Category: Tudor and Stuart Gold Master Class
Tudor And Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – Month Fourteen
Plaited Braid Stitch In Pearl Cotton
The Plaited Braid Stitch was one of the reasons I wanted to do this course. There are instructions in at least half of my books on embroidery, and I’ve watched Tracy Franklin demonstrate the stitch. I even spent a whole day practising it at one of her courses. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, and frustratingly, I never felt I knew what I was getting wrong.
Consequently, when I sat down to tackle this month’s Stitch, I was expecting frustration and fury to reign. I started with Pearl Cotton, thinking that I would be less fretful about errors if I was not conscious of using an expensive thread. I watched the animation first, and although you can see that the first inch of my practising got very tangled up, I’m sure that it helped.
Plaited Braid Stitch In Gold
As I’ve repeatedly mentioned in my posts about this course, I’ve become acutely aware that the question of scale is critical to the success of some of these stitches. My first effort in pearl cotton was at too large a scale, and the thread floats were too floppy. In the case of the second trial, I reduced the size of the stitch, and suddenly found it coming together, which gave me some confidence that I was beginning to understand the structure of the stitch. The tension was still a little slack, but all in all, it was beginning to make sense.
So then I found a piece of scrap linen, and started playing with gold thread. Again the two rows are at slightly different scales, but now I really feel that I am going to master this stitch.
I also think I’ve cracked the problem of why the vast number of books I have on the subject don’t help. With the honourable exception of The Right Handed Embroiderer’s Companion, by Yvette Stanton of White Threads, they all use the same inadequate set of diagrams, presumably copied from an earlier publication. Furthermore, judging by the (slightly differing) diagrams in Tricia’s notes and Yvette’s book, they diagram the left-handed technique. Since all their other diagrams are for right-handers, these books provoke considerable confusion! Still, I now know where to go when I need to be reminded how to do the stitch, and I feel confident that with a bit of practise I will be able to pick it up any time I need to.
And I will need to. I have a few ideas buzzing around in my head, and Plaited Braid Stitch will take its’ place in them!
Sampler Silkwork Finished!
Sampler Silkwork Finished!
At last I have finished the silkwork on the sampler for the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass. I don’t have much patience with counted work – I just keep doing it occasionally, as a salutary discipline! – so I am really very pleased with myself. After all, I began stitching it – according to my post on the subject – in June last year!
I’m pleased that I persevered. It’s fascinating to see the Queen Stitches create an entirely different fabric, with a totally different surface and reflectance to the surface of the fabric itself, and the other stitches (Rice Stitch, Roman Stitch and the Bargello section) all reveal different aspects of the silk thread and provided different challenges in working them.
In fact, in the end I have enjoyed the silkwork on the sampler rather more than I expected to. It has taken me much longer than some of the other members of the course, but I’ve been working on the Piano Shawl and the Dreams of Amarna at the same time, so I think I have a good excuse!
Now I need to work out how I am going to keep track of which goldwork stitches to do where. I’ve been printing out the instructions as I go along (thank heavens!) but I now have a large folder full of the historical essays Tricia has written for each month, and another one full of the stitches. It isn’t difficult to have a single chart by my workstand as I stitch, but I think I may need to create an annotated chart for the goldwork. So far, many of the stitches have been familiar enough for me to do some of them with only the name and placement to guide me, but in other cases I know I will need to have the folder open at the instructions as well. One of these days we will have to find a house with a studio for me to work in!
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – Month Thirteen
I’ve not really been making as much progress with the silkwork on the Masterclass Sampler and Tudor Pincushion as I would like. The weather has been cold and overcast, making my best stitching spot for natural light a chilly and uninviting place. Artificial light produces a confusing glimmer on metal threads, so unless it is a particularly easy stitch, I tend not to use metal threads in the evening.
I’ve been more or less keeping up with my practice stitching, however, and this month’s stitches are Cable Chain Stitch, and Knot Stitch (also known as Braid Stitch). I enjoyed these very much, as I already know them both, and it was good to be able to add them to the practice cloth and remind myself of my repertoire.
