Category: General Embroidery
The Crane – playing with silken thread, Part One
Japanese Bird
I decided to make a “Useful Pot For Putting Things In”, as Winnie-The-Pooh would have called it, for my cousin for Christmas. In fact, I cheated and merely embroidered a design for a lid!
I found the motif in the Japanese section of “Pattern Motifs: A Sourcebook” by Graham Leslie McCallum. I think it’s a crane. The design is very pared-down, and I thought it would make a good way to show off some of the superfine silk thread from Stef Francis, maybe even an excuse to use some more unusual stitches to see how the threads show them off.
Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch
Those of you who follow me on Twitter may recall that I tweeted this picture of the stitch I eventually chose to use. It’s called Hungarian Braided Chain, and I found it in one of those books by Edith John that I mentioned when I began embellishing the Circles Skirt. If you think of it as Heavy Chain with the needle weaving over and under the threads as shown here, you will get the idea.
I’m very taken with the stitch, in fact. It creates a fascinating textured line, and colour changes in an over-dyed thread bring it to life even more. I can imagine using it in plain thread as an indication of braid on clothing, or ropes on a ship, or even simply in side-by-side rows to create a textured effect.
This is the first – so far unfinished version, in superfine silk on silk habotai. The relatively short colour changes in this thread create subtle changes from stitch to stitch, emphasizing the structural patterning and texture. When the destined pot arrived I decided the combination looked altogether too hot and bothered, and went rummaging in my stash again…
Close Up Of Stitching On The Crane
The fabric I finally chose is a rough dupion from The Silk Route, in a golden cream colour which is extraordinarily difficult to photograph, and I picked a slightly different silk thread, more restricted in colour range. Using four strands of thread produced a lovely cable-like appearance, which you will see if you open the photo at full size.
The dark section of the design, behind the bird’s head, I worked in a dense version of trellis stitch, with horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lies all tied down with tiny cross stitches. Even working in a hoop or frame, trellis stitch cane be a bit of a challenge to stitch, but I made it in the end!
Embellishing the Circles Skirt – Part One
I have two books by Edith John, “Creative Stitches” and “New Stitches for Needlecraft”, and in the latter, she in turn quotes from another book “Needlework through the Ages” by Mary Symonds and Louisa Preece, who say
“It should be remembered that it is not the stitch itself, but the manner of its use which constitutes the art of embroidery”.
I’m going to have to think about that. I think – I would like to think – that in my embroidery the “manner of use” of a stitch is an important element of my approach, but I want to think a little bit more about the How and the Why of some of my stitch choices. It might involve a little more practice stitching, but since it’s the process of stitching that appeals to me as much as the finished result, that probably won’t be a problem!
Much of Edith John’s introductory text is concerned with encouraging experimentation – not something I need much encouragement in! – but one thing she does emphasize is the delight that can be gained purely from stitchery. The whole idea of this skirt is that it should look as though I had fun with it. This is probably not a project in which the answer to Why is likely to be anything other than Because.
Ghost Circles
Some of the circles will be embroidered within their edges, some will have embroidered elements that extend beyond there edges, and some are ghost circles, linking several of the tweed circles together. In the top left corner of this first picture, you can see part of a series of concentric ghost circles, using solitary chain stitches, cretan stitch, stem stitch and half-chevron stitch.
The large checked circle is joined to a nearby one using some cable chain and twisted chain stitches, set out to suggest that the stitching is itself a stitch, running underneath the main fabric and onto the tweed.
Feather And Lazy Daisy
One of the smaller circles acquired a Lazy Daisy in chainette ribbon, with a couple of falling petals on the main fabric. I’ve emphasized the centre – a circular boss using the same chainette in star stitch – using a darker stranded cotton.
I’ve learnt over the past few years that sometimes a design is best created using layers of detail. The darker stranded cotton was added after I’d done a few other circles. I came back to it, and wanted to point up the petals a little. Since the tones are all very similar, the darker thread helps. I may yet come back and add some more.
The large crimson circle is very simple at present, with a single row of closed feather stitch around the edge. That may yet change…
The Circles Skirt
Layout For The Skirt
You may recall that I bought some rather gorgeous Donegal tweed at the Harrogate Knitting And Stitching Show, with the intention of embellishing a skirt. I decided that this time I would use simple circles, and cut some paper patterns in circles of different sizes, to decide on placement. Here is the result. Most of the drama is at the front, where the skirt is a simple A-line shape. The back of the skirt flares out a little in the centre, so the patterning tails out there, but the pattern is asymmetrical, which is why I’ve chosen to show you a sort of all-round view.
