This pouch was done as part of the West Kingdom Needleworkers Guild rose pouch project for Western queens; every lady who steps down as queen is presented with a pouch of gold color with a red rose embroidered onto in. For my contribution, I chose to use the style of the German counted thread satin stitch pieces as detailed in Master Wymarc’s Compleat Anachronist “A Stitch Out of Time.” I borrowed the idea of filling in shapes with tiny geometric patterns from the Hildesheim Cope, which depicts various martyrdom scenes completely covered in silk brick stitch on linen. For my purposes, I chose Splendor silk, the exact colors of which are now lost. I chose colors close enough in the same family so that the pattern only shows up in certain angles of light. The pictures below, while not the best, show that feature.

I used evenweave art linen of unknown thread count but of a tan color. I took the rose pattern from one of the few provided by the Needleworkers Guild for this project. This is the first pouch I constructed on my own and I did not do a very good job – I have trouble understanding the construction of such items, which is why I don’t sew. But I managed to make this pouch work, and I even put in some tassels of the Spelndor silk. Kaaren loved receiving the pouch and to this day is quite proud of it. By the way, just like I saw on the Hildesheim Cope, the entire front side of the pouch (sans the string casing, which is some sort of maroon suiting wool) is embroidered in over-2 stitches of gold silk. Kaaren didn’t believe me when I told her that – but it’s true.

The pictures on this page were taken by myself on 1/7/05. I think . . don't quote me on that.