metallic embroidery

in which our plucky heroine starts something new...

Took some time on Saturday to start on the embroidery project for my friend Marya. She is being elevated to the Order of the Laurel in December, and many of her friends are working on projects to add splendor to her day. She is focused for the ceremony on "12th-ish c Russian (Fancy)", which means multiple layers of decorated garments.

My volunteer contribution is to embroider the cuffs, collar, and neckline trim bands for the rubakha, which is going to be a white silk underdress with red embroidered silk trim. It feels good to have some transit handwork again, though it will be weeks of part time effort before the embroidery is completed. Ordered some additional metallic DMC thread, since that isn't something I normally use. It is quite lovely and bright gold, but is rather a challenge to embroider with, being "springy" and somewhat delicate. But then, this is not everyday clothing being created.

For the cuff pattern, Marya sent me a picture of the archeological line drawings, which were then resized to match the stated actual size. Most handily, the actual size also was just about right for a wrist cuff, though Marya being somewhat more slender than yours truly Little Teapot, we decided to remove one small motif from the pattern...

paper pattern wrapped around my wrist