Springtime Lily. Gilded.

The lily of the valley outside in the garden bloom like there's not tomorrow, smelling sweetly, and the iris (who in German are called Schwertlilie, literally sword-lily) are getting ready for their bloomtime too.

So what better time of the year to finally do the prototype for a new gold embroidery kit? I've been offering the starter kit for a good while now, but several people have told me they would prefer something that comes with a motif, thus making the start easier.

Gold embroidery, a nice motif that will appeal also to non-living history folks, preferably not hard to embroider for a beginner? There's a clear winner for this: the French Lily, or fleur-de-lis.

So with the Beast off the table and a lovely fair coming up in the autumn (more about that soon), I finally found time to do some maths, some planning, and now I'm working on the prototype:






If all goes according to plan, the final assembly will be an all-you-need kit, including detailed step-by-step instructions, suitable needles, indigo-dyed linen fabric with the motif pre-drawn, gold and silk thread and an oval embroidery frame that, after finishing the embroidery, can be used as a frame to hang the piece on a wall.

This will make the kit a mix of medieval and modern - historically correct fabric and yarns, but modern tools (especially the frame). This will, however, be very clearly explained in the pattern instructions - and I think that giving more people the opportunity to enjoy this fascinating technique is the main object here!