Skirt Partly Arranged
It seemed to me that the easiest way to decide what went where was to sneak up on it. I stared at the layout for a while, picked a fabric for a particular placement, cut it out, pinned it on in place of the paper circle, and then stared again. Repeat…
Skirt Layout completed
I’ve needlefelted the circles to the fabric – that seemed the best way to attach them more or less permanently so I won’t be stabbed with pins when I’m adding the embroidery. Now there will be a lot more cycles of staring at it and doing something, staring at it and doing some more.
And since the circles are firmly attached, I can in fact wear it now if I decide to!
Another Course From Thistle Threads!
Tudor Rose Kit
There was another clatter of the letterbox and a gentle thunk on the carpet recently. It was soon followed by some excited squeaks and a dash upstairs to print out Month 1 of the History and Instructions.
This time, instead of a clear distinction between metal thread stitching and silkwork, as in the Floral Glove Needlecase, the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass, or the Glittering Gentleman’s Nightcap, the aim of the course is to show how the metal and silk threads were combined within stitches and motifs.
I’m hoping that this will give me some new ideas and techniques to apply to my Dreams of Amarna panels. However, I intend to be a good girl. I won’t actually start this until I’ve done the Glittering Gentleman’s Nightcap, which is still “going slow” owing to a combination of end-of-year exhaustion and fugitive winter light. With a bit of luck, I may be able to get started in the spring.
Stones of Venice Footstool Finished
One Side Turned
Once I had finished the sides of the footstool, I cut out the sides and the top and turned in the edges, leaving one thread of canvas all round, to help sew them together.
The next task was to assemble the pieces to create the box shape for the top of the footstool. I used a herringbone stitch which creates a fairly strong edge, and nicely echoes the stitch I used for the sides.
Canvas Stapled
I covered the foam (freshly cut – the old foam was disintegrating as fast the old cover!) with an old teacloth, and then unpicked the lower edge of each side, and covered the combination with the canvaswork.
Next came the challenge of fastening it all down. Fortunately I had help! We turned the whole assembly upside down and leant on it, and then my mother held everything in place while I wielded the staple gun. As I’ve said before, staples don’t damage the wood as much as tacks or nails, and I think they also do a better job of holding everything in place. They are also much easier to take out !
Attaching Blue Fringe
Finally, I decided to hide the edge of the canvas with fringe. I found in the end that the best way was to sit cross-legged on the floor, like a tailor, because then the legs of the footstool brought the edge I was concentrating on to a convenient distance from my eyes, so I didn’t have to bend over it and strain my back. It’s very important to find the right angle to work at, because there is no point enjoying the stitching only to find you can’t sleep for backache!
Finished Footstool
So here is the finished footstool.. It was really very lucky that I found fringing to go with the wool, and what’s more, in the little needlecrafts and notions shop in our local indoor market. The fringing isn’t long or luxuriant, but it’s just enough to hide the canvas – unless you want to lie on your tummy and examine the whole thing at close quarters, and who would do that?
Er – apart from everyone who reads this blog, and anyone I’ve taught to look at handiwork when I’ve shown it to them…
Progress on the Azorean Cutwork
Azorean Cutwork Progress
You may recall that when we visited the Azores, I found an embroidery shop, and bought myself some fabric and thread, and a book of patterns.
I’ve now finished the outside edge of the piece, which means that I can stop worrying about the potential for the piece to fray. My buttonhole stitch isn’t entirely consistent in width, but now I’ve pinned it out to look at it, I suspect that isn’t going to matter very much when the piece is finished.
I haven’t damp-stretched it (with apologies to Karen!) because I’m not entirely confident that the drawn line will survive washing, and I really don’t want to have to draw it yet again!
I’m continuing to work around the perimeter, rather than working each flower individually. I’ve commented before that I don’t much enjoy repetition, so as I go around the perimeter I alternate between curved and straight lines, no buttonhole bars and adding buttonhole bars, which keeps me a bit more interested. Not least of the (underrated!) skills involved in embroidery is managing longer-timescale projects in order to make sure that they do in fact get finished. I’m pleased that – in spite of the fact that this is essentially my embroidery project for when I don’t have good enough light for my big projects! – I’m making slow but steady progress with it.
