Beats me how the weekend can possibly go by so fast! But I did manage some embroidery this weekend, and I learned a little bit in the process. So ... here goes....

Here's the extent of my hand embroidery endeavors this weekend. I know it's not that impressive! But still....



I managed the embroidered elements of two cards, plus the beginnings of a third, and a put in the rest of the berries and one pine cone on that blasted towel!

Cards first....



This card pattern comes from Erica Fortgens' book, Merry Christmas Embroidery on Paper - that's an Amazon link, if you want to read more about it. The design stitched up pretty quickly. In fact, it stitched up really quickly - the whole thing took less than an hour, including piercing the paper. I have some other ideas for this design. I think it would make a great snowflake, on blue, worked in white or pale silver, with tiny crystals attached. So I may try that later on. I'm going to cut this in a more interesting way, add a few little red crystals to it, put it on a printed background and affix it to a card, with a little ribbon at the top. Whatever... eventually, I'll show you what I mean!



This little heart-wreath-thingy took less than an hour as well, including piercing the paper. I used the wrong sized piercing tool for the thread. I should have used an extra-fine tip, but I used the medium one. Still, it'll pass muster, I suppose, once incorporated on a card with other distracting stuff attached! I'll add some little red crystals in the middle of the open red spaces.



This one's in progress. It's a wreath, so there'll be some greenery between the red balls. And of course, some little crystals in there, too. I like sparkly things on Christmas stuff! I can't help it!!! This card is a little more complicated. I estimate it'll take a little longer to stitch - so, all told, maybe an hour and a half.

Something I learned about embroidering on paper, or at least, about this type of embroidery on paper. It helps TREEEE MENDOUSLY to have the correct materials. All the Erica Fortgens books recommend Anchor Alpaca for the most part, which is a machine embroidery thread. Since I didn't have any, in the past I've just used regular rayon embroidery floss. It works ok, in very short strands, and it gives a very pretty coverage. But it does get frustrating to work with! First of all, you have to work with short pieces; otherwise, the embroidery floss frays, and that's a pain in the neck. Another thing is the nature of rayon embroidery floss - it's cranky!

Well, finally I figured that it doesn't actually have to be Anchor machine embroidery thread! Machine embroidery thread in general works great on these paper projects because it is supple, it stands up to abuse, it's fine, and, depending on the type you get, it's very pretty and shiny stuff, perfect for Christmas cards. You can also get it in metallics, which are much easier to use on paper than regular metallic embroidery floss. MUCH EASIER. I couldn't believe the difference.

Anyway, I found I could stitch a lot faster with the right materials, once I took out a few spools of machine embroidery thread.

Sheeesh. I was a bit slow on that discovery, wasn't I??

I'll talk about the towel later - I'll show you that pine cone up close. I really don't want to talk about the towel right now. Aaargh!!

Finally, it's December, so I will have my monthly stash give-away coming up this week. It's a rather special give-away. Not quite the same type of loot as before, but ... loot, nonetheless! Some people will be excited about it, but I realize there will be some who say... "?!?" It won't interest every stitcher, I'm afraid.... !!! Yes, yes, enough enigmatic talk. Wait for it!

Hope your Monday is terrific!

Labels: Christmas, embroider on paper, hand embroidered cards, hand embroidery information, supplies, threads

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, December 01, 2008
PermaLink  |  0 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

I was going to say "finished." But then I remembered it's not finished. I did manage to finish the top of the goldwork and silk Christmas ornament yesterday - and with a sense of silly, premature exaltation, I convinced myself it was finished.

The fact of the matter is, no one would hang a Christmas ornament on a tree while it's still framed up for embroidery. In fact, I think we could safely say it isn't even a Christmas ornament yet.

I still have to assemble this piece into an ornament. That will involve stuffing and backing it (not really stuffing it, but there will be a layer or two of something in there that'll give it some fill), finishing around the edge with a cord (which I still have to make) and adding a tassel (which I still have to make) and something with which to hang it. All of this, I hope, can be accomplished in a couple hours.



Here's the whole front. Finishing off the gold passing was rather a pain. On future similar projects, I will certainly remember to couch the passing thread first before putting the pearl purl outline down. The gold passing couched with the gold (the innermost part of the border) ended up being fairly even all the way around, with the exception of one side, where I found I had to work one extra little bit of passing in to fill the space.

After I put the ornament together, I'll go over it really well with the mellore (a small silver tool used for prodding gold threads) to make sure all the threads are well situated.



I used gold spangles and a red bead in the blank spaces on the inside of the design, to add a bit of sparkle and to fill up the interior space a little bit. I love the way the gold spangles gleam. They really catch the light, but it's hard to catch that on the camera.



The spanges on the ornament are actually two different sizes, though I don't think it's obvious from far away. To fit one up in the corner above the green shapes, I had to use the smallest ones I had (I think a size 18). The corner spangles, then, are pretty small. All the other spangles are a size 14.

