If you've been following along with my recent crewel embroidery project, you'll be happy to know that he is finished. After my wishy-washy-what-to-do post on Saturday, I figured I didn't like having a rooster hanging over my head. Besides, the majority of you encouraged me to do the right thing and finish it! So I got to it, and finished the thing off. I'm satisfied with the finish, more or less. What am I talking about?!?!?! I'm downright elated with the finish! Simply because he's Finished!

When I started this crewel embroidery project, my purpose was to test out a variety of crewel threads that I had in my stash. I hadn't really stitched anything significant with any of them - I had no idea which threads I would like better when stitching extensively with them. The rooster taught me several good lessons about crewel embroidery. I'm going to share those with you once I stitch up some small (very small - I'm wooled out!) samples of each thread.

In the meantime, here's the Rooster Guy in all his glory:



There are (there always are!) plenty of things I wish I had done differently. But I can truly say that, on this project, for the majority of it, I re-stitched the areas I didn't like, until I arrived at something I liked at least a bit better!

One point that will probably haunt me: I wish I had stitched the flowers the same, following the color layout of the flower on the left. But too much stitching went into the flowers to pick them out this last time! I picked out the flowers 6 times before settling on a stitch combination. It's not necessarily my favorite combination, either - I just ran out of patience on those things.

The feathers just below the wing were the last things I embroidered, after picking them out. I chose the colors in the flowers - the darkest red and the medium coral. I like it better than the pinks that were originally there.

My favorite part of the rooster: his comb!

Tomorrow, I'll show you what I plan to do with the fellow. I've got an idea, but I have to forage through some shelves in the studio to dig it out. I can't wait to show you!

Thanks heaps for following along with me on this project, and for your encouragement, advice, and suggestions along the way. I hope I didn't bore you too much with the stitching and re-stitching (and sometimes re-stitching) of the various parts! It was an interesting journey, and as usual, it's always great to have your company along the way!

For further posts on this crewel embroidery project, you may wish to visit the following links:

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern for The Crewel Rooster
Setting up The Crewel Rooster Project
Choosing Threads for The Crewel Rooster - and the first flower
Crewel Design Books
Stem Stitch Filling on Flower Stems
Scalloped Feathers on the Rooster's Body
The Beginnings of the Rooster's Tail
French Knots on the Wattle
Adding the First Blue Feather using a Raised Backstitch
The Rooster Tail, Finished for Now
The Wing - Three Attempts
Adjusting the Tail Feathers One More Time
The Rooster's Head, Neck, and Comb
The First Flower Attempt Comes Out
New Colors for the Flowers
Lots of Knots
Rethinking the Flowers Again
More knots on the Flowers and a Color Change

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, needlework pictures, pictures, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, February 15, 2010
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Last weekend, I was thrilled to be within finishing distance of my current crewel embroidery project, The Crewel Rooster. Between me and the Finish were many, many French knots. But the Finish was in sight! And, oh, that delectable anticipation of Finally Reaching the End! But... you know. Things don't always work out the way we plan. Here's my week-later update on The Crewel Rooster, which isn't finished at all, and which still requires lots and lots of yucky knots. (See how my attitude has changed towards the French knot?!)

French knots are not really yucky, I suppose. I just under-estimated the time it takes to work that many French knots, and, as it turns out, I haven't had a lot of time for embroidery this week.

I have, however, moved on to the second flower and adjusted the color layout somewhat. I'm still using Renaissance Dyeing wools - wools dyed with pure vegetable dyes - and I'm really enjoying working with these threads. They're quite nice. The colors are the same used in the first crewel flower, but I've re-arranged the location of the colors on the various parts of the flower.



The stitching is the same - the buttonhole scallop around the outline of each petal, the petal filled with French knots, and then a detached buttonhole stitch worked around the very edge of the petals.

