MC: Seeing spots!

The spots on the cloak needed a little consideration. Were they colored spots embroidered on? Appliqued circles of fabric? Metal spangles? I did a little sniffing around on Google and found a book called Needlework as Art, by Lady M. Alford. Project Gutenburg has it here. Figure 19 shows a variety of shapes in which laminae of gold were cut and used to adorn clothing. As gold has been used to adorn the clothing of the wealthy since before the time of Christ, I think it is entirely reasonable to interpret the yellow dots on this cape as gold spangles.

I compared the size of the dots to the size of the man's hands and determined that they were approximately an inch wide and set about a hand's-width apart. I drew up a 1" block graph on some typing paper to determine what the spacing on my cloak should look like. The dots are offset, rather than in straight rows, and having this graph would help me determine how many of the shinies I need to order. (It's always more than you think. I have a completely random guess that I'll need about 200. Let's see how close my estimate was, once I get the spacing transferred to the actual fabric. Will I be way off?)

None of the local shops have sequins this large (30mm) so I'm ordering them online as soon as I get an accurate count -- allowing a few extra, of course, for the ones that hide themselves in the couch cushions while I'm sewing and to have replacements on hand for the future. 

Next weekend I may be meeting with a friend to dye the raw silk for the tunic. I'm very excited about that, and it's hard not to talk about it, but I'm saving that for an entry all on its own. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: I need 325 sequins! And of course they come in packets of 300, so I had to order two packets and will have a LOT left over. If anyone needs some big gold sequins, just holler.