I'm going to try to finish this up today, if all goes well. I was supposed to film video stitches today, but two things prevent me: a dark, dismal day (I need sunlight to get good results) and company for dinner tonight. But I should have an hour or so this afternoon that I can devote to the finish work on this project. It always makes me nervous when I cut the piece from the frame, so keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Labels: Christmas, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, November 29, 2008
PermaLink  |  9 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

I finished the hand embroidery on the corner of this bread basket liner --- well, it's a towel, actually, but it'll be used as a bread basket liner.

I made a mistake on part of the embroidered design - can you find it?



Unfortunately, I tend to be the type of stitcher who gets caught up in the mistakes on my work. I really see them! And perhaps that's the case with most stitchers and crafters. But sometimes, I think it's quite alright to let a mistake go, and that's absolutely what I'm doing in this case!! But I'd be interested to know what you would do... would you take it out and re-do it?



Have you found it yet? Here's a hint:



And here's the other hint:



Would you re-do the little circles? I'm not. If nothing else, they make it characteristically hand stitched. A machine would not have made the mistake of stitching a mirror image using a completely different stitch!

I'm making a series of these towels, with similar, simple corner designs, for my sister for Christmas. She's a cook and an entertainer - she has large crowds at her home often for big meals. In fact, I think her daily meals for her family (and friends - there always seem to be guests at her table) would be considered "fancy" meals for most people. She's the Queen of Hospitality, and a great cook. She always sets a nice table, not just on formal occasions, but for casual daily dinners as well. One of her signature items is bread. A day doesn't go by that she doesn't have bread going - rising, baking, rising, baking - the smell permeates the house. She makes artisan loaves of naturally leavened bread; she makes French and Italian breads; she makes great crusty dinner rolls and melt-in-your-mouth soft rolls and fruit and nut breads; she grinds her own wheat and makes a wonderful, nutty wheat bread as a regular staple for the family. With crowds at the table, she uses large baskets lined with flour sack towels for bread. I thought a set of nicely embroidered flour sack towels to use solely for lining bread baskets would be a good gift.

So, let's see - how far away is Christmas? I've finished one towel. I have a Christmas-themed one in the works. I intended to make six towels altogether. I figured I could make two a week, and still stitch on other necessary items, if I stuck with Really Simple Designs, like the one featured here. But the Christmas one is slowing me down! I wasn't supposed to fill in the designs, but satin stitch seemed perfect for the berries, and the pine cones look better in long and short stitch than they do merely outlined. Aaargh. Six might be a bit ambitious at this rate!

Anyway, I'm still trying to dig up some simple corner patterns. The one I used on this towel above was a lot of fun - I may do it again, in a different color scheme. I may draw up a wheat pattern to use, too, if time allows! I'd like to share this pattern with you, but it isn't mine. I need to check the source (it's from a huge envelope of older patterns that a friend dropped off one day) to see if it's copyrighted.

And, finally, speaking of time - I'm out of time for the day! I hope all you Americans have a great Thanksgiving weekend. Teaching has its advantages - I've got a four day weekend, during which I plan to get some serious embroidery done and I hope to devote a lot of time to the website, too. I've scheduled a filming session for Saturday mid-morning, so keep your fingers crossed for me! If I have sunshine and a relatively quiet day, I should be able to actually finish some of those hanging video tutorials of more embroidery stitches!

For now - I must go bake pies!

Labels: beginner embroidery, Christmas, Embroidery for the Home, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, November 26, 2008
PermaLink  |  8 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

This weekend, I didn't manage a whole lot of embroidery-related tasks, much to my disappointment. Still, I did manage a couple things: 1. to assemble a couple projects into easy-access packages so that, when I can snatch some time for stitching, they'll be ready for snatching; 2. to stitch up most of a towel, thanks to some late night hours...

I'm stitching up a few sets of flour sack towels for Christmas presents. The designs are varied. Some I drew, some I copied, some I adapted. In every case, I tried to keep the designs relatively bold, with clean lines, for quick stitching in a variety of line stitches.



After ironing a couple towels and tracing the designs on to them using a light box and pencil, I selected no more than six colors (but in truth, I think four colors are sufficient), and put the threads and the folded towel into a handy-dandy zip-loc bag. Now, when I have time to devote to this kind of embroidery, I've got everything on hand to start one of these projects. I'm glad about that, because I only have a gazillion more projects to complete before the holidays!!



I had a bit of time later Saturday evening for some focused stitching, so I set out on one of the towels.



I'm just using four colors (two shades of green, a darker burnt red, and a reddish-orange) and two stitches - stem stitch and chain stitch.



I was going to throw two shades of blue in with these colors, but I'm glad that I didn't!



I'm about two-thirds of the way finished on this one. I'm only doing one corner - enough for a splash of color.

Here's hoping that this week presents a few more opportunities to make some headway on Christmas gifts! I'm under a little crunch at work, so we'll see what develops on the home front in the evenings. I still have the front of the goldwork and silk ornament to complete - just a tiny bit more to go! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can finish it this week!

If you haven't signed up for this month's stash give-away, don't miss your opportunity to win some really good threads and stuff!

