The Tudor Challenge

Just before Christmas, I was talking to the owner of my LNS, who mentioned he needed two lighthouse canvases and a Henry VIII cylindrical ornament canvas.  He'd evidently sold the Henry he purchased some time ago and wanted one for himself.  And, he said with a twinkle in his eye, if I wanted to work up designs for Henry's six wives, he'd take those, too.

Mind you, I haven't designed a cylindrical ornament in ages--I worked up Henry himself 15 years ago--but the thought was intriguing and the subject matter right up my Anglophile alley.  So I started researching online to see what kinds of images were available--I wanted to be sure I could come up with six designs, each with its own personality indicative of the character portrayed.  The portraits I found were promising, and I accepted the Tudor Challenge!

First up here is Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife, sporting her famous pearls and "B" necklace and holding a Tudor rose.  I've jump-started stitching her headdress, since I didn't want to bore anyone working a lot of basketweave in black Petite Very Velvet.  It's in the style she favored called a French hood.  The hood is actually constructed in two parts:  a piece of stiffened material forming a tiara, worn over a veil of either satin, taffeta or velvet.  Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 outlines the tiara section in a stem stitch.

My research revealed Anne had a dark complexion, dark hair and eyes so dark a brown to sometimes appear black.  Her hair was worked in Burmilana and her face in DMC cotton floss.  So far, so good--I'll be back when I've finished stitching some of her dress.