For the colors, though, I went with the mid to lighter tones on the scallops and the filling, and then the darkest tone as the "ruffle" around the outside of the scallops. The dark red will also be used for the stamens and the round things at the very top of the flower. I like this color layout better, personally. The dark on the very edges blends better with the buttonhole scallops, so the individual buttonhole stitches don't stand out as much, making the stitching look neater over all.

But, hey. That's just my opinion! What's yours?

I am determined to finish the rooster project this weekend, come hell or high water or even something more exciting, like a place to go or people to see. No, no! I shall be a hermit and git 'er done. It's time to move on to a new project. Multiple projects all at the same time, actually - but more about that later!

Enjoy your weekend! And keep your fingers crosses for me!

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, needlework pictures, pictures, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, February 06, 2010
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It's always nice to have certitude. While I was working on the flowers on this crewel embroidery project, knotting away with French knot fillings on each petal, it suddenly struck me that maybe I should be considering a different stitch. Maybe the French knots weren't the way to go. Maybe I should consider long and short stitch.

Fortunately, this design has two of the exact same flowers on it. So rather than pick out stitches on the flower I was almost finished with, try long and short stitch, not like it, rip it out, and put the French knots back in (oooooh, just writing all that was painful!), I just jumped over the other flower and gave long and short stitch a try.



It has potential. Each petal, though, would need something textured along the outside rim, to make the individual petals stand out. I could have started with buttonhole stitch, like I did with the petals on the French knot flowers, and then worked long and short stitch from there, I suppose.



My thought was that, if I kept the inside of the petal very dark, then the next layer of petals (starting on their outside rim with the lightest thread) would really stand out.

And they might have. But the first petal didn't grab me. I went ahead with the French knots with a bit more certitude.



There's something about the buttonhole stitch that looks a little rough. The ruffling of the second layer makes it look messy - and the variation in stitch placement doesn't help. This "messiness" is more aggravated, though, by the contrast in colors - the very light outer edge of the petals really stands out against the dark.



Seeing the piece from a different angle changes it slightly. I like it ok, I guess.



I didn't spend much time stitching on Saturday (which makes it highly unlikely that I will meet my January 31st deadline and have this finished today). This is as far as I got. The stamens are worked in a very padded satin stitch - three layers of thread there, building on top of each other.

Today, I'll finish those little round blobs of wool, and then hopefully make some headway on the second flower. I'll re-adjust my deadline to Wednesday.

For further posts on this crewel embroidery project, feel free to visit the following links:

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern for The Crewel Rooster
Setting up The Crewel Rooster Project
Choosing Threads for The Crewel Rooster - and the first flower
Crewel Design Books
Stem Stitch Filling on Flower Stems
Scalloped Feathers on the Rooster's Body
The Beginnings of the Rooster's Tail
French Knots on the Wattle
Adding the First Blue Feather using a Raised Backstitch
The Rooster Tail, Finished for Now
The Wing - Three Attempts
Adjusting the Tail Feathers One More Time
The Rooster's Head, Neck, and Comb
The First Flower Attempt Comes Out
New Colors for the Flowers
Lots of Knots

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, needlework pictures, pictures, stitch along, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, January 31, 2010
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What are your weekend stitching plans? Will you have time to embroider this weekend, to indulge in hours of Needlework Bliss? I hope you will! Here's what I'm up to this weekend...

I'm making lots of French knots. LOTS of them! This whole crewel rooster project has me more involved in making French knots than any other project I've ever done. Oh, sure - I use French knots here and there when I embroider. One here. One there. A few in that cluster, a small bunch thither and yon.

But I don't think I've ever packed in this many French knots in one project in my whole stitching life!

My plans for this weekend involve lots of knots. Come Sunday night, my goal is to have the rooster project completely finished. There are about a million (or a gazillion) French knots between me and that goal.



Each petal in both flowers on the rooster project will be filled with French knots. Plugging away last night on some of the knots, I asked myself, "Why? Why did you do this? Why not just some quick filling stitches? Why not satin stitch? Why French knots? Are you NUTS?"



