I just acquired another excellent embroidery book - and I know this one is going to be a favorite! The inspiration for purchasing it came from Elmsley Rose, whose enthusiasm for embroidery has "recharged" me - now I'm all fired up for some upcoming projects! (Oh, if she only knew what she has started!!) This book is perfect for anyone who loves embroidered flowers and who is interested in learning needlepainting techniques.

Redouté's Finest Flowers in Embroidery by Trish Burr is essentially a book on needlepainting flowers originally painted by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, a French painter of Flemish background famous for his botanical artwork.



Besides being an excellent resource for producing some gorgeous embroidered flowers, the book covers all the essentials of good needle painting techniques - those little nuances that make en embroidered work look positively realistic. The book begins like most other embroidery books that focus on projects: materials such as fabric, threads, hoops and frames, needles, and so forth are briefly discussed, as well as transferring techniques. "Briefly" is the operative word - Trish's book doesn't go into a lot of detail on the background information for getting started on a project, but the essentials are all there.

Then, you get a break down of the various stitches used in the projects in the book, with an extensive focus on long and short stitch as well as an adequate look at all the other stitches that help bring a needle painted project to life. The stitches are illustrated, some with drawings, some with photographs. The explanation of the stitches is good - not elaborate, but again adequate, especially for those already familiar with embroidery. She focuses as well on important aspects of stitching, such as direction and shading techniques.



To get you familiar with the stitches and how they work, Trish follows the stitch glassary with a starter sampler which covers all the basic stitches. It's an attractive piece in itself and would make a fun and varied embroidery project.



Then, Trish launches into "The Projects." This is surely the best part of the book! Seventeen of Redouté's flowers are drawn out and broken down into really "doable" projects. There are three good-sized, nicely laid-out pages devoted to each project. Each project includes a list of materials required, a line drawing, a photograph of the completed embroidered flower, a list of DMC thread suggestions, and - what I really like - a pencil-shaded drawing of the piece, so that you can see exactly where the shades change. In addition to this, on each project there is usually another line drawing of the flower, with certain areas shaded to show you what areas should be padded and how.

Stitch directions are not indicated on the flower patterns (this is where she falls short of Tanja Berlin's instructions), but the photographs of the embroidered piece are close-up and very clear, so that you can see the stitch directions on the finished piece. Very handy!



In addition to the material lists, the patterns, and the photo of the embroidered piece, you also get general instruction on how to work each section of the pattern.

The book is quite stunning, and for the intermediate embroiderer is a great way to launch into needle painting. The directions are clear, the pictures are fantastic, and Redouté's art looks fantastic in thread!

(It would make a Great Christmas Present, too!!!)

Labels: book review, needlepainting, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, November 29, 2007
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, November 26, 2007
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Here's an update on my beetle wing and goldwork embroidery sample. In the photos here, I've started embellishing a bit. The more I look at it, the more it does look like a peacock on stick!

The tops of the "petals" of the main goldwork flower needed something. Digging through my scraps and such, I found a small bag of little spangles (or paillettes). I put these above the petals that don't have the scrolly pattern at the top.



I took these photos outside, hoping that the color would be a little more "true to life." I still can't capture the look of the wings with the camera!

Paillettes (spangles) are often sewing onto a goldwork project using purl or another type of "bead" to hold down the spangle. If you use something in the center, like a bead, you don't have to couch the spangle from both sides. You'll see this up close in photos below. Close up, you do see the yellow thread holding down each side of the spangle, but from far away, it really isn't that noticeable.

You'll also often see spangles overlapping in a line, sewn down by purl worked in what almost looks like a stem stitch. This is called S-ing. I would have liked to overlap the spangles, but I had a limited supply. I counted them out and laid them on the piece, determining exactly how many I would need so I would be certain to have enough. I had two left over!



Here they are, up close. Just like you do when working with metal threads, you wax your thread when you attach spangles. I reeeallly wanted to overlap the spangles here and sew them down with S-sing. But oh well! Pacman, anyone?



