Baroque Skull Embroidery

Embroidered Baroque Skull

A while ago while posting some of my gothic-inspired machine embroidery designs on my Instagram account, a friend mentioned that she had bought a design for a “baroque skull” but wasn’t sure if it was sized correctly for her machine/hoop.

The idea of “Baroque skull” just kept rattling around in my brain, until I couldn’t help myself but head to Illustrator and come up with a design of my own. She later showed me the design she bought (it’s gorgeous!) but I also love my own, so I digitized it using the Brother PE Design software and got ready to stitch.

I think she wants to put hers on the back of a jacket (so cool!) but I just did a test on some black cotton for the time being – to see  how I liked the design….

Club logo patches

Embroidered club / event patches

A little while ago I made one P3 club patch for myself, and then proceeded to make a few different patches for friends and the clubs or events that they run as well.  I still have some to give away, so not everything is linked, but the original P3 patch is here.

Well, another friend came and asked if I’d make patches for their event as well, RMKC. We talked about their logo, and how they’d like it interpreted… and they wanted – RAINBOW!

I was game, and went out and bought rainbow thread while I was picking up more black embroidery thread for the machine as well. 

Hedeby-style bag with Viking ship machine embroidery

Carrying the Viking Ship embroidered bag

In early September I returned to the Maker Space that I haven’t been to since before Covid. While initially I went with the intention of finishing a laser cutter project that I started before the pandemic, once I popped my USB into my computer to look at the files – I remembered all of the machine embroidery projects that I had wanted to do. The files were done (or nearly done) but I hadn’t yet had the chance to get to the embroidery machine.

(I also did a few new designs too…)

One of the files is an image of a Viking sailing a dragon-head longboat, based loosely off of an illustration by an illustrator I used to follow on Instagram – Jorundrmott. Unfortunately, he is no longer on Instagram, so I can’t properly reference the artwork. I am not sure what his original source or inspiration was for the design.

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Above- Instagram video of the stages sewing this design on the embroidery machine

Some hand work on the ship machine embroidery design

After I took the embroidery off the machine, there were a few areas that still needed some hand work to be cleaned up.  I did this with regular cotton embroidery thread (two strands) rather than using the silky machine embroidery thread.

Construction

With the panel of embroidery complete, I chose the handles I wanted to use to make this bag.  For this version, I am using the “chairback” style of handle, in a mid-toned brown stain.  I THINK it’s Tudor stain, but am not entirely sure. I cut out the rectangles for the front and back of the grey wool, as well as a lining of black linen, leftover from my black linen underdress.

I sewed each rectangle together with a small gap at the top of the side seams left open.  I also ‘boxed’ the bottom of the bag which I think makes it feel roomier.  From there I put the lining inside the bag, and hand-stitched the side seam openings to enclose the raw edges. More grey wool made some tabs to attach the handles to the bag, and these tabs went into the opening between the wool and the linen lining.

With the wood in place, it’s a lot easier (and cleaner looking) to sew the tabs in place by hand, so I did just that, with small whip stitches connecting the lining and tabs on the inside, and wool and tabs on the outside.

Carrying the Viking Ship embroidered bag

Strap

For the strap, I tried doing fingerloop, but got totally twisted up because the yarn felt so “sticky”. I ended up just doing a twisted rope of the yarn instead. I keep thinking I should really re-learn fingerloop, or make a bunch at once for this kind of thing, because it’s just perfect to use for these… but every time I go to try again, I seem to lose the practice and get frustrated with myself.

Maybe something to bring up if we ever have in-person A&S nights again for my barony!

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Mammen embroidery on tan wool

Stitching the Mammen large face and hands design onto tan wool

Does this design look familiar? Well, even if you’re not familiar with the Mammen finds, you might remember an earlier post where I stitched this up onto blue wool.

Well, I liked it so much, I decided to use the embroidery machine to do a second round of it on tan wool too!

This design from the Mammen finds is often shared online named “large faces and hands” and I  re-traced it from those designs (not from photographs of the original garment) and digitized it for machine embroidery.

Grey wool (?) circle skirt

Grey circle skirt

Once I started on my second bias-print knit long winter skirt in October, I decided to raid my fabric stash for a few more fabrics that would work well for a long winter skirt. These are amazing to wear over leggings (especially thermal leggings) in the winter, as they add that little bit extra insulation against the cold.

Along with tan wool, green twill, and a few other fabrics, I also pulled out this lovely grey wool suiting as well.