For each petal, it takes 34" of crewel wool to fill the petal with French knots. In fact, I use two and a half 16" strands of wool, but I'm taking into account the thread lost at the beginning and end of each strand - so it roughly works out to about 34" all told per petal. I'm using Renaissance Dyeing wool for the flowers. I like the colors of crewel wool I'm using, but the flowers are ending up darker than I realized they would be.

So why French knots?

My answer:

Why knot?

Enjoy your weekend!

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, pictures, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, January 30, 2010
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Picking out a palette for the flowers on my crewel rooster project wasn't so easy. I wanted colors that coordinated with the rooster at least a little bit, and that had enough shade options to keep the flowers from being too flat. This is where I dropped my original intention to just use threads from my present stash (at the time I started the rooster). Last week, when I received that order from Hedgehog that had all that luscious floche in it, I also received a small range of colors of Renaissance Dyeing Wool, so I dug into those for the flowers.

I like the Renaissance Dyeing wools, and they embroider really well. So I have duly justified the alteration in my original stash-only intention! At first, though, I thought perhaps these colors would not work for the flowers, especially once I started stitching. But I have resolved that they WILL work. My plan is to use the same colors on both flowers, but I'll stitch them in different locations on the flowers, so that the flowers aren't identical.



These are the shades - a deeper red (the same used in the tail of the rooster) to a lighter salmon. I think they'll work well together?



They're beautiful - like a gorgeous Kansas sunset. (Really - we have stellar sunsets in Kansas!)



I'm going back to the buttonhole scallops around the outside of the petals, and then filling the inside with French knots.



Around the outside of the darker petals, I'm working a row of detached buttonhole stitches in the loops of the previous stitches.



I didn't think out the order of stitching before I began. It's true that I want the detached buttonhole edges to rest over the petals beneath - which means they have to fit over those French knots - but I think it makes more sense to stitch the detached edges first. Since I didn't do that, I had to work the buttonhole over the French knots in the first petal I worked. To transport the needle without catching the knots, I find the fingernail on my little finger to be the perfect transport tool. If you do this carefully, it works great! Just slide your needle onto the tip of your fingernail, which is covering the stitches underneath, then transport the tip of the needle on your fingernail beyond the stitches, so that the needle doesn't catch. Now, if you don't do this carefully, you're in for a shocker. Needles sliding under the nail and into the skin are not pleasant. So if you stitch this way, be careful. (I do this all the time....)



I think I'm going to like the flowers!

Oh, trust me. I AM going to like the flowers, because there's no more picking out from this point on. It's time to finish this guy! And I can't wait to see the flower complete, so hopefully, today I'll make some headway on that.

For further posts on this project, feel free to visit the following links:

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern for The Crewel Rooster
Setting up The Crewel Rooster Project
Choosing Threads for The Crewel Rooster - and the first flower
Crewel Design Books
Stem Stitch Filling on Flower Stems
Scalloped Feathers on the Rooster's Body
The Beginnings of the Rooster's Tail
French Knots on the Wattle
Adding the First Blue Feather using a Raised Backstitch
The Rooster Tail, Finished for Now
The Wing - Three Attempts
Adjusting the Tail Feathers One More Time
The Rooster's Head, Neck, and Comb
The First Flower Attempt Comes Out

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, embroidery tips and tricks, needlework pictures, pictures, threads, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, January 28, 2010
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Working on the Crewel Rooster project, I've had the opportunity to play around with seven different crewel wools currently on the market. Today, I want to show you those threads up close - just the threads. In looking at just the threads, though, out of context, I will admit there's not a lot to learn from them. You might get an idea of their structure, but other than that, you can't tell much from them unless you see them in context, in stitching. That's the way I see it, anyway!

So my plan - and I'm slowly working on it - is to show you some stitch samples with each of these threads, and to put the samples side-by-side so that you can see them and compare the outcome of the stitching with the various threads. In the meantime, though, let's look at the seven different threads I've been working with.