Here, you can see the spangles decorating the smaller flower. I'll get back to this one below...



Just to show you the way the light plays on the wings - here, they ALL look blue!



And from this side, the beetle wings look blue, too! The spangles, by the way, really gleam in the light. They are lovely with goldwork!



Here's the whole thing from above - I think you can get a better idea of the blue and green hues in the alternating petals on the flower. Well, at least a little bit, anyway!



Back to this fellow, up-close. There are two things in this flower that are different (and unfinished!) First, around the two side beetle wings, I've worked some S-ing in purls, alternating smooth and rough purl. S-ing looks a lot like stem stitch. The difference is, you work from the top of the line, laying your first purl the length of the stitch. Then you come up into your fabric, half a stitch-length below the end of the first purl. Thread the next purl on your needle, and take your needle down at the half-way point of the previous purl, taking your needle underneath the first purl, on the stitch line. Pull through, firmly but not too firmly, so that the first purl curves. Mary Brown, in her book "Goldwork Embroidery Designs and Projects" gives an excellent instruction on S-ing. In fact, if you're at all interested in goldwork, I've found that this really is, so far, the best book on the subject (in my opinion). I have many books on goldwork - this is comprehensive!

Ok, back to that flower - you can see where my S-ing is far from perfect. Some of the purls cracked. This can happen when they are cut too long for the stitch you're taking. You can avoid it by cutting your purls with more care! The other cause of the cracking (and this is the case here) is poking them with your needle while you're stitching!! I was using a very long, thin beading needle (Mary Arden, #13), which I was unused to weilding. It went everywhere - mostly in the places I didn't want it to go. I needed the smallest needle I had on hand, because I was using a rather small purl. A #12 sharp wouldn't fit through the rough purl. I'm not sure what size purl it was, because I stupidly didn't label the bag when I put away the scraps last time! Good lesson!

The other (unfinished) thing going on in this flower is some seeding with real gold Jap, size #1. It's stitchable or couchable, very fine stuff. I cut small lengths and started trying it as a seeding stitch. It works "ok" although the more you work it through the fabric, the more you risk losing the gold off the core thread. Also, it's probably not the best choice of stitch and thread on velveteen - the stitches tend to get lost in the pile. So I had work pretty carefully with it. I wanted something to add a bit of fill on the two side petals, without being at all bulky. I just wanted it to barely show, like a dusting of gold. So it's working for that, but it takes a long time. It's like having a shimmery layer of gold dust in there - a little sparkly, but not too much, with plenty of the red still showing.

Still a bit more to go on embellishing this, so I'm off to thread my needle again!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, November 25, 2007
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Joyce sent along some photos of a gorgeous embroidered quilt she is working on for her granddaughter. In selecting patterns to embroider for the king-sized quilt, Joyce told me, "I picked out pictures I thought would be ok for her now as a little girl and would be ok for when she has grown up." This is a grand idea!

So far, Joyce has embroidered fourteen cream colored squares and sixteen colored squares. She sent along photos of a selection of the squares - it's obvious that she has put a lot of time, effort, and love into this work! So let's take a look at some of the squares so far:



Can you imagine the amount of time this iris took?! It's worked entirely in French knots! Amazing work!



I love these two dragonflies. It looks like the wings are worked in a metallic thread, and the bodies in two tones of floss. Nice!



The purple and yellow pansies look like they were worked in either buttonhole stitch, or satin stitch outlined by another stitch. Whatever the case, they are really pretty!



Another French knot grouping - these, I think, are lilacs. I like the combination of the different purples, the white, and the green.



I recognize this butterfly pattern! I used the same one on an embroidered baby girl's quilt that we raffled last spring! I thought it was a fun pattern to work, although we both interpreted the design differently.



