Heer Majesty (at the time) Eliana asked me to do this trim in the three weeks before 12 th Night 2005. The trim was supposed to be long enough to go around the hem of her court tunic. Vyncent atte Wodegate was asked to do matching trim for Jade’s tunic; it was interesting to see how different our trims turned out from one another. Even though Vyncent was sick, we both hunkered down and got it done in time – barely! We were both up in the mass sewing room in the wee hours of the morning of 12 th Night putting the trims onto Their Majesties’ tunics.

The pattern was taken from a picture of a piece of Viking metal art (unknown item, provenance, or year created - yay, me) that Eliana had provided for us. Between myself, Vyncent and Catherine of Wessex, we came up with a workable pattern that used yarns couched with two strands of contrasting DMC cotton threads, the colors of which are since forgotten. The fabric we couched the yarn to was gold dupioni silk. Although I hated being under such terrible time pressure, I am very pleased with how my trim turned out. I continually twisted the yarn as I worked it so it kept its twist under the couching threads. It looks really cool, and I hope to make something similar of my own one day, only on my own time!

The first picture is a detail shot that Catherine Lorraine took of the trim for me. The second picture is one I took of all the trim right before it was sewn onto the tunic; my trim is the long strand on the right, and Vyncent’s is on the left. The final picture is the only one I can find of the tunic on Eliana that shows the trim, taken by Ysabella Dolfin at 12 th Night 2005 during coronation court. And yes, it went almost all the way around her tunic. It was a *lot* of trim to do in so short a time! You can also see a bit of Jade’s, which runs up, over and down his shoulders in the Byzantine style.

The first picture on this page was taken by Catherine Lorraine (Conny FitzSimmons), who gave me permission to reuse it on my website on 7/10/06.

The second picture on this page was taken by myself on 1/7/05.

The third picture on this page was taken by Ysabella Dolfin (Rachel Zavala), who gave me permission ot reuse it on my website on 7/10/06.