I have spent today trying to make a new surcoat ( a kind of tunic with heraldry on worn over armour ) The first problem was that the new sewing maching I bought recently would not start – no power. Never mind thought I – a woman of the new age who needs no man to sort out minor electrical problems – it probably needs a new fuse in the plug. Which it did but that took nearly half an hour of searching for spare fuses (there were none) then looking for electrical items that had a 3 amp fuse in their plugs (finally found old sewing maching with right size). Then when I threaded it (according to the manual!) it would not work!!!!
So after an hour I went back to the old sewing machine (of course then I had to swap fuses again) which has a habit of jamming every half an hour and sounds like a lawnmower (it is not at all well and never has been which is why we bought a new one).
But I did get it finished in the end – in between cooking tea and was very pleased to have finally got it all done. Then as I was taking some pics to post on the blog I realised that it is all wrong – the colours on the heraldry are the wrong way round! Which means it will have to be unpicked and sewn up again – which of course I now have even less time to do than I did before today! See below for evidence of the error.
This is the old surcoat – red on the left , blue on the right with horse (Invicta the Kentish horse) and lots of sword cuts!
And this is the new one with blue on the left and red on the right . I shall just sob quietly into my wine now…..
However lovely daughter Ellen (here she is looking very glam last night as she was off to a party) has volunteered to unpick it so that I can sew it up again later in the week .
On a more positive note my Mum was very pleased with her recent Mother’s Day present – my first finish with lovely Noro wool- the pattern is of my own invention (not vey complex) as it just 10 rows garter stitch then 10 rows of moss stitch but it gives it a lovely texture. Mum lives in Spain but was over for a visit before we went to Barcelona recently – will post pics of that soon.
Stitches of Time 
Hello! I see you asked viewers to comment so I am. I found your blog through a standing googleblogs search I have in my RSS feed on the term “blackwork.” I’ve begun to do a little blackwork, and am also on the yahoogroups blackwork list. I’ve put your blog in my RSS reader so I will be a regular reader now! I can’t wait to see your blackwork project when it is complete.
Thank you so much for your comment and your visit. Sorry for the lack of posts but I have had no Internet for the last two weeks. My current blackwork has been on hold while I finish some new costume as our re-enactment season has started again but I will try and post some pics of that next week – we are away this weekend so am getting ready for that at the moment.
Alison
Re the surcoat – “Bother” said Dougal.
I think we can all empathise and sympathise.
Hello, hello, hello. I was googling surcoats and stumbled across a rather familiar one so I thought I’d say hi.
hello Luke
Nice of you to drop by – I get quite a lot of hits for re-enactment and costume and will put up more pics and info on the subject when I get time! At the moment I am getting about 300 hits a month which is nice to know. I will devote far more time to it in Sept when I gpo part – time. Hope the show went ok – we had a very hot time in Rome but it was fab – went to the Vatican – how much religious art!
See you soon
Alison
Hey Alison,
the show was OK. The only problem was the appalling weather. It rained all day Sunday and on Monday it was so windy it broke the post supporting the kitchen awning just as we all sat down to dinner! I did however get Knighted on the Sunday and we all managed to have a good time despite the weather.
So jealous that you’ve just been to Rome, I’d love to go back. Not for the religious art though, but for the dodgy warewolf themed metal bar that we found!!