Embroidered Viking Pouch By Sighni Ivarsdotter

http://www.northernneedle.net/

For this pouch, you will need: One piece of wool felt, 6” x 11” A pen or pencil Tear-away interfacing Basting thread Wool appliqué needle for embroidery Large-eyed needle for cord Paternayan crewel yarn in assorted colors 2 yards of cord or braid

Based on an extant pouch from Hedeby finds, the original pouch was made from a poor-quality leather. In order to embroider on the pouch, I have substituted the leather with wool felt.

Wool felt is a thick fabric that does not fray. However, wool felt is similar to leather in that too many holes from dense stitching can weaken the fabric. In order to compensate for this, I transferred my design to a thick interfacing, and stitched over it. This helped stabilize the wool felt, and also helped with the ease of transferring the design to the fabric.

Taking the First Steps

Although the kit was intended for pouches, there is enough wool felt included in the kit to use it for pincushions, needlebooks, or a variety of other projects. Make the project your own! To make a pouch, cut out the paper pattern. Using the paper pattern, cut out a pouch from the wool felt.

Sketches based on Hedeby find. http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/basickit14.html

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Choosing and Transferring Your Design

The patterns in this kit are all taken from a Dover book, Viking Designs: CD-ROM and

Book. Feel free to use these patterns, or design your own. There are many other Viking and Norse pattern books on the market.

As mentioned earlier, the design is first transferred to the interfacing before being applied to the fabric. Once you choose your design, simply lay the interfacing on top of the image, and transfer it to the interfacing with a pen or pencil.

Decide whether you want the design centered in the front, with the seam in the back, or if you want the seam on the side. Eventually the seams will be decorated with embroidery, so it only matters if you want that embroidery visible on the front.

Secure the interfacing to the pouch with simple basting stitches.

Stitching the Design

The Vikings used a variety of techniques for their embroidery. The kit is intended to be worked in Stem Stitch, as there are several extant pieces worked with Stem Stitch utilized as a filling stitch.

Start with outlining one section of your chosen pattern. Fill in the section with stem stitches. Continue onto the next section. Once the entire design is completed, rip away the extra interfacing.

Sewing the Pouch

Once the embroidery is completed, you’ll need to complete your pouch. To complete the pouch as shown, put the right sides of the pouch together, and stitch along the seam allowance. Turn the pouch right-side out.

Doing Seam Treatments

Seams are everywhere, and the Vikings loved to accentuate them. Stitching was frequently worked in the same fiber as the fabric (wool on wool, linen on linen), but was often worked in a contrasting thread (Walton, p. 130). This was either a

Viking embroidery worked in stem stitch. http://heatherrosejones.com/mammen/index.html

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deliberate choice for stylistic purposes, or was because the Viking woman was thrifty, and simply used what she had available.

Seams could be decorated on the outside and the inside of the clothing. The stitching found on the seams could be purely functional, simply holding the garment together. Or seams might be decorated with a thin cord or a fine braid. Some seams were decorated with fine silver wire. Other seams, such as the one found on the Mammen cushion, were functional and decorative. Hems were decorated as well, either by stitching, or by binding the raw edge in silk ribbon or fabric.

To work the pouch as in the sample, use the Mammen Cushion Stitch. It is a durable stitch that binds the seams from both the front and the back. Or, you can embroider the seam in Blanket Stitch, like on the Viking coat.

Finishing the Pouch

Once you’ve completed the designs and the seam treatment, finish the raw edge of the pouch in a style of your choosing. The class sample was worked with Blanket Stitch over the edge.

The last thing you will need to do is run your cord. The original pouch was in leather, and had a leather thong. Holes were punched in the leather at the required size, and the laces were run through the holes. Since the project pouch is intended for embroidery scissors and is not meant for heavy wear and tear of an everyday pouch, the cord used on the pouch does not need to be very thick. In order to make the pouch work, the number of holes needs to be divisible by four. Use a pencil to mark the holes, and simply sew your cord through with a needle.

A sleeve of a Viking-style coat, worked with silk edging on the hem. Blanket Stitch is worked around the edge of the appliqué and on the outside of the seams. Garment and embroidery by Mistress Catherine Lorraine of Stonegate Manor.

