Knotwork Roses

I was asked to embroider two roses for Caoilfhoinn's decoronation garb. She was to be dressed in old Irish and have a cloak/shawl that I'm sure has a real name, but I don't know it.

The design was based on these fabrics. I used the same wool as the cloak is made from, intending for the roses to be appliqued on.

I wanted to use silk for this, but I wanted to use something with some fluffiness to it. Most of the silk I have is pretty fine, for needle painting and the like. My first thought was to use several strands of Splendor, but I couldn't find the right color yellow to match the trim that was going on the cloak.

Then I stumbled across Pepper Pot silk in my local needlework store, and they not only had a matching yellow, but also a matching blue! I win!

Pepper Pot is a fairly thick non divisible thread. It is super soft and squishy and I kind of just want to sleep on it.

Because I was using a thick wool for the ground fabric, I traced the pattern onto parchment paper and pinned it to the wool instead of trying to get the pattern directly on it. I knew I would be sad about it when I had to remove the paper but I think the trade off was worth it.

Roses in action.
Photo by Raziya Bint Rusa

My instructions were to make yellow flowers, with maybe some gold thread. I admit that I deviated slightly - I really want to get some blue in there! Of course, as any herald knows, red and blue don't have good contrast and would be difficult to see at a distance, so I just outlined it instead of trying to use blue in the flower.
The fluffiness of the thread worked against me. I ended up dividing the thread - even though it isn't intended to be divided, it does have three distinct strands. I used two of them for the small triangular areas.
I then sent them off to be appliqued to the garment. Both she and Brennan looked amazing at the event!