However, my next task is to write my shopping list for my visit to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show. Over the years, I’ve often bought things with a project in mind, and then found the project changing when I come to think about it seriously, so I am trying to be a bit more organised and disciplined this time – while still leaving some leeway for the odd enthusiastic impulse purchase!
.. And Treat Those Two Imposters Just the Same
Well, not quite Triumph and Disaster (apologies to Kipling!), but when I was sitting hibernating with my canvaswork at the weekend, coughing violently but still somewhat exhilarated after a great Bloggers Meet Up in Bath (arranged and blogged by Jules of Adventures In Thread), I made a Dreadful Discovery.
Top And Long Sides Finished
This is the good bit. The top and the long sides of the footstool cushion are finished, and I am very pleased with the way it is looking. Before I assemble the finished piece, I will need to block the canvaswork, and straighten it up a bit, but that’s a minor matter.
Short Sides Too Deep
This isn’t.
I’ve inadvertently made the short sides too deep, which means I have to unpick them and put them back the right size. Since I’ve already had to buy some more thread for this supposedly stash-busting project, so I was distinctly disgruntled by the prospect!
As it turns out, I think it won’t be too dreadful an experience. The unpicking I’ve done so far has gone fairly quickly, and I suppose I can at least regard it as a good thing that the project will take a little longer to complete. It will give me more time to think out the next stage!
Stones of Venice Footstool – decisions about the sides
First Side Panel Completed
When last you saw the Stones of Venice Footstool, I was lamenting the speed with which I had finished the top panel, which had brought me face to face, far too soon for comfort, with the challenge of deciding what to put on the side panels.
I had originally thought to devise a smaller pattern, of some sort, borrowing from some of the ideas in the comments on the last post and from any convenient pictures of the Doge’s Palace that I could find online, but when it came to it, I felt that it might prove both difficult and unrewarding to create repeating patterns which worked well beside the larger pattern on the top.
Side Panel Close Up
My first step, therefore, was to bring the blue more to the fore by creating a blue border for each panel. It seemed to me that this would help the side panels to stand away from the top and set it off nicely. After much poring over my needlepoint stitch books I settled on Greek Stitch, which is a sort of long armed cross stitch. Again, this solved the question of having the stitches running with the top on some of the sides and against on others, which had been worrying me quite a bit.
I worked out a way to turn the corners so that each side panel could be a self-contained unit, and decided to to work all four borders while I considered my next move. Which floated swiftly to the top as I stitched. The blue on the top panel was the central motif, and on the sides was forming the edge – so the obvious continuation was to reverse the order of the colours. Challenge met, I think!
Kai Lung of the Golden Hours
Kai Lung
This wonderfully contorted Imperial Dragon was another Needlewoman Magazine design (March 1934), and he got his name from the Golden Hours of Kai Lung, by Ernest Bramah, which I was reading at the time, because it had been mentioned in one of Dorothy L Sayer’s books (“Strong Poison”).
The pearl cotton I used was really too heavy for the base fabric – another old piece of linen – but it gave a fantastic lustre to his scales, which were worked using nested fly stitches (not my idea – I followed instructions on this piece!).
The tongue is closely-set stem stitch, the claws are fly stitch (so are the teeth – I think the designer liked fly stitch!) and the mane is made of interlocking blanket stitch. I worked very hard on this piece, to keep the stitches neat and even, and I used to take it with me to visit Grandmama when she was in hospital. There’d probably be a riot now if I sat at a hospital bedside, embroidery in hand, but Grandmama enjoyed watching me work and made a lot of useful and encouraging comments as well.
The magazine no longer had its transfer of the Dragon, which was intended as a Firescreen (other suggestions included the back of a bridge coat, a footstool, a cocktail tray, a cushion…), so I worked it at the size of the diagram in the magazine, on the back of a dress. Had I worked him full size, he’d have been too big for the dress.
I was thrilled when the wife of one of my father’s friends recognised it, told me that she had worked it herself when the magazine came out, and fished out the firescreen she had made using the design the next time we went to see them. She was the person who told me that you can tell he’s an Imperial Dragon, because he has five claws. She’d worked it in pastel shades to go with their drawing room of the time, and it was absolutely stunning. She and her husband are both dead now. I do hope that that screen found a happy home!