Finished Sweetbag!

Wow, it's been a looonnnnng time since I've updated! Pennsic came and went, and it was Good, and then the semester began, and it's been a bit busy.

Here are pics from the finished sweetbag:

Side 1:

Side 2:

The edges are covered with a 5-strand fingerloop braid, and the handle is a 7-strand braid. I chose to use multicolored braids after examining several extant bagges. To be properly finished, this bag also needs a drawstring, pulls and tassels. I just haven't had the stomach to do that- it means punching holes through my embroidery, and I just haven't the heart. ;)

It's lined with a carnation silk- I didn't have any grosgrain silk available, so I tried to keep the color consistent with historical examples.

I have noticed that the bagge has begun to "torque" a bit. This is in keeping with extant examples- one of the side seams is clearly visible in the pictures, and one is twisted slightly behind. I'm supposing this is due to the z-twist action of the Elizabethan ground stitch, which pulls the ground fabric slightly to the left as it is being worked, even while on a frame.