These are the threads I used, in alphabetical order: Appleton crewel (100% wool from England), Bella Lusso (100% merino wool from Italy), D'Aubusson (100% wool from France), Gumnuts Poppies (a 50/50 silk/wool blend, from Australia), Heathway (100% merino wool from Wales), Renaissance Dyeing crewel wool (100% merino wool, vegetable dyed, from France, but the wool is from England), and Simply Wool by Gentle Art (100% wool - company is located in the US, but I don't know where the wool is from).

With the exception of Gumnut Poppies (which is a wool / silk blend), all the threads are wool, and you'd think they'd all pretty much be the same, since they're all wool, but they aren't. And even though several of them look the same, they stitch differently.



Simple Wool (lower) and Renaissance wool (top): fine, two-ply wool, kind of hairy. These two look a lot alike - they feel completely different when you stitch with them!



Heathway is a two-ply merino wool, but the plies twist around each other with a closer twist - not a tighter twist than the others, because the thread isn't tightly twisted. But the "spring" shape of the twist is definitely closer. This makes the thread a bit stretchier and springier. It also makes it very smooth when stretched out in stitching.



Gumnut Poppies: The presence of silk, I think, is obvious. The strands look smoother, more lustrous, and they hold together in their twist, thick and soft.



D'Aubusson's twist is a bit shorter - it looks like Simply Wool, which has a slightly shorter twist than the Renaissance wool. But the twist is much longer than Heathway's.



Bella Lusso (lower) was difficult to photograph (red threads are always difficult to photograph, for some reason!), but you can see that its twist holds together more than the other threads - it is softer, and the fibers are longer. It reminds me more of a cotton-floche-gone-hairy than of wool. And Appleton (top) is again a two-ply twist, but notice how the plies are really separated from each other? They are long twists, but very loose, and the fibers in Appleton wool are also kind of loose and all over the place.

So, although the threads (except Poppies) are all wool, and though they look alike at a glance, they have subtle differences, and these differences come across in the way they stitch. What makes them different? The way the wool is processed, the way it's combed and spun, even the dye process, I suppose. You can read quite a bit, actually, on wool threads in general on the Renaissance Dyeing website. It's a nice site with interesting information for those interested in wool threads, thread dyeing, vegetable dyes, and so forth.

I'll be finishing up some stitch samples to show you how these threads perform. So stay tuned for that! In the meantime, I'm planning on getting the rooster finished over the next few days! Wish me luck!

Labels: crewel work, embroidery tips and tricks, hand embroidery information, threads, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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Crewel embroidery is definitely different from regular surface embroidery, as far as the threads are concerned. Wool thread is not at all like working with silk or cotton! There are, however, some wool threads that are easier to use than others, and I had occasion to use two "easier" wools on the head of the rooster - specifically, on his crown. But before we get to the crown (which I'm sure must have a more technically correct name....), I'll show you my finish on the actual head. Keep in mind, again, that this is a stylized rooster. In truth, the head of this bird doesn't look a bit like any rooster I've ever seen!

I set about to embroider the head of the rooster using Appleton wool, as it's the only wool I have a creamy white color available in. I planned for the head to be stitched in long and short stitch, from very light (creamy white - like on the top of the wing), through the three shades of gold already used on the body, ending with the darkest. So, in that rather smallish head space, my plan was to use four shades, and it worked out pretty well. The head and the crown, in fact, are the only parts of this whole venture that didn't get stitched twice so far!



I began by stitching around the whole head in split stitch, in the creamy white. I split stitched the head, and then across the top scallop line of the larger scallops on the neck, so that the whole head was surrounded with the creamy white split stitching. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of just the split stitching!)

Then, beginning up by the beak (which doesn't look a thing like a rooster beak!), I started long and short stitch, working down the head. I left the eye blank.



Who would have ever known that the rooster and the shark were remotely related? I think my rooster proves there's a familial resemblance between the two creatures. The whole time I stitched this, a little voice inside my head was screaming, "Shark! Shark!" I swear I even heard the music from Jaws....

Regardless, I fearlessly continued to stitch, filling in the head with the gold colors found in the body. These are all Appleton crewel wools.