That about covers my weekend as far as embroidery goes - I hope you had the opportunity to spend more time with your needle 'n thread and were able to accomplish everything you wanted to!

Enjoy your Monday!

Labels: beginner embroidery, Christmas, Embroidery for the Home, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, November 17, 2008
PermaLink  |  4 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

Here's a very quick update on my embroidered Christmas ornament in goldwork and silk!

I had to change my mind on one idea because I was short on the metal thread I wanted to use - I'm running short on check purl... you'll see what I mean...



The area between the green and gold twist and the pearl purl (the inside area of the border) was the problem. I wanted to cover the yellow felt there with check purl, like the middle diamond shape. Unfortunately, I didn't think I'd have enough to get around the whole edge, so I reverted back to the idea of the passing thread couched in gold.



I think the gold passing thread couched with the gold silk gives the ornament a nice beveled look, but I really wanted a few more sparkly areas on the ornament. The other disadvantage is that I had already couched the pearl purl - the one wrapped in green silk and the one that lines the inside of the square. It's not the normal order to use when couching passing thread, methinks. The green and gold pearl would've been ok, but having the other edge of pearl purl makes it quite difficult to couch the passing thread. I'm going to have to sink some threads.



You know, I think I might be back to that dilemma - do I want it on point, or square? Oh - don't worry - we won't start that again! It's funny how different it looks in photos. I don't see it from far away when I'm working on it, and can't really get an eye for it, but when I see it in photos, I think I can be a bit more objective.

Maybe. Can we ever really be objective about our own work?

Labels: Christmas, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, November 13, 2008
PermaLink  |  6 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

Yesterday, I was sitting at lunch with my mom, perusing the ridiculous influx of magazines that pour, unsolicited, into her mailbox this time of year. I came across a line of wool felt table settings that caught my eye in one of them - and I looked at the price tag and said the same thing I say every time I look at similar items: "You could make this a lot cheaper!"

The "Do It Yourself" mentality is nothing really new, but in the past decade, I think the drive to get creative and make things has gained greater impetus. For those on limited budgets, the urge to Do It Yourself may be initiated by the desire to have certain types of items found in the retail world that exceed the limits of the purse strings. For others, the DIY mentality is a way of life - a principled stand against some facet of manufacturing or commercial enterprises. For some, they do it themselves because they know they can do it better.

When the DIY urging inevitably overtakes me this time of year, I have to remind myself of a few things .... so I tell myself the following:

1. You can't always DIY less expensively, but you can usually do it yourself better, simply because you can pay attention to quality of materials and workmanship that are often overlooked by commercial enterprises. So if you are going to put the time in to make it, then don't do a rush job, don't waste materials, use good materials, and make something that will last.

2. You can DSY (do something yourself) less expensively, if you pay close attention to your needs and your wants. If you don't Neeeeed it, you don't need it. So don't make it. Make something else! If you must "create," then create something you can afford to create. Re-use, dig into stash, etc. Forget the catalog ...

3. When you set about to improve upon something you've seen or to imitate it, add your own twist - at least take the source of inspiration up another notch to make it more "your own." If I'm going to imitate something and make it myself, I'd rather people not equate it automatically with something bought from a retailer.

Ok, all that being said... this DIY idea has GOT to be cheaper.... It's a good source of inspiration that I think could be adapted a bit and even improved upon.

The catalog was Williams-Sonoma, and the items are a table runner, placemats, and a tree skirt made from a red felt blend (read that correctly: probably 20% wool, 80% acrylic ... it was on sale at the local fabric shop off the bolt last week for $6.99 / yard) backed by white fabric. There's a cut out design in the red felt so that the white shows through.



These cutwork felt items from Williams-Sonomoa are rather striking, I think. I'm not exactly sure I would decorate my Christmas table with felt, especially at $60 for the equivalent of less than a yard of fabric for the runner (you'd probably have to buy more than that, to get the length in one piece, if you wanted it in one piece - unless you'd settle for a 72-inch runner as opposed to a 90-inch).



Zooming in on the pieces, they're just cut out ... there's no re-inforcement or anything on the cut edge. It's a clean cut - felt is great for that. A little template, a craft knife or small sharp scissors (I prefer the latter when working with felt), and you're all set.



There's also a 56-inch circular tree skirt for $89. Let's see... 72" wide on that felt blend from the local fabric store... so, two yards to make a 56" circle.

I suspect the white fabric is nothing too fancy-schmancy. Just cotton or a cotton-poly blend.

Anyway, this is, surprisingly, the only thing I've seen in any of the hyper-abundant, unsolicited magazines filling the mailbox lately that strikes me as something worth imitating. I'd probably change the cut-out pattern. And I probably wouldn't make a table runner and placemats. But little Christmas stockings for the tree or for gift-giving? Little gift bags? Ornaments? Yep. But you do realize there's something missing? Oooooh yes.... I'd definitely add some embellishment - just a touch of embroidery, in the right spots. It might take away from the clean-cut look. But, done right, it just might add the perfect touch.