The swan gliding under the willow is beautifully embroidered in all white - I am a huge fan of white work, and I think this works really well for this pattern! Pretty! It reminds me of a piano piece I had to learn when I was a kid. The words to the piece went something like: "Stately as princes the swans... something something... and glide under the willows. Are they enchanted men soon to be free again here, under the willows? Oh, how I'd like to be there when a fairy wand touches the leader and changes his looks. Will he be handsome and brave as the heros I find hidden in my storybooks?" (The "something something" is as close as I can get to the missing words!) Funny - I haven't thought of that in years. But that's just exactly the picture of it!



This is a super-nice whitework basket. The contrast between the flowers, the leaves, the bow and the basket is really nice!



Very pretty little wreath, dove, and heart!



These intertwining hearts and bullion roses are so pretty! Working them in white was a great idea, I think.



And finally, Joyce also sent a long a shot of the finishing fabric - the colors are her granddaughter's favorites. Purples and greens are a great combination!

Thanks, Joyce, for sending the photos along! Congratulations on your amazing work! Your granddaughter will have quite an heirloom! I hope we can see the finished product!

Labels: needlework pictures, pictures, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, November 24, 2007
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I was able to finish up the basic outline of the beetlewing embroidery project and attach the wings, so I thought I'd share some photos!

I still have some work to do on my goldwork and beetle wing project, but in these photos, you can see that all the major embroidery is done - it's now just a matter of embellishing it a bit further and putting on the finishing touches.



This is the main part of the design - the big flower. I outlined the petals in #5 gold passing thread, alternated with Elizabethan twist. (The petals with the little scroll tips are done in the twist.) Passing thread is a bit stiffer, I think, than the twist, but it's also finer. Gold passing is couched onto the ground fabric. It makes a wonderful filler. For example, you can take a look at it around the edge of my Agnus Dei project from last spring. Normally, passing thread is worked two at a time, couching perpendicular to the gold thread over two strands.

The wings are actually slightly different colors. I had the blue hues separated from the yellow / green (keep in mind the wings overall are green, but some reflect blue or yellow or copper more than others). So I alternated the colors every other petal as well. I'll try to get a clearer picture of that eventually! Perhaps taking the pictures outside on a sunny day will help.



This is the little paisley leaf on the left of the design. I split the beetle wing in half and trimmed one half smaller, to get them to fit in the base of the paisley leaf. I'll put something between the two wings up the middle of the paisley.



This is the smaller flower on the right. The petals are outlined in #5 passing and in Elizabethan twist as well, just as on the larger flower. On this smaller flower, I put the wings at the base of the petals. I figured, since it's more of a bud than a full-fledged flower, I wanted it to look slightly different. I used half wings on the outside petals, and on the inside petal, I trimmed the middle wing to have more of a point. I'm also going to add some filler or something to the petals on the "bud."



And here's the whole design so far! Overall, I do like it. I've had fun working with the gold! In fact, given the hectic holiday yesterday and company this morning, I haven't had a chance to get back to it lately - soooo... I hope you enjoy your Friday evening! As for me, I'm going to go thread my needle!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, November 23, 2007
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Here's the next stage of my goldwork and beetle wing embroidery practice - sewing some of the gold on! This is fun stuff! I'll show you some photos here, and explain the types of gold I'm working with, as well as the particular techniques. I'll also point out a few flaws, so you can avoid them if you take up goldwork!

After selecting which metal "threads" I would use on the project and jotting them down on my pattern, the real fun began!

I started with the main stem of the design, and worked it in Elizabethan twist. This is three strands of gold, twisted together to make a nice, sparkling twisted "wire" (only it isn't as stiff as wire). With twist, you couch it on, and normally, you slightly untwist the twist when you couch, and pass your couching thread between the twists so you can't see it. Then, of course, you let them twist back together again. Elizabethan twist is the smallest of the twists - it's pretty fine - and I can't for the life of me get my couching thread to disappear between the twists without distorting them - I think I may have to find a finer silk!



