Hand-Sewing Archives - Racaire's Workshop

12th century Block Print, 12th century projects, 12th century tunic - printed yellow raw silk, 12th/13th century stamps (misc), 12th/13th century teardrop stamps, Hand-Sewing, Misc., Projects, Projects - Block Printing, Projects - Tablet weaving, Racaire, romanesque teardrop stamp, SCA, Tablet woven bands

Blockprinting & stamp cutting – my new obsessions…

2020/01/14

Some of you might be wondering what else I was up to besides my move from Kentucky to Florida and then our final move into our new home. Well, I would say that I embraced two new art forms completely – blockprinting & stamp cutting. And if I may say so, I think I got pretty good at it.

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7th century art, 8th century art, 9th century art, Berlin, Exhibitions, Hand-Sewing, Medieval Art, Middle Ages, Misc., Museum, Museum Photos, Museums - Germany, Photos, Racaire

…a little 7th to 9th century doll tunic…

2019/12/28

Have you ever wondered what kids played with centuries ago? Pictures of toys from the very last centuries are available in quite an abundance but they get more and more rare the further you go back in time. Therefore you might very well imagine my great joy when I found this lovely little doll tunic from the 7th to 9th century on display at the Bode Museum.

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12th century Block Print, 12th century projects, 12th century tunic - printed yellow raw silk, 12th/13th century stamps (misc), 12th/13th century teardrop stamps, 13th century Block Print, 13th century projects, Hand-Sewing, Projects, Projects - Block Printing, romanesque teardrop stamp

…the start of a 12th century printed silk tunic project :)

2018/04/01

Wooohooo! I finally started the 12th century printed silk tunic project for my sweetheart! And you find me quite excited as I was preparing for this very special project for some time now. You might have already been wondering about all the new 12th/13th century inspired block printing stamps which I created during the last months. After finishing the last stamp we were finally able to put the new block printing stamps to good use.

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Racaire
10th to 15th century - medieval islamic inspired embroidery, Applique, Bayeux Stitch, Embroidery, Embroidery Patterns, Gulf Wars, Hand-Sewing, Islamic, Islamic laid and couched work, Kingdom of Meridies, Materials, Medieval Embroidery, OvO - Order of the velvet Owl - pouch, Projects, Refilsaum, SCA, SCA Events, Surface Couching, Wool-Silk Thread

my super secret project revealed: OvO pouch with medieval islamic inspired embroidery

2017/05/03

And finally a picture of the OvO pouch with the medieval islamic inspired embroidery which I put together for Gloria, my awesome mother-in-law. (OvO -> Order of the velvet Owl, Kingdom of Meridies, SCA) Yeah, this quite special piece of medieval islamic inspired embroidery was the super secret project on which I was working on from the first day of January until our favorite SCA event – Gulf Wars – in March. And at Gulf Wars Gloria finally got introduced into the Order of the velvet Owl. Just right before the knighting ceremony of her son, my dear husband. And not a moment too soon as keeping this project secret was killing me… 😉

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Racaire
12th century dress - grey, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, Projects

My new grey/black 12th century dress is finally finished! :D

2016/09/22

And surprise, surprise – I just managed to finish another 12th century dress! 🙂 Well, I admit it, I didn’t post much about my new 12th century dress project till now – only one short posting and that was all. But well, it was also just one of my “small” side projects which I took up or abandoned whenever I felt like it. “Just” some hand sewing in order to relax and to keep my hands busy… I think it’s quite important to have small side projects like this. Projects which have no time frame or real importance and might not even work out. But projects like these can help to take one’s mind off…

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, Embroidery, Hand-Sewing, Needle Made Lace, Projects, Stem Stitch

12th century tunic for my husband – how I made the counterpart for the 12th century neckline fastening and some other details…

2016/07/05

Todays posting about “how I made the counterpart for the 12th century neckline fastening and some other details…” brings us finally to the last progress pictures of the 12th century grey light-wool tunic project for my husband. Though I already showed you my period inspiration for this quite special 12th century neckline shape and how my take on this special neckline form based on the 12th century neckline inspiration looks like, it seems like I neglected a quite important detail till now: the period inspired fastening and its counterpart…

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Racaire
12th century projects, 12th century tunic - blue & yellow silk, Hand-Sewing, How to secure stress points of necklines, Projects

Reinforcement of neckline stress points – my husbands yellow & blue 12th century silk tunic with keyhole neckline

2016/06/29

It is finally happening – this is my last posting concerning the “reinforcement of neckline stress points“. 🙂 In my most recent postings I introduced you to an old hand sewing technique which helps to provide “reinforcement for neckline stress points”. I also already posted about how I used a simple variation of this old hand sewing technique for the quite special 12th century inspired neckline for my husbands new grey tunic as well as for the slit neckline of my red 12th century silk dress…

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Racaire
12th century dress - red silk with slit neckline, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, How to secure stress points of necklines, Projects