So my mind is chewing on ideas for that. I may have already mentioned that this year is entirely a hand-made Christmas on my part, for three reasons: 1. I think it means more, though I may have a hard time convincing my younger nieces and nephews of that! 2. the budget; 3. I thought it would be, somehow, an interesting challenge for myself. Yes, well. I may regret #3 eventually!

My questions for you.... What are your thoughts on the DIY approach?

Do you consider yourself a Do-It-Yourselfer? (I know some very creative people who are not remotely DIYers!) Where do you take your Do It Yourself inspiration? Do you find it's less expensive to DIY (not taking into account the time spent)? If you are a DIY-er, why do you Do It Yourself? Any thoughts?

Labels: Christmas, gift ideas, wool felt

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, November 06, 2008
PermaLink  |  14 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

It's been a while since I've mentioned progress on my silk and goldwork hand-embroidered Christmas ornament! Don't worry - this isn't an example of one of those projects that went to pot shortly after take-off! Sometimes, that happens, and often, when I make a mistake, I'll have a hard time really getting back into a project. But the minor mistakes I've made on this little project have all been pretty positive, so I've been chugging along on it still. Here are some photos for you...

Last time we touched upon the embroidered Christmas ornament, I was not liking (and then I was liking) the orientation of the center design, especially the red satin-stitched areas with the lattice work on them. Many good people gave my heaps of great suggestions on how to improve it. I think, before all is over, I will take up the suggestion of changing the orientation of the lattice work.

At this point, I'm just pluggin along on the couching around the outside edge. I'm using #5 gold passing (2%), and working around in a bricking pattern, using shades of a cranberry red silk.



The most tedious part of the ornament so far has been this outside edge. Oh, woe is me. Never, ever start a project without enough of the needed supplies on hand. My original intention was to work this entirely from stash, and so far, I have been able to keep that resolution! But it's been hard! I'm taking every tiny measure I can think of to conserve thread as I go, including not carrying to the next area of the same shade. I'm using tiny stitches to anchor each piece of thread... and it's getting... really.... t-e-d-i-o-u-s.



This is a very wobbly looking corner. Dang.



The other way I managed to stretch my thread stash in these colors was actually to use more shades than I intended. Originally, I was going to use two shades of this silk, but as I ran out of the darkest shade, I moved to one shade lighter. Then, as the second darkest shade started dwindling, I moved to one shade even lighter, and used less of the dark shade. So I'm ending up, in all, using four shades of cranberry, which may actually end up being five shades by the time I'm finished!



The bricking goes from dark and close together in the corners to lighter and farther apart towards the middle stretch on each side. Some of my bricking isn't perfect. Oh, wait. Most of my bricking isn't perfect!! But don't try to talk me into taking it out.... Please....



I think I have about three more double lines of couching to do to fill this area. Here's hoping the thread lasts. If it doesn't, I'll come up with "something," though I haven't the foggiest idea what.

My plan is to continue with the gold passing, even on the yellow felt (we'll see - I'm having second thoughts), but to couch that in gold thread so that the gold looks brighter. I would divide the two areas of passing with a wrapped pearl purl (a new technique I learned when working on the goldwork pomegranate), which I would like to sit up above the passing area a bit, so I'll work that on top of the lines, I think.

Then, there's chipwork to add still, and sequins and beads and then I'll think about the back. But right now... I gotta get that edge finished!!!

You'd think, knowing that I have to get that edge finished, I'd just go finish that edge, right? Right!

Wrong. Right now, I'm heading to the studio to lay out some designs for towels-turned-tea-cloths-and-basket-liners that I'm making as Christmas gifts. One design I'm going to use is this corner embroidery pattern of leaves and flowers that I'm going to blow up to make about a 3" or 4" deep edge. That'll be fun. The other design I want to work on today I'm adapting from a book - it needs to be enlarged and repeated and elaborated upon. I hope to be able to share it with you, once I figure it out! It's kind of "folky" in an Italian-pottery sort of way.

That's what I'm up to - the rest of the world seems rather quiet. What are YOU up to these days as far as needlework goes? Are you preparing holiday projects? Doing any finish work? Just having fun with your needle and thread? If you've got pictures online - on a blog or flickr or whathaveyou - feel free to post a link to your current project and tell us something about it!

Labels: Christmas, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, November 05, 2008
PermaLink  |  6 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

After considering the hanging direction of my Christmas ornament, I finally realized I wouldn't know for sure whether it would look better square or on point until I finished the green shading. So I finished the green shading, and started the goldwork, then made one of those Moaner Mistakes...

My original concept for this ornament, as mentioned before, was to hand embroider a diamond-shaped Christmas ornament that would hang from the tip of the diamond, and be finished at the base with a tassel. You can see the original drawing of the pattern in the post where I was musing over different projects in planning stages.

Though I didn't plan much beyond the initial design, I had in mind an ornament that would combine silk shading and goldwork.