I worked up the stem, around the triangle at the base of the flower, and back down the stem with the Elizabethan twist. To couch goldwork, you use yellow or gold-colored thread (I use silk), which you run through a cake of beeswax. I run the thread through about three times, and then pass it through my fingers a couple of times to smooth the wax on. The beeswax gives strength to the couching thread. Working with the twist, you should couch in the direction of the twists, so that you see as little of the couching as possible.



The triangle at the top of the stem is filled with what is called "chip work." This is usually done over felt padding (yellow felt, if you're working with gold). The metal here is called "check purl." It's a hollow, faceted, tube-like coil of very fine gold wire. You cut little pieces from it and sew them down like beads. Chip work can be packed very closely together (and the felt helps this process), or it can be randomly scattered over the ground fabric. This is kind of a cross between the two. The chips are worked directly on the ground fabric, and they are "tight," but not super tight.



On the little stem, the chip work is even looser - but I have since gone back and filled in a little bit! You can see on the top left side of the photo above where my couching thread does not match the twist of the Elizabethan twist. It's important to keep the couching thread even with the way the twists twist on this type of twist - since it's difficult to hide the thread, you want it to at least "blend in." If it's going against the grain of the twist, it won't blend in very well!



For the outline of the paisley-looking petal on the left side of the design, I used what is called "pearl purl." Unlike the hollow wire of the check purl, the pearl purl is a thicker, nobbier spring. You couch it on using waxed thread, scooting the couching thread between the little "pearls" on the coiled wire. I like this stuff! It works wonderfully around curves and makes a nice decorative line. It looks very rich! It's also much stiffer than most of the other metals (with the exception, I'd say, of the flat, ribbon-like metal called "plate"). Pearl purl also takes corners really well. You can pinch it into a nice square at the joints of the "pearls."

After outlining the left leaf thingy, I cut lengths of smooth and rough purl. Like the check purl, these are hollow coils of very fine gold. In a long strand, they are limp and snake-like - really neat stuff! You cut it and sew it on like beads, the thread passing through the hollow core. I wanted a decorative edge around the leaf, so I took a shorter stitch length than the length of the purl, so that it looped out. Then I couched the middle of the loop, "splitting" the purl and making what looks like little zig-zag triangles around the edge of the top edge of the leaf. I alternated between smooth (very shiny) and rough (matte) purl, so that the light would play differently on the different golds.



This is that whole shape from afar. You can see how the shiny purls gleam while the matte (or rough) purls do not. Notice that you can see a wee bit of the paint line under the pearl purl outline. That is less noticeable with the purl zig-zag finished and the pearl purl outline tweaked a bit.

That's it! The beginning of the fun part of the project!! I'm off again to thread my needle!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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I'm not sure if you like the step-by-step on these types of embroidery projects! It just occurred to me as I started writing this that, since goldwork and beetle wings are rather specific, this could bore people to death! I'm going to take a chance, though, since I've got this little practice project on my plate. So this is the next step in my goldwork and beetle wing project - preparing the beetle wings for embroidery.

Goldwork usually photographs ok, but the beetle wings actually don't. I can't seem to get across the beauty of these little things in a photograph! Keep in mind that they aren't predominantly black, as they look in some of these photos - they are a bright jewel green - like an emerald - with all kinds of hues reflecting in them (blues, purples, yellows, coppers). They really are lovely, even if they seem rather flat in the photos!



Thanks to Michael Cook of Wormspit, I knew in advance how to prepare the wings and didn't have to go through much of a trial and error process. Before trimming the wings up, they need to be steamed for 5 minutes, in order to soften them just a bit for cutting. I started with just a few, since I figured if I had too many, they'd dry out again anyway before I could get to them all. I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of a regular pot, put in a metal steaming basket (from which I removed the center ring), and inside this, I put a coffee filter, since I didn't want to have to pick the wings off the steaming basket. With the filter, I could just lift the paper right out.