Cable Chain Stitch
Cable chain is my absolute favourite of the chain stitches, and pops up in all sorts of projects. I used it in the Jacobean Firescreen that I’ve used as my header picture, and the Jacobean Work panel that I’ve yet to find a use for, and on the dorsal fin of the Experimental Seahorse. I’ve even used it on the Map of Amarna, in the Compass Rose. I think that it looks its best using a fairly heavy round thread, so on my practice cloth the gold is somewhat out of scale with the fabric
Braid Or Knot Stitch
Braid or Knot Stitch (not the terrifying Plaited Braid Stitch that I haven’t got to grips with yet!) is another favourite. I used it to create the Prince’s bow in the first of the Persian Fantasy Panels. I also used it for the ice cream cone part of the logo on the Frolicking Teddies Cot Blanket. I worked the stitch at two different scales, so you can see it looks a little loopy and untidy over four threads, but neatly ornate over two.
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – Month Twelve Goldwork Stitches
The two stitches this month are stitches I think I have seen used as needle-lace stitches, but whereas I’m most used to seeing variants of Blanket Stitch used in needle-lace, these are worked using Up-and-Down Blanket Stitch.
Up And Down Blanket Stitch - Alternating
As it happens, the Up-and-Down variant is one of my favourite stitches, so I sat down rather gleefully to have a go. This is the first of the variations, Alternating Up-and-Down Blanket Stitch, which produce a rather open, netlike appearance on my practice cloth, not much resembling the example in the instructions.
Up And Down Blanket Stitch With Return
The second stitch was Up And Down Blanket Stitch With Return. In this case the seconfd row of stitches goes into the tie of the Up And Down Blanket Stitch, creating a ribbed effect something like the welts on a sweater. It also rather conceals that same distinctive tie stitch, rather camouflaging the stitch that forms its basis. I’m very impressed that Tricia managed to “reverse-engineer” these stitches, as some of them are rather less than clear to work out!
Both Stitches In Pearl Cotton
Naturally, my practise cloth version in the gold thread suffers from the problems of scale I’ve already discussed, but as well as that I find when I look at the photographs that in a couple of cases I have done a pair of buttonhole stitches instead of an Up-and-Down Blanket Stitch. I defy anyone to work that out at the normal scale of these stitches, but I’m actually quite surprised that I didn’t notice at the time, since the short loop at the base of up-and-down buttonhole stitch does tend to twist when worked as a needle-lace stitch instead of a fabric stitch!
These versions worked in pearl cotton show much more clearly the heavily textured fabric that these stitches form when worked at the correct scale.
Tudor Pincushion Progress
Tudor Pincushion Silkwork Finished!
Finally, I have finished the silkwork on the Tudor Pincushion, which is part of the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass course I am following.
I think I need to find something that is less fine stitching than this, to give me a rest from all these tiny stitches!
Still, you can see that the final pattern is simple enough in concept, and there is just enough subtle variation in the colours to make the design interesting. The final effect is almost one of a woven fabric, as though the goldwork were embellishing a genuine tapestry. Remember that a real tapestry is woven (the Gobelins ateliers in France are the best known, historically, although a lot of tapestries I’ve seen have been from the Netherlands). A real tapestry is not worked in tent stitch on canvas, whatever the kit manufacturer says, and the Bayeux Tapestry is in fact an embroidery!
First Stage of Goldwork
I’ve also begun to work on the goldwork stitches. The small gold spots are worked in Eight Legged Spider’s Web Stitch which I first encountered in Month Four, and which is a great trial at the size it needs to be on the pincushion. I’ve not quite persuaded myself that I need to restitch them, as they didn’t markedly improve over the four I’ve done, but I am certainly considering the possibility.
The channels between the back stitches are filled with Reverse Chain Stitch, which I first encountered at the very beginning of the goldwork section of the course. This is an easy stitch to do, and very satisfying to see it build.
The course materials have included two Japanese hand made needles, which I was hoping to experiment with at this point, but I can’t even thread them! The eyes are much too fine for the thread, which is awkward, since I may be wasting quite a bit of gold thread unnecessarily because my ordinary needles strip the gold from its core.
There has to be a better way…
Tudor and Stuart Master Class – Month Eleven
Month 11 Goldwork Stitches
So while I continue with the silkwork for the Spot Sampler and the Tudor Pincushion, here are the two new stitches for Month 11 of the course.
The two stitches are Guilloche on Ladder Stitch, and Hemstitch on Ladder Stitch. In both cases I have cheated and just worked a panel of straight stitch bars as the foundation. This is because I wanted to get a firm grip on the structure of the stitch, rather than spending my time on working the foundation.