Thinking Through the Embroidery Design

Originally, the four diamond shapes around the center of the ornament were to be silk shading in deep reds, raised on felt. But when I started, I discovered I liked satin stitch better for those. Then, once I got the satin stitch in, I found I liked the ornament turned as a square better. So I polled readers about it, asking which direction they liked better, and I think the majority said they liked the ornament hung on point - but many also agreed that the inside diamonds looked better turned. Well, it was too late to re-design the layout, so I decided to forge ahead through the green silk shading to see if it would make a difference in the look of the ornament.



Once the green was in, I was back to liking it on point, as a diamond shape overall, despite the direction of the little red diamonds within. I think it all panned out ok.

I suppose this isn't the most "professional" way to go about working up a project - this trial-and-error, not knowing where you're going for sure before you start, type approach. But I like undertaking projects this way, because there's more discovery along the way. I really had no idea how the red and greens would look together in the design. But I find I like them!

Haste Makes Waste

Once the greens were finished, I was itching to start couching on the pearl purl around the green shapes! I couldn't wait (I thought) to see what the whole effect of the gold around the green would look like!

BUT - perhaps it was the late hour... perhaps it was my overeagerness... perhaps it was mere carelessness...

I made a mistake. One of those "ooooooooh nooooooooo" mistakes. Just as it happens, you realize exactly what you've done, but it's all so quick, in such an instant, that the fact and the realization of the error all come into being at the same split second...



There it is. In trimming the gold purl pearl, my scissors grazed the edge of my satin stitching, and (I thought) cut through several threads.

In fact, it grazed the threads, and cut halfway through two of them, but not all the way through either. Still, it wouldn't do - that needed to be repaired before I could rush into the rest of the gold.



I examined from all angles, and realized the mistake wasn't really noticeable. But the problem was actually the threads - they wouldn't survive the test of time if they began Life on an Ornament already damaged. So ... on to the repairs.

Repairing the Satin Stitching

The first thing I did was carefully snip off the lattice.



Then, using the eye of the needle, I separated the threads that were damaged, to see if there was any way I could pull just one or two threads to the back, and fill in with a couple new stitches.



As I pulled the threads carefully out, though, I realized it would be a matter of complete removal.

On the top of the work, I ran my scissors carefully under all the satin stitches on this one diamond, perpendicular to the direction of the stitches, and cutting the diamond right in half.



On the back, I did the same thing, but I had to be much more careful, because I had ended and begun threads from other parts of the motif in the threads on the back of the diamond. After snipping just the red diamond threads, I carefully plucked out the satin stitching with tweezers.

Tweezers, by the way, are a necessary tool in any embroidery work basket!



I managed to get all the threads out with minimal damage to the felt. The front looked ok, but...



... the back was a Whole Nuther Question!

These were the threads that were anchored in the back of the satin stitching, and it was important that they return to their anchored state, so I was pretty careful with them!



It didn't take too long to satin stitch the diamond again.



Once I got the lattice back onto the diamond, I charged into couching the rest of the pearl purl. Once the gold outline was on, I was sold again on the notion of the diamond shaped ornament!



I love the look of the gold with these colors of silk!

A Lesson for Hand Embroiderers All

What have I learned so far on this project?

1. Don't try to make decisions on a design until you get it to the point where you can really "see" it.

2. Haste makes waste. I was dying to get to the next step of the project, and, because I wasn't as careful as I should have been, I had to pick part of the stitching out and start over again, using up valuable thread and valuable time. Take things slowly and pay attention to detail - in the long run, it'll save you time!

3. But - everyone makes mistakes. As Shakespeare put it, "Roses have thorns, silver fountains mud. Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, and loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud. All men make faults..." At some point, we all have to take out stitches! So instead of dreading taking out the stitches - or allowing a mistake to hault us in our tracks so that we don't go back to the project (that's hard to overcome - I find I'm always put off a project when I make a major mistake!), consider the picking out just part of the project. Picking out is, in a sense, an integral part of embroidery - at some point, even the best needleworkers pick out their stitches and re-do. It's all part of the process... and mistakes are part of being human.

Heh heh. That's the philosophical me - but don't think that, at the time, it didn't irk the heck out of me!



NOW - what do you think about the diamond / square question at this point? Do you think the diamond works better overall now? What's your take?

Labels: Christmas, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, October 19, 2008
PermaLink  |  20 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

Oh golly. I'm just speeding along on this Christmas ornament (! not quite !), but I do at least have the surface embroidery well underway - maybe tonight I can finish that part! That's the plan, anyway. I've managed some satin stitch and some shading, and have developed a dilemma, if you want to take a look...

When I first designed this Christmas ornament, my plan was that it would hang on point, so it would be diamond-shaped. Then I started stitching, and a lot of things happend.



First, the embroidered red things - originally, they were going to be shaded long and short stitch, raised on felt. But I started that, and I thought... you know, I'm going to see what satin stitch looks like first. I have a real thing for satin stitch - I just like it a lot. So I tried the satin stitch, and I found I liked it, so I stuck with that. The red diamonds will be outlined with an edge of gold, to finish them off.