While the wings were steaming, I laid out all my tools: goldwork scissors, paper piercing tool, regular embroidery scissors, fingernail clippers, tweezers, and stiletto. I wasn't exactly sure what I would need here, although Michael had mentioned that he had better luck with the clippers at first, so that's one tool I knew I'd need. I thought I'd use the paper piercing tool to pierce the holes in the wings, and then, if I needed to, the stiletto to enlarge them.

The first thing I did was use the fingernail clippers to clip around the top, rounded part of the wings, which are thicker and curved. Once the tougher edges were off, I found that my goldwork scissors worked fine, trimming the wings into more regular shapes (for this pattern, petal shapes and half-petals).



Guess what? The paper piercing tool didn't work for very long! Those wings are tough, and they have a grip! The tool stuck in them, and eventually, even though I was being very gentle, the tip came off the tool.



The stiletto (which is actually my laying tool - it's stainless steel with a very sharp point) didn't work, either, because the taper at the point goes from tiny to too large too quickly! The holes ended up too big. So, luckily, I have a tambour needle handle and a pack of eyeless needles which I found worked just great for piercing the wings.



I trimmed the wings to petal shapes, working with wings approximately the same size so that the petals came out relatively even.



And this is the left-over beetlewing "carnage." You can get a better sense of the colors in this picture, although, relatively speaking, they still look rather "flat"!



Once I finished preparing the beetle wings, I went into my storage closet and dug out my goldwork supplies. I found that I had a good bit of metal "scraps" for this - purl, pearl purl, check purl, passing threads, twist, about three inches of milliary wire, and even some spangles. I doubt I'll work every type of gold into the piece, but I'm set for a good variety, anyway!

And now for the fun part! I'm off to thread my needle!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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This past week, I began a practice embroidery project featuring goldwork and beetlewings. I began the project last week, and I thought the design transferring process might be interesting or helpful to you, so I took pictures. Here's a "how to" on transferring a hand-embroidery design onto the fabric, using the prick and pounce method.

Prick and pounce is an old, old method for transferring embroidery designs. It's not really necessary (of even ideal) for transferring every kind of embroidery, but it's great on certain types of fabric - though even then, there are alternatives!

But I like using the prick and pounce method, as it is accurate and it gives you a chance to make corrections before your embroidery design is set in stone (or at least paint).

So, here's what I did to transfer this goldwork and beetle wing design onto red cotton velveteen.

After finalizing my pattern, I traced it onto tracing paper. I didn't do a great job tracing it, but I figured I could make corrections as I went. Then, I got out the tools I use to prepare the paper: a paper piercing tool and a foam pad (also for paper piercing).



Both of these tools are really handy! You can find both of them at Nordic Needle. Alternately, you can use a couple layers of craft felt and a needle with the eye-end stuck in a cork. The tool is nice, though - easier on the hands! The method for piercing the paper is simple: just pierce all around the design, in close increments (about 1/8" apart). Make sure you don't miss any lines in your pattern (like I did!) by holding it up to a sunny window or a light to check it.



Once you've pierced the pattern all over, you pin it or tape it to your fabric, which is already framed up and ready to go. I admit - I use scotch tape. I just find it easier than pinning the pattern on the fabric, and, if you go gently, you don't have to worry about the pattern moving about.



Then I lay down a paper towel and carefully open up my pounce container and get out my pouncer. I never open that stuff until the design is pricked and ready to go! It's dusty, and, if spilled, not only would it be wasted, but it would be a jolly mess to clean up. White pounce is made out of ground cuttlefish bone (like the cuttlefish things you hang in a bird cage!) Dark grey powder is cuttlefish bone and charcoal mixed. I think you could make your own pounce out of a cuttlefish bone from the pet store, but I have tried it out of regular ground chalk, but it doesn't work well, as it doesn't grind to that nice, soft dustiness. You can purchase pounce and the pouncer from Lacis. But you can make your own, and instead of the pouncer, you can just roll up a small strip of craft felt and use it.