As the stitches become more multi-phase and more complex, the green doodle cloth is becoming a less suitable foundation. While it makes things easier by making the stitches larger when using the counted diagrams for them, it also makes things more difficult by making the stitches larger! I find that I am having difficulty in getting tension and stitch length neat and correct – in fact, you can probably see that from the rather floppy loops on the Guilloche Stitch Of course when I come to work on the real fabric using the real gold and silver threads, this problem should be much reduced, but I think I will find myself using a stiletto or a laying tool to try to keep the thread under rather closer control, even so.
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…
Tudor and Stuart Masterclass – Month Ten
Interlaced On Ladder Stitch
The two stitches in Month Ten of the course are both based on Ladder Stitch foundations. You can see here that something went a little squiffy with the foundation for the Interlaced stitch. I ran out of thread in the needle and in bringing the new thread in, I didn’t keep the the tension quite right. It wasn’t clear until I took the photo with the macro lens, and cropped it to size. As it is only a practise, I shan’t lose any sleep over it – I’ll just make a mental note that Tension Matters.
The interlacing is just like the sort of interlacing I am familiar with from drawn thread work – I’ve not done it before, but it is a style I’m familiar with seeing and a construction I can understand. It would be quicker to practise the interlacing on a foundation of straight stitches, but I suspect (if only I had got the stitching right) the Ladder Stitch would create a more stable basis.
Wheatsheaf On Ladder Stitch
The second stitch worked on the Ladder Stitch foundation is another I recognise from drawn thread work. This is a wheatsheaf-style stitch. Other variants might include a knot instead of a mere wrap, or include two rows of interlacing in the same style. One of the advantages of this course is that it is pulling together many of the techniques I have seen before, but never had the opportunity to do.
It has also given me permission to “play”. I’m enjoying that!
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – Month Nine
Tudor Pincushion - Stage One
It’s been rather chilly of late, and I couldn’t quite face sitting in the window working on the Spot Sampler, so I spent some time mounting the Tudor Pincushion on a bar frame, and started working on it.
The first thing I did was to part-colour the chart. I’ve never been comfortable with charts, and it’s easier to orientate myself if I have at least some elements coloured in to act as guides. Specifically, I have to colour them in myself, because I’m no happier with printed colour charts than printed black and white charts. I think that colouring the chart myself helps me to understand how the design is put together, and then I find it easier to stitch.
I’ve also tacked the centre lines in. This is something I rarely do – generally I just find the centre, work whatever is over it and then count from that. In this case, there’s no stitching at the absolute centre – not until I start on the metal thread work, anyway – so I made sure that the centre point was marked, at least for the first stage of outlining.
Tudor Pincushion - Stage Two
In fact, as you can see, I’ve already taken out the tacking. At least, I’ve left it in at the edges, but now I’ve got all four of the central outlined motifs in, and worked the first set of tent stitch blocks, everything else can be counted relative to the nearest landmark point that is already stitched.
Since the silk stitching is either in tent stitch or back stitch, it’s not difficult to do, although as it is on a very fine linen – 38 or 40 hpi (holes per inch), I think – I’ve been very glad of my magnifying spectacles!
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – More Post
More Post From Thistle Threads
Yet more post from Thistle Threads – aren’t I a lucky girl!
This time, the post contained the real metal threads for the Spot Sampler, and the materials for two pincushions that also form part of the course. There’s a piece of silk brocade, and two pieces of linen, and even more silk threads… I’ve not caught up with printing the instructions yet, so I’m not quite sure what I’m going to be doing with them, although I have had a quick look, and there’s at least one new stitch variation in among them.
Progress So Far
And bear in mind, I still haven’t finished the silk work on the Spot Sampler, and that there are going to be even more ornamental stitches to learn. This photo shows my progress so far. Over the last couple of days I have finished the bargello motif and made a lot of progress on the central motif at the bottom. I once reckoned it took twenty minutes to do ten Queen Stitches, and was very depressed by that discovery, but I think I’m speeding up again!
It’s intriguing to see the new fabric created by the Queen Stitches. It’s not often that the effect of stitches is quite so clear. Instead of the ordinary square-woven fabric, the closely-worked Queen Stitches create a sort of heavy openwork lattice. It has a completely different texture to the basic fabric and when I finally finish the piece, I will have to make sure I frame it or mount it in such a way as to make that quite clear.