 1/2" maple planks and added the strap which I'd fringed a bit)

I am BEYOND impressed with how my work turned out (my Facebook status used certain explatives about its prettiness). Her Highness, Princess Catherine (Cyn) was giddy and decided it needed to be displayed for the duration of the war rather than just be a surprise at the afternoon court. I also was super pleased with the recipient that their Highnesses Eibhear (Cyn) and Kean (Mists) chose to give the pouch to - Helga Skjaldmaer (I will correct spelling later, my herald-foo is failing me right now and it's the kids' bedtime). They chose her as an exemplar of chivalry and prowess on the field of battle that day. I am honored by their choice because she's a brilliantly talented artist in her own right and I know she'll really appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the war pouch (well, there was only a little bit of blood and I don't think I cried, definitely no sweat). The look on her face was priceless, filled with surprise and pride all at the same time. She even fell over (she'd been leaning on her elbow and it slipped out from under her) when their Highnesses called her up.