Rickard has a fancy cloak

Yesterday I finished Rickard's semi-circular cloak. It's made from dark blue wool tabby and lined with shot silk in orange and green. Along the straight edge there is a wide band of zari trim that I bought from Cheap Fabrics. This is how it looks. It doesn't have a typically indian pattern so I think it could go for a muslim Tiraz band which were given as prestigious gifts between the muslim and christian leaders and also distributed among the christians in the 12th century (Janet Snyder has written an article on this in Medieval fabrications : dress, textiles, clothwork, and other cultural imaginings edited by Jane E Burns). Woven bands or embroidery along the straight edge of the cloak is very common in pictures from the high Middle Ages. The ties of the cloak are fingerloop braids in silk.
So now he has a real luxury cloak and I just need to make a new, really cool 12th c. tunic for him. He has some good tunics from this period, but I have bought thin wool, silk and freshwater pearls for a new tunic.

The gardecorps diary is updated

I have updated the gardecorps diary with a discussion on some theories of how it was constructed, a picture and some links.

Hood scare

I just had a scare when I realized I hadn't cut out the hood and that I might not have enough fabric for it. This was when I was lying and putting Maja to sleep so I couldn't just rush away to check either. as soon as she had fallen asleep I ran to the garbage bin and picked up every scrap, in case I would need them, but it turned out that I had enough to make it from the pieces I had saved. Or at least it seems so. It is only made from two pieces now and if it doesn't work later I will have to add some gores or something. It will not be as big as this hood, more like this, but that's okay. I used up almost all the fabric and even had to piece the hanging sleeves to make them long enough, but I think it will look good when it's finished.