If you can't wait and you just want to get something stitched, here's what you should do to create a motif like the one at left.

1. Skim the Eight Period Embroidery Stitches handout below to familiarize yourself with the stitches you'll need.

2. Plan your motif. Not sure what to stitch? Check out these drolleries, or look up a medieval bestiary (or this one). My preferred method is to go right to Nancy Spies excellent pattern books, which reference the time period and place of the art the pattern is drawn from. You can purchase the author authorized PDFs here: Here be Wyverns, Here be Drolleries, and Here be Griffins. More information about Spies work is at the bottom of the page.

3. Choose your ground fabric (what you'll embroider on). You'll want to use plain weave or even weave fabric, like plain linen, cotton, wool, or some other fabric with little or no pile and a smooth hand. A longer explanation is available here.

4. Draw your design directly on your ground fabric in pen or chalk. This method is documentable in period. If you worry about these things, like I do, you'll now use a running stitch to roughly outline your design so it can't be rubbed off.

5. Choose your thread. Silk and wool are both period options, and wool is pleasant to work with. DMC floss will work for our purposes, due to its ready availability and affordability. I usually use 2 strands of the DMC 6 strand floss, or purchase a roll like this and use it as is.

6. Use stem/outline stitch, split stitch, or chain stitch to outline your design.

7. Use split stitch, satin stitch, or laid and couched stitch to fill in the large areas on the design (if desired).

8. Use seed stitch, running stitch, split stitch, or french knots to add details and embellishments. (optional)

9. A neat back is not necessary, but loose threads can get caught. Line the finished embroidery if needed. Another option is to cut out the design and appliqué it onto the final product.

Hurray, you did medieval style embroidery!

Now read on and learn more so you can make even more awesome embroidery.

To learn more about embroidering on garb, see the bottom section of this page.

Variations of this technique were used throughout most of period and well after in various locations.

Mistress Ealasaid nic Suibhne of the Kingdom of Atenveldt made this excellent handout detailing some of the common stitches you'll encounter in period embroidery. It includes a list of stitches with diagrams and descriptions, followed by a list of periods and places indicating which stitches, materials, and designs would be appropriate. This is an excellent place to begin.

The same Mistress Ealasaid nic Suibhne of the Kingdom of Atenveldt also made this helpful handout, which gives an explanation of how several stitches can be used effectively to cover ground or outline figures. It includes an example for each stitch, and is helpful in planning how to fill your design.

YouTube is a treasure trove of tutorial videos. I've put together this playlist of tutorials for some common period stitches.

Most of the creators on this playlist have lots of additional embroidery content. Here's another playlist of SCA Embroidery resources from the account Lady Malina, including two entire classes taught through Zoom.

Blackwork adorned cuffs, collars, coifs and other elements of 16th century clothing. This link has a compilation of blackwork charts with links to extant artifacts and images that inspired the charts.

Check out the non-counted blackwork here!

This famous tapestry uses laid and couched stitch, a style seen seldom enough that it is sometimes called Bayeux stitch. This is a quick and fun way to fill a large ground quickly.

A handout from a class taught by Delphine de Montallieu on how to do this embroidery is a great help in creating your own small scene.

A description of the story in the tapestry can be viewed and listened to here. You can scroll through the tapestry (sadly it's a bit small) here.

Some more historical information is available here and here.

Wymarc.com has an excellent collection of brick stitch patterns here, which are based on extant pieces and provide details on each piece and recommendations to recreate it.

You can find a good tutorial to get you started on brick stitch here.

This class handout from Lady Elena Jardiniz may also be of use.

These are an excellent opportunity to embroider a complex scene or to practice your brick stitch.

Find a detailed description of this accessory with many illuminations and extant examples here.

A project page for a 14th century, brick stitch pouch is here. You can find a good tutorial to get you started on brick stitch here.

A project page for a stunning pouch done in the style described at the top of the page is here.

Using embroidered braids to finish the edges of 14th/15th century pouches is discussed here, with links that suggest the finishing technique could be used on clothing as well.

This ridiculous little goblin-Yoda Creature is from page 120 in Here be Drolleries. The chart was based off of "Psalter and Hours of Yolande of Soissons," a French thirteenth century manuscript.