Reinforcement of neckline stress points – my red 12th century silk dress with slit neckline

2016/06/24

Well, it seems like I am finally getting to the second to last posting about my current topic “reinforcement of neckline stress points”. Let me recap my postings about this topic till now: In my last posting I showed you an old hand sewing technique which provides great reinforcement for neckline stress points. And in the posting before the last one I posted pictures of how I used a variation of this technique for my husbands most recent tunic. But let’s not stop at this point as I also used this technique for some other necklines…

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, Books, Books - Handsewing, Hand-Sewing, How to secure stress points of necklines, Projects

Reinforcement of neckline stress points – an old hand sewing technique revived

2016/06/19

In my last posting I showed you how I strengthened and secured the stress points of the neckline of my husbands new grey tunic. But before anyone starts to call this “Racaire’s neckline reinforcement technique”, I would like to point out that I simply found and revived an old hand sewing technique. I did not invent this technique myself – I simply found it in a very old book I own. 🙂 Well, I admit it, whenever I face a sewing or embroidery related problem, I tend to turn to my quite extensive book collection and take a look through my beloved books. In many cases one of my books offers a very…

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, How to secure stress points of necklines, Projects

12th century tunic for my husband – how to secure & strengthen the stress points of a 12th century neckline

2016/06/13

In my last posting “12th century tunic for my husband – spotting the stress points of a 12th century neckline” I showed you how to find and identify the most vulnerable points of your neckline – or “stress points”, how I tend to call them. Most of the basic 12th century neckline styles – like a simple round or keyhole neckline – don’t really require any extra strengthening. Due to their lack of real stress points (round neckline) or because their only stress points get exposed to a little bit of extra tension from time to time (keyhole neckline), it is not really necessary to take extra action…

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, How to secure stress points of necklines, Projects

12th century tunic for my husband – spotting the stress points of a 12th century neckline

2016/05/29

In my most recent postings I showed you my period inspiration for my husbands 12th century neckline as well as how the finished neckline looks like. And today I will tell you how to spot the stress points of your own neckline before I show you how to strengthen and secure them in my next posting. In order to prevent problems like ripping fabric at the stress points of your neckline, I need to give you some more information about how to find the stress points of your 12th century neckline first so you can determine and strengthen them:

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, Projects, Projects - Tablet weaving, Tablet woven bands

12th century tunic for my husband – the finished 12th century neckline

2016/05/27

In my last posting – “12th century tunic for my husband – 12th century neckline inspired by the “blue Dalmatika” & “white Alba” – I showed you my period inspiration for the 12th century neckline for my husbands new tunic. And today I am going to show you the finished 12th century neckline. Well, it took a while and quite some thinking but eventually I figured the cut out and made a good fitting 12th century neckline. This part of the 12th century tunic project was definitely not easy as I also wanted to incorporate a tablet woven band I made myself. Unfortunately tablet woven bands only stretch little and make it therefore…

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Racaire
12th century dress - grey, 12th century projects, Hand-Sewing, Projects

My new grey 12th century dress – maunches and first sewing steps…

2016/04/09

During the last days I was busy working at some calligraphy projects but I also did some hand-sewing and finished a good part of the sleeves for my very new 12th century dress project. While packing for the big Gulf Wars event in Mississippi, I decided that I definitely have to enlarge my own as well as my husbands 12th century wardrobe by several new pieces as soon as I come back. This should ensure that my husband and I will have enough clothing for the next long war.

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Racaire
12th century dress - purple & pink, 12th century projects, 12th century underdress - pink with Trapunto, 12th century underdress - white with Trapunto, Gulf Wars, Hand-Sewing, Projects, SCA Events

My pre-Gulf Wars 12th century sewing projects… :)

2016/04/02

Now, that the pre-war stress, which normally comes along with the preparations for a huge event like Gulf Wars, is finally fading away, I find myself with enough peace and time again to catch up with my pre-war projects like this three “last minute” 12th century dresses. Well, to be a little bit more exact – I hand-sewed a new purple 12th century overdress (the one on the left) as well as two new underdresses with Trapunto necklines and Trapunto cuffs before Gulf Wars.

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Racaire
12th century grey light-wool tunic, 12th century projects, 12th century tunic - blue & yellow silk, 13th century male tunic, 13th century projects, Craft with Racaire, Hand-Sewing, Projects, Sewing Patterns

12th century tunic pattern for my husband

2016/02/05

After several days of drawing and re-drawing, I am finally able to present to you a new addition to my pattern collection – the (late) 12th century tunic pattern which I have been using so successfully for my husbands tunic projects till now: My very first “13th century male tunic” project My 12th century tunic for the “12th century wedding clothing project” My husbands christmas present – a “12th century grey light-wool tunic” Well, I admit it, my 12th century tunic pattern is actually based on a tunic found in a royal grave from the early 13th century. Though it can’t be said for sure, my personal opinion is that this pattern can also be counted towards the late 12th…

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Racaire