I finished off the head in the darkest gold-brown (the same color accenting the wing), and then I bespeckled the head with small straight stitches.



The base of the head looks a little dark, but I planned to lighten it up later with some stuff around the neck.

The blank eye was still looking rather sharky, so it was time to do something about that.



A wee bit o' red around the eye area - a buttonhole wheel, to be precise, stitched with Bella Lusso merino wool - began to remedy the eye situation.



I thought about filling in the eye with black, but I was afraid that the black would Really Stand Out, since nothing else on the whole piece would be worked in black. Besides, I didn't have any black wool. So I filled in the eye with dark brown Appleton crewel wool, in satin stitch.



Then I jumped back in with two little stitches in creamy white, to add a glint and pick the eye up a bit. I didn't want it to look like a sunken hole in the middle of a red ring.



Sorry for the poor color and out-of-focus shot here, but I wanted you to see the lines I drew inside the scallops on the crown. They're drawn in about 1/8" from the outside lines on each scallop.



Using Bella Lusso merino wool, I embroidered an outline around each scallop on the crown in buttonhole stitch, so that the twisted edge of the buttonhole stitch was on the outside line of each scallop. I wasn't worried too much about perfection in this buttonhole stitching, because my plan was to cover most of it up, anyway.



I often turn my work upside down in my stand clamp, to better reach the top edge of the embroidery design. Using D'Aubusson wool in brick red, I randomly stitched in some French knots all over the crown, even on top of the buttonhole stitches around the edges. At the base of the crown, the dark red stitches are denser - I was hoping for a kind of mottled shading.



Then I started filling in around the dark knots with the brighter red Bella Lusso.



I'm afraid I couldn't wait to fill in the whole crown before trying out what I had in mind for the edges. Since the first two scallops were filled, I went ahead and experimented on the first scallop. Into the edge of the buttonhole stitching around the scallop, I stitched another row of detached buttonhole stitch. That is, I worked this next row of buttonhole stitches through the previous row, but without passing into the fabric. Then, working around this row of detached buttonhole stitch, I started working some buttonhole scallops to give the crown some bumps on the edges.

I liked it, so I continued with the plan!



I did the same thing around the second scallop, then finished filling the third and fourth scallops with the bright red French knots.



Then I finished adding buttonhole scallops on the rest of the crown. Overall, I will admit, I was pleased with the effect.

Now, to address the neck, and finish up this whole rooster body!



I got a little eager on the neck scallops, and forgot to take intermediate pictures. But this is what I did:

I divided that large scallop area on the neck into three equal layers. Starting in the bottom layer, I embroidered a buttonhole stitch line across the lower division of the neck scallops in the darkest gold (the dark color on the wing). Then, in the middle section, I used the next lightest gold and stitched a buttonhole line. Then, in the next section up (the last division in the neck scallops) I worked the lighter gold. Then, working directly on the dark edge of the long-and-short stitching at the base of the head, I worked buttonhole stitch in the creamy white.



Then, taking the creamy white, I worked a detached buttonhole across each layer of color, working in the twist on the edge of the buttonhole stitches, but not through the fabric. This "lifted" the white edges.



You can see that the white edges don't go back down into the fabric, but they sort of "layer" over each other.



There he is so far. I haven't done his beak yet, or his legs, and I'm still contemplating the under feathers below the wing.

I'm not exactly sure what stitch to use on the legs. Any suggestion? I was thinking French knots down the line of his leg, to give kind of a bumpy look. But what color? What color are roosters' legs? What color legs should this guy sport? Suggestions?

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and suggestions so far on this project! Your suggestions have been really helpful!

