Tudor And Stuart Masterclass – Pincushion Progress

Tudor Pincushion Progress

So here is the progress on the Tudor Pincushion.

There are two close shades of red and two close shades of tan in the design, – this will increase the appearance of rich, subtle colour variation in the final piece, which will provide a gorgeous background for the gold and silver threads.  It also means that I have to be super-organised with my thread. As soon as I cut a length, it is wound onto a card with the thread number written on it, because even my daylight lamp sometimes isn’t enough to help distinguish the colours.

I’ve miscounted and had to restitch the corner motifs in a couple of places, but that is probably because, first,  it is a very fine count of fabric, and second, tent stitch is an oriented stitch.

Tent Stitch - demonstrating edges with the orientation and against it

That is, because it creates a diagonal stitch, diagonal elements of the design look different when stitched, depending upon whether they slant with the stitch or in the opposite direction. This doesn’t cause a problem once the piece is finished – especially given how small the stitches are! – but it does mean that it isn’t so easy to know at a glance whether details are right. When the details are wrong, it becomes clear that they are wrong just as soon as you stop stitching, and then it becomes a matter of how much or how little needs to be unpicked.

Of course, I suppose I could interpret (probably correctly!) that as a sign that I’ve been stitching for too long and my eyes are tired…

Rachel, 05/04/2011. General Embroidery, Tudor and Stuart Gold Master Class online university, Thistle Threads, Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass, Tudor Pincushion

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