By popular demand (especially from @emmathefanficgal 👀), I’m going to post this one step by step.
So, let’s call this Step 1 — planning, prep, and the very first stitches.
I’ve already mentioned that I wanted to embroider Boromir’s bracers onto a sweater for my husband as a New Year’s gift.
At first, I thought about doing a leather appliqué, but that felt a bit too much, and honestly, I worried it would be too pompous for him to actually wear. In my head, the pattern should look subtle: just a nice ornament for most people, but a quiet “ah, I see what you did there” for anyone familiar with The Lord of the Rings.
So embroidery it was (even though I had no idea how yet). We went to the store together, because picking the right sweater without him would be impossible, especially now that he’s suddenly gotten really fit and slim.
I was torn between brown (like Boromir’s bracers) and grey (like chainmail). In the end, I went with grey — it made more sense. The one we found was grey-black, and its texture looked so much like chainmail that it felt meant to be.
I needed a pattern, so I bought a pair of Boromir bracers to trace. I actually found them secondhand from a lovely woman who was selling her husband’s Aragorn costume (he’s now more into playing with their baby than wielding Narsil 💛). I thought that was adorable, and it felt like a nice little nod to the movies: Aragorn “looting” Boromir’s bracers, but this time, it happened the other way around!
Next challenge: making a stencil. I first tried tracing on paper (like we did as kids)
But it didn’t quite work out, so I just traced directly onto stabilizer. Then I ironed it on and started embroidering.
Of course, two problems appeared right away:
a) I used non-water-soluble stabilizer because I was too impatient to wait a day for the proper one to arrive (spoiler: bad idea).
b) I had no clue how to make the pattern symmetrical for the second sleeve.
Both problems eventually made me rip everything out — but that’s for the next post.
At least the first part went smoothly: I finished the outline in two days (thanks to long meetings and free hands 😅).
Then came the chaos of removing the stabilizer — my floor was covered in a million tiny white bits, but I made it through.
I tried filling the outline but quickly realized it looked better (and much cleaner) as just a contour. Then I moved on to the White Tree embroidery. By that time, my printable water-soluble stabilizer had arrived, and life became somuch easier.
A few days later, I finished the first sleeve… and realized it looked kind of terrible.
Also, I still had no idea how to mirror the pattern perfectly for the other side.
Luckily, I checked the calendar and saw I still had two months — so I took a deep breath… and ripped it all out.
P.S. I tried writing this in lowercase like all the cool kids, but gave up halfway through... Duh, I’m 31, I’ve earned my capital letters 😤
P.P.S. This is actually going to be part of my Lord of the Rings Advent calendar!
