Stitching....

 

 

And More Stitching....

About the only thing I accomplished this week, Dear Readers, was more stitching on the Medieval Ladies Tapestry. You saw last week that I had changed the headdress of the Lady on the left to look more Medieval. The Middle Ages are considered to be the years between 500 AD and 1500 AD, so there were more than a few centuries of Fashion to consider. But Tapestries as we know them - large woven "pictures" for hanging on the walls - were only begun around 1400AD. That reduces the clothing options quite a bit, but it includes years of very "outlandish" headgear for both men and women. For most of this century women covered their hair unless they were bathing, or unless they were young maidens. As with all things, generalizations are dangerous, but more often than not the women portrayed in Medieval art wore "headdresses" often covered with a "coif" or veil of linen. 

Here is an example of a Medieval illumination 

depicting feasting nobles, dated around 1470.

You can see the variety and elaborate nature of the head coverings.

 

 

All of this is by way of saying I was still not satisfied

 with the "hairstyle" of the Lady on the right, in my Medieval Tapestry.

I was hoping I could "unstitch" some of her hair

 and maybe convert it to a "turban" style.

I spent quite a while trying to undo the hair

 and gave up before I had ruined everything.

I decided instead to just add the "veil" 

and a narrow band around her crown.

Of course, it is nearly impossible to see the pale gray

 of the "veil" against the white unstitched cloth.

It will really only show when I stitch the background.

And then because I was getting carried away 

with inventing details, Dear Readers,

 I wanted to add something to the draped skirt she is holding.

Why would she be holding it thus?

Perhaps she is gathering blossoms?

Of course she is gathering blossoms!

Her Mother (in a more old fashioned headdress)

 is handing her some flowers...

She, young Lady of Modern persuasion and barely covered hair...

 is saying she has enough already...

Her skirt is full!

And to make these dots look like blossoms, 

I had to add the green of the leaves...

First the darker green and then the pale green.

I know, you can barely tell!

But I did want to see how the colors would all look together.

And here I am moving on with the stitching

 the pale highlights on the skirts...

I think it is looking more like I wanted it to.

And that's all I did, Dear Readers....

Stitching and More Stitching!