.Aelfwynn: A pilgrim's bag

Background

Well I've been wanting a non belt mounted bag for many years now.. and I've made 5 or 6 of them.. but none for myself.. And then this Heraldry challenge popped up on Facebook and I thought "why not combine the two..?!". Making a pilgrim bag with my device on the lid.

Research

First things first.. I know what other people's pilgrim bags look like.. but what historical references are there..?!

I turned to Google and to Pinterest.. and some of my books as well..

Made a sketch of the different types I found (spanning ca 1100s-late 1400s) and the styles I liked..

Since I wanted a somewhat shield shaped lid I went with that style, and I liked the bags where the shoulder strap went down the sides of the bag..

The research can also be found on my Pinterest: Garb - purses bags baskets

Materials

Outer layer: thick red wool

Inner layer: dark grey costume wool

Thread: red sewing silk from Gütermann

Wings/pointed point: White raw wool, grey filament silk from the 50s (grandmother Ingrid's old stash)

Finger loop braid and tassels: wool yarn.. oh and a white skull made of bone.. because.. SKULLS!

Construction

I would love to, some day, weave the band for this.. but this time I made it out of a lovely wool fabric that actually used to be my apron dress.. The wool is too thick for that and this turn me into a cylinder.. not making me want to Viking ever again! So I thought I'd better turn it into something I would like :)

I took a piece of paper and cut it to a size I thought would work for me.. actually held it up to my hip and checked it out in the mirror ;D then I decided on the thickness of the sides/strap. After that was done I drew it out on the fabric. (25x80cm including seam allowance, strap is 8x178cm) I cut the edges off on the lid to make the shield type shape..
Then I placed that on the lining (the thin dark grey costume wool) and cut that out as well.

I decided to bag line the bag since it was quicker.. In hindsight.. perhaps it wasn't.. but anyway.. I pinned down all the sides to keep them in place while making the rest.

After that folded the strap fabric (8x178cm) lengthwise and just whipstitched it together, then I attached the sides/strap.. leaving the bottom of the strap open for the tassels later..

Now to decide on the wings.. (My device ca be found in this post)

I turned to my Heraldry folder on Pinterest where I have loads of wings! But no.. then I started looking through my Pelican inspirations in my Drachenwald folder on Pinterest.. and there it was! Most likely a religious embroidery piece with absolutely NO INFORMATION!! I've messaged the original Pinner for more info since my image search has come up empty..

Photo can be found HERE!

I printed it out.. traced the wing, took a photo of it and emailed myself and then printed it out in the size I wanted :P easy peasy!

I wanted the wings to be layered so I redrew it and made 4 patterns.

Then I cut it out of the white raw wool (råväv) I bought from Medeltidsmode some years ago for a project I can't remember..

Still hadn't decided on the colour of silk I would do the blanket stitch in for the appliqué, so I did some tests..

I later decided on making the top part and all the feather "stems" in a dark grey filament silk, and the feather edges in a lighter grey filament silk (all from grandmother Ingrid's stash).

In the top I had to get through 6 layers of wool! Achy finger tips :P

After the first wing was done I was (still am) very pleased with my colour choices :) (though in the future I will make red ones and golden ones too!)

Then it was on to edging the lid.. My first idea was to weave an edge with a rigid heddle.. but I didn't have any thin wool in red, and I didn't want to use silk.. so I opted for a simple 4 loop finger loop braid instead and sewed that to the edge. (I'll make a finger loop post some other day..)

Before I attached that I made a small loop that I saw on Elin's page that I though was brilliant! This goes around the centre tassle on the bottom and closes the bag :D Simple yet fantastic!

Then we come to the final bits.. tassels! Perfect to do in front of the tv while watching a movie :)
Took a smaller box from the recycle bin and cut it the size I wanted. Wrapped the wool 50 times and tied a string on top.
Then I cut them all off and wrapped another string to make the ball on top.. (can't find the good blog post I used to look at for this.. so I'll make my own some other day..)