New Project: An Elizabethan Sweete Bag

So, there's a Kingdom A&S competition coming up (12th Night 2013), and I want to enter it. Specifically, I want to enter an Elizabethan sweete bag. After doing a bit of poking around, I think I want to replicate this one from the V&A Museum:

Because it is super-pretty, and I really like the design on it. The description from the V&A is below:

Object Type
In the 17th century decorative purses such as this one were rarely used to carry money, as their wealthy owners engaged in few commercial exchanges requiring cash. In addition to serving as 'sweet bags' or 'gift wrapping', purses sometimes functioned as sewing kits that held needles, thread and tiny scissors. The attachment of a pin cushion to this purse suggests that it might have been used as a sewing kit, or kept on the dressing table to hold pins for fastening clothing.
Materials & Making
This pin cushion is decorated in canvaswork. Worked in wool, it was a popular form of embroidery, particularly for furnishings such as wall hangings, cushion covers and table carpets. For smaller items such as this purse and pin cushion, silk and metal threads were often used on a ground of finely woven linen. This example uses tent and Gobelin stitches, two of a variety of stitches found in canvaswork.
Design & Designing
The pattern depicts a rose tree, a motif made popular by its association with the Tudors. This type of needlework allowed subtle gradations of colour, giving the image a very pictorial effect.

More information:

Place of Origin:
England, Great Britain (embroidered)
Date:
1600-1625 (made)
Artist/maker:
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques:
Linen canvas, silk and silver thread
Dimensions:
[Purse] Height: 11.5 cm, Width: 14 cm
Object history note:
Embroidered in England
Descriptive line:
Purse with pincushion
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no):
John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.98, plate LXIX

 So, in summary, I want to make a purse on a canvas backing (need to buy some suitable canvas), that's 11.5cm by 14cm. I've started using KG-Chart to chart it, but it's not working so well. Before I chart it out by hand, I think I'll search for similar designs to adapt, or see if someone else has done so. However, it's looking unlikely, as a google image search comes up empty.

Also, I need to work out how the background silverwork is done, since I don't recognise that small zig-zag pattern from my goldwork book.

It could be underside couching, as it does look a bit like this:

(from here:http://wkneedle.bayrose.org/member/member_underside.html by Caiterina nic Sheamus)

It would make sense for it to be underside couching, as I read that it's more durable, and more flexible, which makes sense for a pouch.

Oooh, the Worshipful Company of Broiders page hasn't been updated since 06. Hunyd's done a similar sweet bag (a pattern I was eyeing off, actually, it's another in the V&A), but there's nothing but a photo on the website, and her blog doesn't go back that far. I suppose I could actually try talking to her about it at a feast, or something.

Nah, that way lies madness. Madness, I say! Besides, I might be tempted to ask why she didn't do the pretty pretty goldwork braid that makes the piece, and I don't think that'd go down well. Stupid social conventions.

Ok, I think that's all the research I'm getting done tonight.

TL;DR:
- It's 11.5cmx14cm, silk and silver on linen canvas
- I need to combine x-stitch patterns to come up with a pattern to work from.
- Once I have a pattern, I can calculate the thread count of the canvas I need.
- ONLY THEN can I buy the silk.
- Silk appears to be tent stitch.
- Silver appears to be underside couching. I should learn how to do this.