Then, I thought a lattice might look nice over the top of the satin stitch, in a lighter shade of the same colors. These colors will be repeated on the border, in an Or Nue bit. So, I did the lattice couching. I like sparkly Christmas ornaments. There's going to be stuff on here, aside from the embroidery - and in the middle of the red things, I want to put a little gold pailette. So that lattice forms the framework for a tiny pailette. If it looks ok, I'll leave it. Who knows, I might change my mind!

Now, in the longer, petal-looking areas (where the green shading has been started), I was originally going to trim down some beetle wings to fit right in there, and surround them by pearl purl.

But - I didn't like the color of the beetle wings with the color of the reds. So I scratched that altogether, and decided to do the green shading. I think I'm going to like it better!

This is the dilemma, though. On point - diamond-shaped, that is - see the direction of the red diamonds and the lattice? It's looking rather square, isn't it?

But if I turn the ornament to be hung squarely, look what happens to the red diamonds and lattice:



I think I like the red diamonds better this direction!

So here's my question: Which direction should the ornament hang? Perhaps it's a little early to decide - maybe it will be easier to decide once all the green shading is finished. But I want to make a "final" decision on this dilemma before I begin the layers of goldwork around the outside, since I think the direction the ornament is to be hung will change the approach I take to the various colors....

What do YOU think? Any preference? Any insight to the look of the design, or to the way it will hang if hung as a square instead of a diamond?? Let me know your thoughts!!

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

Labels: Christmas, goldwork, Hand embroidery stitches, needlepainting, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 17, 2008
PermaLink  |  13 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

False starts are a part of life. They're also a part of needlework. What do I mean by a "false start," you may very well ask... Well, let me explain.

A "false start" is the experience of beginning that isn't really a beginning, and that really requires you to begin again!

For example, I have a ritualistic false start about two times (out of five) a week, when I leave my classroom after my last class of the day. Amidst the "See you tomorrows" and "Have a good afternoons" and "Don't forget to reads," I close the windows and curtains, I straighten stray things on my desk, and I head out of my classroom with that peculiar eagerness of ending that part of the day. (Yes, it's true, teachers often look forward to the last bell just as much as the students do - especially when that last bell comes right before lunch, as mine does!)

I close my door and lock it, and head down the hallway. If I'm lucky, about halfway down the hallway is when my false start ends. I realize, inevitably, that I forgot something. I must go back to the classroom, dig out my keys, unlock the door, and find and retrieve the forgotten item.

Sometimes, though, my false start doesn't end until I've gone down two long hallways and two flights of stairs, traversed an outdoor walkway, and arrived at my car in the distant corner of the parking lot. The realization strikes that I forgot something, and I stop, turn around, and head back to the classroom.

In embroidery, I make similar false starts. But the more I embroider, the more I realize when the false start must end - and, if I know when to stop, then I save myself a lot of time, trouble, and grief, not to mention conserving precious supplies.

You might be inclined to think that a false start is a mistake. No, no, dear reader! It's not a mistake! It's a learning experience! False starts can actually be a very good thing.

I've had quite a few false starts lately. There's the whole baby bootie experience that you've already heard about. Then there's last night's table cloth experience:



This is a pre-printed tablecloth kit from Anchor - I think it's called "Spring Garden" and it's a Fleur de Lis kit. Overall, these kits are pretty nice, and I like working on them for a "casual" project that can be done in the living room. But sometimes, I don't like their stitch suggestions. On this particular table cloth, they call for these satin stitched blue-bell type flowers, worked in three strands of floss. After the first two (out of six) flowers on the stalk, I knew I didn't like it, so I picked out the stitches. Was it a mistake that I worked them in the first place? No. It was simply a false start! How would I have known how much I didn't like the satin stitched flower, if I didn't try it?

That was a small false start - like getting halfway down the hallway.

But yesterday, I had the pleasure of a Big false start. This wasn't just reaching the car in the far corner of the parking lot. It was like walking all the way home! Let me show you.



When speaking about designing a project yesterday, I showed you my plan for a hand embroidered Christmas ornament that incorporates silk shading and goldwork. During the afternoon I concentrated on this project! I started by sifting through supplies and tools and seeing what I had to work with.



Then I started the actual work. I traced the design elements that would be padded with felt onto fusible interfacing. This is a great tip that I actually learned from Margaret Cobleigh, when I was working her pomegranate. Normally, under goldwork (such as couched gold passing or chipwork), there's a layer of yellow felt over which the gold is worked. The felt accomplishes two things: it lifts the embroidery and it provides a background color that blends with the gold, in case the background peeks out behind the gold.

To cut out the appropriate shape of felt, you can trace the pattern pieces on fusible interfacing, then iron the piece to your felt, then cut out the shape, and place the interfacing-side down on the ground fabric. You don't fuse it on; you just stitch it on as you normally would. The fusible web left on the base of the felt is handy, because it supplies a bit more friction, so the felt stays put until it's tacked down.