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Stitches Glossary

Basting stitch

Used to hold the interfacing to the fabric.

It is usually worked in long stitches, in a simple over-under pattern. The basting stitch is meant to be a temporary stitch.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Stem Stitch

Used as an outlining stitch or a filling stitch.

To work Stem Stitch, come up at 1, and go down at 2. Pull the needle until only a small loop remains on the front of the work. With your free hand, hold the loop downwards. Come up at 3, ensuring that the needle enters the fabric ABOVE the last stitch. Pull the needle, tightening the slack from the last stitch. Continue stitching until the design area is filled.

Blanket Stitch

Also known as Buttonhole Stitch. Used on the edges of the pouch as decoration.

To work the stitch, start at A. If you’re working on an open edge, do a small tacking stitch to secure the thread in place. Decide how wide and how long you intend to make your stitches. This determines where B is. Plunge the needle into the fabric at B. When you come back up at C, be sure to pull the needle through the loop made by the previous stitch.

http://www.dmc.com/majic/pageServer/08010101w1/en_US/lets-stitch.html

http://www.anniesattic.com/cross-stitch/content.html?content_id=46

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MAMMEN CUSHION STITCH

This stitch was worked in wool over the seams of a wool cushion. Although not originally a counted stitch, I have adapted it as such for the ease of teaching the stitch. For the class sampler, the stitch is worked in Paternayan crewel wool. To start, come up at 1, then go down eight threads, and over twelve.

Drop down two threads, cross back to the left column, and come back up at 3. Cross back to the right column, and go up eight threads. Go in at 4

The pattern then repeats itself:

:

The Mammen cushion

stitch. (Hald, p. 283)

change columns, go down two, change columns, up eight:

change columns, go down two, change columns, down eight

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Again: change columns, go down two, change columns, go down two, change columns, down eight: change columns, up eight:

After three complete stitches, the pattern starts to fill itself in.

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Scissors Pouch pattern, based on Hedeby finds Adapted from the pattern found at:

http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/basickit14.html

½ “ seam allowance for fabric pouch. The extant pouch was made from leather, and therefore required no seam allowance.

Cut one.

When adding cord, remember to keep the hole count divisible by four.

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a b cdefgh ija b cdefgh ija b cdefgh ija b cdefgh ij

k lmnok lmnok lmnok lmno

pqrstupqrstupqrstupqrstuv w xyzv w xyzv w xyzv w xyz

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Bibliography

DMC (2008). Mammen Let’s Stitch. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from DMC:

http://www.dmc.com/majic/pageServer/08010101w1/en_US/lets-stitch.html

DRG (2008). Annie’s Attic – Blanket Stitch. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from

Annie’s Attic: Innovative Craft Designs: http://www.anniesattic.com/cross-

stitch/content.html?content_id=46

Dover Publications (2002). Viking Designs: CD-ROM and Book. Mineola, New

York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Ewing, T. (2006). Viking Clothing. Stroud, Gloucestershire:Tempus Publishing

Limited.

Hald, M. (1980). Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials. (J. Olsen,

Trans.) Copenhagen: The National Museum of Denmark.

Jones, H. R. (September 6, 2005). Mammen Embroidery: Embroidery from the

Tenth Century Viking Grave at Mammen Denmark. Retrieved December 11,

2008, from Heather Rose Jones:

http://heatherrosejones.com/mammen/index.html

Priest-Dorman, C. (1997, March 27). Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs.

Retrieved September 4, 2008, from Viking Resources for the Re-enactor:

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikembroid.html

Stum, M. (n.d.). Dark Age Stitch Types. Retrieved November 12, 2008, from

The Vikings: Norse Film and Pageant Society: http://www.42nd-

dimension.com/NFPS/nfps_stitches.html

Vikings, The (1999-2008). Manufacture Of The Heddeby (sic) Half Circular

Pouch. Retrieved December 01, 2008, from The Vikings: Saxon, Norman, Celtic

& Viking Re-Enactment:

http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/basickit14.html

Walton, Penelope. “Needlework from Jorvik.” Embroidery 36 (1985): 130-131.