For further posts on this project, feel free to visit the following links:

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern for The Crewel Rooster
Setting up The Crewel Rooster Project
Choosing Threads for The Crewel Rooster - and the first flower
Crewel Design Books
Stem Stitch Filling on Flower Stems
Scalloped Feathers on the Rooster's Body
The Beginnings of the Rooster's Tail
French Knots on the Wattle
Adding the First Blue Feather using a Raised Backstitch
The Rooster Tail, Finished for Now
The Wing - Three Attempts
Adjusting the Tail Feathers One More Time

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, embroidery tips and tricks, needlework pictures, pictures, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, January 21, 2010
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A couple points to reiterate on this crewel embroidery project, which I'm calling (oh-so-appropriately) The Crewel Rooster: 1. The first purpose of the project was to experiment with a variety of wool threads that I have on hand. I've had the opportunity so far to play with seven different wool threads made for surface embroidery. 2. The rooster is stylized. I know he isn't going to turn out looking real! Just take a look at his mouth - that says everything. I just felt the need to clarify those two points so that you don't think I'm positively nuts, going through the whole rooster stitching process the way I am! (Did I say "stitching process"? Stitching? Have I been stitching?...)

Not to let the over-abundance of stitching-in at the end of yesterday's post on the wing outweigh my picking-out, today we're picking out again. I re-stitched the tail feathers that were bothering me. I don't know if you will like this any better, but I guarantee you one thing about the tail:

I'm

Not

Changing

It

Again.



This is where we left off. Ok, fine. I will probably change those "under feathers" below the wing....

The large brick red tail feather has to go. I don't like the satin stitching after all - the direction of it, or the fact that, in the wide parts, without padding underneath, the stitches have loosened up and become somewhat discombobulated.

The lowest feather on the tail - the Pepto-Bismol Pink one - also has to go. It's not that I don't like the pink, because I do. I just don't like it there. And it's the satin stitching again. Something about it. Gosh, I wanted satin stitching, but it just isn't doing it for me on the feathers.



"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Earwig."

"Earwig, who?"

"Earwi-go again!"

As corny as it is, it says it all: here we go again! The feather was sliced open and...



... returned to its bare state.



Into the same spot, with a slight bit of difficulty keeping the edges smooth while trying to work around the feathers already there, I stitched a dark red feather in fishbone stitch. I like the feather better, stitch-wise. The thread is actually a bit brighter. It's still a brick-ish red, but slightly brighter. The wool is from the Renaissance Dying collection.



I like the way the colors line up on the tail. Well, Pepto-Feather has to go. But other than that, I like it so far.



And I like the fishbone stitch.



Now, it's Pepto-Feather's turn. Say good-bye!



All sliced up here - this is Heathway wool. It is soft wool and it makes beautiful satin stitches. It also picks out very easily, without leaving those wooly shards all over the place.



My goodness, the linen twill holds up marvelously. It looks great! You can see where I picked out one of the green chain stitches accidentally....



Mwahahahahaha. Some of you are probably cursing me right now! It's true. I used the dark red again. I like the lower feather of the tail in the dark red. It finishes the tail. I used stem stitch in the dark red Renaissance wool, and filled in the area with rows of stem stitching.

Do you notice anything else? Yes, the body is getting some more color there. It's not all in, so it looks a bit blocky and systematically linear or geometric or something. I don't know. It looks bizarre.



Ok, I've added the rest of the darker gold. It doesn't look AS bizarre. Well, not bizarre-bizarre. Only sort of bizarre. But - wait. Just wait! Once the neck and head are done, trust me. It won't be nearly as noticeable!

Yes, the more I look at it now, the more I'm convinced the colors on the "under feathers" below the wing there have to change. Any suggestions? What color? Body color? Or tail colors?

For further posts on this project, feel free to visit the following links:

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern for The Crewel Rooster
Setting up The Crewel Rooster Project
Choosing Threads for The Crewel Rooster - and the first flower
Crewel Design Books
Stem Stitch Filling on Flower Stems
Scalloped Feathers on the Rooster's Body
The Beginnings of the Rooster's Tail
French Knots on the Wattle
Adding the First Blue Feather using a Raised Backstitch
The Rooster Tail, Finished for Now
The Wing - Three Attempts

Labels: crewel work, Embroidery Projects, needlework pictures, pictures, wool

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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