You can see here that I've fused the interfacing to red felt, which will be underneath the silk shading. I wanted the stitching to be a bit padded and raised, so, again adopting the idea from Margaret's pomegranate, I cut out red felt to work the shanding on.



My red and yellow felt ready, it was time to tack the felt onto the design. My plan was to make the ornament out of white satin silk, so I transferred the design onto the white silk (which, because it's satin, is really rather thick) by using a light table and tracing. I used a tailor's white chalk pencil to do the transferring. After the design was transferred onto the silk, I mounted the silk, lined with muslin, on an embroidery frame.



I was ready to start tacking the felt pieces on. As I added the first little center piece, I noticed that the design looked somewhat lopsided. I thought I could fix this by touching up the lines with the chalk pencil. It worked a wee bit, but still, the design just didn't look right to me.

I went back to the drawing board to determine why the design would look crooked. Having drawn the design on graph paper, measuring out all distances and curves, I could see the problem wasn't the actual design. I considered that it could have been the frame - maybe I pulled the fabric to taut in one direction, causing distortion in the fabric and design. Or maybe I was just careless when tracing with the chalk pencil. I finally concluded it was the latter, as the silk had probably shifted in the transfer process.



Still, I pressed on. I began tacking down the other pieces of yellow felt. But I didn't feel too good about the whole situation. I kept envisioning a finished product that looked just slightly skewed. I tacked on one yellow felt edge, then the other. And one of the yellow felt edges came out looking warped! I lined up the red felt with the yellow felt...



And that is when my false start ended!

I learned a couple things:

1. I don't like this satin silk for this kind of stitching (and obviously not for this kind of transferring). I've used this fabric before, and I like it fine for regular delicate surface embroidery. But I don't like it for a Christmas ornament. Besides, the whole time I was working with it, I was thinking ahead to the pain it would be to finish the ornament.

2. Keep your transfer pencils (tailor's chalk pencil in this case) sharp! It really helps with precision tracing!

3. Double check straight edges on the felt before cutting. If necessary, use a ruler and rotary cutter to straighten and cut an edge. I don't know why I didn't think of the rotary cutter and ruler in the first place!

4. With a geometrically shaped object like this - when it isn't clear which is the top of the design - mark the top on your fabric, outside the design area, so that you know which end is up. You'd think it doesn't matter, but I think it somehow does. The whole movement of the piece - stitch direction, etc., will be determined by which end is up.

So that was yesterday's false start. I'm glad of it, actually, because I learned a lot from the experience. I also realized what the kinks or difficulties would be in this pattern, so I've been able to address those (at least in my head). This means that, when I go for the "real" start (today), I will be better equipped to make a go of it.

I'm going to stitch the piece on linen, instead of the silk. That was my original, original plan, but somehow, early, the silk idea crept in. Linen takes a transfer better, anyway. On the silk, the micron pen (.005 tip) bleeds into a thick line. I've ever had that happen on the linen, and on this type of project, the micron pen is my preferred choice for transferring a design.

False starts are just a step in the journey - and they're quite alright with me. Besides, they give us the opportunity to make fresh starts, and would we ever know the pleasure of making a fresh start if we didn't know what it's like to make false starts?

Labels: Christmas, embroidery tips and tricks, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, October 12, 2008
PermaLink  |  3 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

I have two needlework projects in various stages of planning right now. One is a Christmas ornament and the other is the Long and Short Stitch sampler. Let me show you what I'm doing, discuss a bit about designing, and then tell you where I'm going next.

If you're like me, designing your own needlework project is a bittersweet sort of adventure. The sweet side is the satisfaction - it's nice to design and execute your own work, from scratch to finish.

The bitter side is that it can be somewhat intimidating. First, there's the question of "What"? I often suffer from writer's block at the designing table. That's why I think it's a good idea to doodle, and even to keep track of your doodling in a sketchbook or journal. Before doodling, you might want to get the juices flowing. You can flip open books and take some inspiration from what you see, or you can go outside and see what's weird and wonderful in Nature. Somehow, you want the juices to flow, but at some point, you have to get it down on paper.

If you were taking a writing course, you'd be told to "brainstorm" or "list" - just plain start writing down anything that comes to mind, in order to get ideas out. For designing a project, the equivalent is doodling. Start doodling.

Once you have an idea, there are other intimidating factors to designing your own piece of needlework. There's the question of "acceptability." Sure, I like it - but will anyone else? Then there are the "professional" questions to take into consideration, too: form, order, line, color, texture - all that kind of stuff. For some people, that comes second nature. For people who are artistic, those questions may not pose a problem. For me, they do pose a problem, so I generally end up ignoring them, at least at first. My work probably suffers for that...!

If you're interested in designing your own embroidery piece, you might want to check out a helpful article titled "Taking the Fear out of Designing" by Sue Stause. I think it's a helpful, interesting, and informative article, though I probably don't do everything she suggests. (My work probably suffers for that, too...!)

