14th/15th Century Pouch

I made this pouch to go with my favorite late 14th and early 15th century wardrobe. This is sort of a ubiquitous pouch style during this time, so it's appropriate for much of what I wear on a daily basis.

The first two images show examples of this pouch style in artwork and in an extant piece.

In the first of my own images, you can see my pouch in progress. The pouch itself is two rectangles, and the cord is finger loop braid. The eyelet holes are all hand stitched. Here, you can see how I did the tassels. I wrapped my yarn around a piece of cardboard and then took it off. I tied a piece of yarn around the center top to hold everything in place. Then I wrapped another piece of yarn around near the top to create the upper loop. Then I cut it off to my desired length and sewed all my tassels onto my pouch.

Buttonholes and Finger Loop Braiding

So that red linen kirtle... I decided to go a bit more hardcore with the historical accuracy. I had done the buttonholes and eyelets by machine, thinking no one would see them on an underdress, but clearly this is going to be worn alone sometimes, so I have been ripping out all the machine stitches and re-doing them by hand.

Also, I learned finger loop braiding! I taught myself from some basic internet diagrams, and it's pretty simple. My first cord ended up being just barely long enough to fit through the eyelets on this kirtle, so it shall be used here!

So what did I do with the old lacing string? I could have thrown it out or saved it for a yet undetermined future project, but the cat claimed it as his new toy instead.