14 Xorazne's Sash and Headband I embroidered a headband and sash for Xorazne, when she was Princess. This photo shows the beginning of the sash project. This image shows how I transferred the design to the each end of the sash. I created the design in Photoshop and projected it onto the fabric, while it was pinned to a corkboard. I then traced the design with a white fabric pencil. This project is based on several different 7th C. Persian objects. One being a roundel enclosing a boar's head, which is an extant embroidery fragment. The rosette design is based on several extant Persian artifacts. The stitches used are outline and chain stitch, which can be documented in two different extant embroidery pieces from the Sasanian Empire. Here is one end in progress. This end was done without using and kind of hoop or frame. Though as you can see this caused a bit of stretching and misshaping of the fabric. I changed to using a scroll frame in order to preserve the integrity of the fabric. Frames can be documented to later period European embroideries, though not the type I used. I have gone back and forth between using and not using frames over the years. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that I generally achieve the best and fastest results when using a frame. I love the Artisan Design frames, as they do not slacken or harm your fabric! This is the view of the back of the 2nd roundel. While completing the first roundel, I learned that it is best to fill from the middle out! I am very proud of how neat the back of this project turned out. I had worked with these stitches in several other projects, so I had plenty of time to improve my skill at these particular stitches. Outline stitch was one of the first embroidery stitches I was taught, over 10 years ago! Here are the final projects, the roundels are embroidered on the sash and the ivy design is embroidered on the headband. Tied headbands are one of the most common head accessories found in depictions of 7th Century Persian women. They are very useful for pinning veils to! They also make nice stand alone head accessories, which is commonly depicted in Sasanian silverworks. Last but not least close-ups of the headband embroidery and below the roundel completed.