I'm not a professional designer - as I've mentioned before, I'm a hobbyist, not really an "artist." I'm not formally trained for designing, drawing, color selection, and so forth. So, being the average Jane Doe when it comes to this type of thing, I just sort of work out things that I think will work out. And then I tweak and polish, just like a writer does with a rough draft.

After various doodles, this is what I've come up with for a long and short stitch sampler.



I suppose it looks a little more complicated than it is supposed to be. That's another fault of mine, when it comes to designing. I tend to go overboard instead of adhering to the KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid - rule.
The concept was to arrange, in seven stages, different levels and approaches to long and short stitch shading, progressing from geometric shapes to natural elements, following in order of level of difficulty. The whole thing is 8" x 8", and each element is generally within the 1 - 1.5 inch range, so small enough to stitch in (hopefully) one sitting.

The next project I'm working on is a Christmas ornament. I oscillated between using someone else's design and making up my own, but the latter finally won out. This was a project that drew a blank for me for a long while. I knew the look I wanted, but couldn't figure out how I wanted it to come across. Many doodles later, I think I've settled on an idea, but I think there will be a lot more tweaking to come.



The ornament will be a combination of goldwork and silk shading. There's still a bit of tweaking to do there.

The next step on the Long and Short stitch sampler is to work on color ideas. This particular project is not really a "wing it" sort of project since I want to use it for instruction. It'll take a lot more time at the design table.

For the Christmas ornament, though, with the basic shape in place, I'm actually ready to set it up for stitching. I know that sounds rather silly, considering I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to do where, but... that's ok. I have enough of an idea that I can wing on this small project.

Do you like to design your own embroidery projects? Or would you prefer for someone else to do the designing for you? If you do like coming up with your own designs, how do you go about doing it? What's your favorite designing medium?

Any suggestions and tips are always welcome - not just for me, but for others out there who may have that deep down desire to design, but who are too intimidated to go for it! Maybe you know something that will help the rest of us!!

Labels: Christmas, embroidery design, goldwork, needlepainting, pictures, silk

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, October 11, 2008
PermaLink  |  3 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

Yesterday afternoon, I headed out to the the little studio at the back of the house with the best intentions in the world. I was going to devote some quality time to "real" work - I had some paperwork to take care of - and then, once I felt I had accomplished a reasonable amount of work, I was going to do some more work setting up Christmas cards. It was a perfectly feasible - even admirable - plan for my late afternoon hours...

There I sat, inspecting the pile of paperwork before me, when suddenly, my eye was arrested by Christine Bishop's Schwalm Whitework Embroidery.

I contemplated the book. I contemplated the pile of papers.

The book.

The papers.

The boooooooooooooooooooooook.

Literally, it was calling to me. I'm sure I heard it. What can one do?

The next thing I knew, I was engrossed in a Chicken. (She's got a cute chicken in there.)

Now, I didn't stray so much from my Plan of the Day as to completely forget the cards I was supposed to be preparing. I thought to myself, "A Card. I could maybe make a Schwalmish Christmas Chicken card. I mean, everyone's heard of the Christmas Chicken, haven't they?"

And so I tinkered, and this is what I came up with:



I drew the design out on graph paper first. I wasn't as precise as I should have been. Some intersections were off, and I didn't space the dots as carefully as they needed to be on the longer stretches of stitch. You'll see what I mean....

I placed a piece of tracing paper over the picture I had drawn on the graph paper, and used different colored ink (pink and purple - though you can't tell in the photo) to trace the picture in dots, where I would pierce the pattern.

Then I put the tracing paper over the cardstock - I'm using a textured red, with a red core (not white core card stock) - and pierced the design.



The large dots around the edge in the blurry photo above are eyelets, actually. The card will be backed with a white card, and the chicken's eye, the eyelets around the edge, and the eyelets on the wing and tail (which you can't see yet, because they aren't punched) will show the white background. That's the plan, anyway.

Once I got to that point in my Christmas chicken adventure, I decided I better do what I planned to do, or I'd be in trouble later.

So I readdressed that stack of papers.

But then it occurred to me that I wasn't sure what thread I would stitch that Christmas Chicken with. So I decided I better rummage through thread while it was still sunny outside. (Well, you know the old superstition, that thread rummaging should never be done after sunset?)

And I came upon a #80 DMC cordonette - small stuff, for cordonette.

I finished my thread rummaging right before sunset. But of course, you know I wouldn't start stitching until I had taken care of my paperwork! No, no. I just had to line up my resources, so when I could be irresponsible, everything would be ready.

Ok. So that's what I did yesterday before the sun went down.

And shortly after the sun went down, I did this:



There are a few blurby spots I need to take care of. I think, if I ever do this again, I'll change my approach on some of the pricking dots. It was a learning experience. Gosh, I just feel So Accomplished and So Responsible for making certain I had a learning experience yesterday.......

Tonight, I'm bonding with papers. And please don't try to talk me out of it!

Labels: Christmas, embroider on paper, hand embroidered cards, needlework pictures, pictures, whitework

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 02, 2008
PermaLink  |  9 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this