Kokoshnik finished!

It's my entry for the September Whiplash competition at Whip Up - category (since the design is not mine, because it's over a thousand years old classic, and I didn't prepare a tutorial): skill.

Maybe you remember my on-going medieval project - the kokoshnik!
It started like this:


Kokoshnik is a medieval Russian headdress, worn by the noble ladies at the festive events (which is exactly what I'm going to do next weekend, I mean, I'm going to be at the festive event - I am the medieval reenactor and we are having an annual feast! ^^).

My kokoshnik is made totally by hand, and of natural materials:
- red wool for the outside,
- white cotton for the inside embroidery pattern,
- red silk for the lining,
- two layers of hemp glued together with flour glue, for the interfacing and sturdiness,
- embroidered using silk and cotton threads with glass and mother-of-pearl beads.

And here it is on my faithful assistant:


close-up of the beaded rim



The most difficult part was embroidery, because I couldn't draw the pattern on wool, so I ironed the transfer pencil pattern onto a piece of white cotton fabric, pinned it on the backside of wool and kept on embroiderying, flipping it from one side to the other, trying to keep the track of the design!
When the front and the back was ready, I stitched them together at the top rim, then turned the kokoshnik inside out, pinned and stitched the back lining, then pinned and stitched the front lining, leaving the part that goes over the forehead unsewn. Then I turned the kokoshnik inside out one more time, slipped the sturdy half-a-circle into its place behind the front panel and stitched the opening.
I finished it off with some beading along the top rim.
Voila! ^^