This summer (2014) I was volunteer working at turku's medieval market. Mainly I was making/fixing costumes, but somethimes I did other things (like painting signs etc). My biggest project was to make fancy purse for the Queen. I decided to use 2 different shades of gold embroidery yarn and golden yellow satin. First plan was to make fancy metallic frame for the removable purse, but things changed and I made non metallic purse.
All started from deciding the model and materials. Here is 1st plan with wannabe-frame for the metalwork. Embroidery took far more time than I had anticipated, so I needed to make fast changes to the design on the last day.
Here is the finished purse from back. Golden tassel was added on 1st medieval matrket day.
This is the purse with belt. Purse is slightly bigger than normal female hand/palm. So the actor of the Queen could put her hand inside easily. The embroidery design is from late 15th century (taken from Tailor's assistant book, if i remember correctly) and I changed every other leaf with acorn.
These two pics are detailsfrom the finished bag. That black bead thing is rosary. For lining I used one fabric scrap I found. One of the finest male tunics is made from the same fabric. I hope no-one notised that queen and highest commander were wearing same fabric. You never know what kind of romance rumors it could have started ;-)
