HSM 2016: January Procrastination Challenge

I am going to try the Historical Sew Monthly challenges again, I found they really helped me complete items I might otherwise never get done.  The first challenge was Procrastination and I figured what better to work on than the embroidered pouch for my husband.  In looking back through my blog, I realized that this project was started in 2014 and here we are 2016 and it was not done. 

To start with, I took the embroidery and cut it out into a circle. I stitched the circle down by hand to a rectangle of black linen and then embroidered over the edge of the circle with blanket stitch with the blue silk.  I also added a line of running stitch in red silk and a line of chain stitch in green silk to help the circle edge stay flat.   The lining is the same black linen, with a pocket added to fit important things that you dont want just shoved into a pouch (likely this will hold my husband's cell phone to keep it separate from the keys and wallet).

To finish this pouch, I sewed up the sides, leaving space for drawstring channels, and added the lining by hand.  I then stitched drawstring channels by hand.  Once the pouch was completed, I added some surface stitched thread for decoration and for a protective edge.  The thread should reduce the wear to the sides of the pouch and can easily be replaced if needed.  I carried this decorative edge over the top of the pouch as well.

While this edge almost looks braided it is not.  I took 2 loops of thread, one blue and one green, and brought them out from inside the pouch (this hides the knots on the inside).  I pulled the green loop through the center of the blue loop and then stitched the blue loop down without catching the green loop.  Now reverse this, pull the blue loop through the center of the green loop and stitch the green loop down.  When this is done along the entire edge it looks like braid. 

I then did some simple 3-ply braids for the drawstrings and my husband braided a 5 loop finger loop braid for the hanger all out of the silk thread.  The finger loop braid was stitched to the top of the pouch to provide a method to hang the pouch from a belt, that is not the drawstrings to make sure you have easy access to the stuff inside. Here is a picture of the red, green and blue finger loop braid.

The final touch was some silk tassels made for the bottom of the pouch.  Here is the finished pouch and the details.

The Challenge: Procrastination, January 2016
Material: black linen, white linen, silk floss
Pattern:  none, it is a simple rectangle for the pouch and the embroidered image was based on something I had saved on my computer and altered to my taste for the embroidery.
Year:10th-12th century
Notions: needles and black sewing thread (old spool with unknown content)
How historically accurate is it? The look is good and the linen and silk are correct materials.  However the embroidery pattern is more based on the time period that any true reproduction and the elements of the pouch are gathered from several sources so it is unclear if they would have been used together.  I am going to say 80% or so.
Hours to complete:  The base embroidery took 29 hours.  To do the rest of the work was another 10, so a total of 39 hours.  However the base embroidery was done in 2014, so the total in the past month was only 10 hours.
First worn: Not yet, but it has been given to my husband as a gift
Total cost: All stash, so no current cost.