Gently pounce all over your design, using the powder rather liberally, although it really doesn't take that much. It seems like you're using a lot, but I've had this stuff for years, and have hardly made a dent in it! Pounce gently over each line in your design. With the pouncer, the nice thing is that the weight of it (it's light, but not as light as a piece of felt!) will do just the right pouncing for you. Hold it right above your pattern, close, and sort of drop it on. And that's all there is to it. After you've pounced your first area of the design (preferably near a corner), gently lift the corner and look underneath the paper to make sure the design is transferring. But don't move the whole pattern! Just lift and peek! When you're finished, your project will look like the photo above.



Then you gently lift the paper off - and there's your pattern! Notice that I missed pricking one of the lines in the large flower (the right side of the fourth petal on the left). I will fill that in during the next step.



The next step requires a fine-tipped paintbrush (I use a small liner) and watercolor paint. I used yellow for this. Connect all your pounce dots with the watercolor, using a light hand and keeping the line as fine as possible! The paint will actually have to be rather wet, so use water to dilute it. Velveteen seems to absorb more than linen does, so I had to get used to that and work on getting the right consistency. Draw the brush lightly over the fabric, barely touching it. You will find that the pounce gums up the brush a bit, so rinse your brush often.



This is the fabric with the design painted, and with the pounce still on it.



And here's a close up of the painted lines and the pounce.

After you finishing painting in your lines, pick up your project and, holding it in one hand, click it on the back with your fingers, like you're flicking something. Do this until the pounce is gone.



And here's the design with the pounce flicked off. If any remains (you can see some white still in the design, sort of stuck to the paint), take a soft brush and gently brush it away. Now I don't have to worry about smudging my lines or my pattern fading off over time, or anything like that.

And that's how you transfer an embroidery design using the prick and pounce method!It actually took me only about half an hour to do this - but the design is relatively small, and my fabric was already framed up. What think you? Worth the trouble?

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, November 19, 2007
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If you like to browse sites with great photos of embroidered work - especially if you're interested in historical embroidery - then you'll probably love the Victoria & Albert Museum!

The Victoria & Albert Museum has a marvelous textile collection - perhaps the best in the world. Search the collections at the V&A, typing in "embroidered" for a keyword search, and you will find page after page of magnificent images of historical embroidery.



You can then click on the thumbnails of the embroidery you'd like to see up close. At that point, you'll get all the "vital statistics" on the piece - what it's made out of, where it was worked, who embroidered it, what it was used for, and so forth - as well as some interesting little tidbits. For example, I clicked on a fantastic piece of beetle-wing embroidery, and was treated to this image, only larger:



... along with some historical information about beetle-wing embroidery:

Dress fabrics embroidered with pieces of beetles' wing-cases, often cut into leaf shapes, were popular with Western women (those based in India and in Europe) from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The iridescent pieces of beetle-wing gave a lustre and sparkle to evening dresses that emulated applied gemstones. The pieces of beetle-wing were attached by piercing them with a needle and sewing them directly onto the ground fabric, in this case black net, but often fine cotton muslin. Because of their extreme fragility, they were usually used only around the edges of garments (hems, necks and sleeves) to minimise crushing. (Taken from the V&A Museum Website.)

Since I'm right in the middle of a beetle wing & goldwork embroidery piece, I was thrilled to be able to take a look at this!

You can do all kinds of keyword searches through the link above, so if you're wanting to browse about for some inspiration, or you just want to glory in some gorgeous art, visit the V&A today!

Thanks, Margaret, for the link!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, embroidery design, embroidery links, goldwork, historical needlework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, November 18, 2007
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I never did share photos of my finished embroidered iris, which is a needle painting project from Tanja Berlin. So I thought I'd show you the end results!

This was a fantastic kit to work - I do love Tanja Berlin's kits! They are great for practicing needle painting techniques without the ho-hum part of deciding what to do - the designs are already transferred on the fabric, the threads are all laid out neatly, and I don't even have to search for the right needle. So, now and then, I like working on these types of kits! Besides, with every design I work of hers, I learn a new aspect of painting with a needle!

When I last posted photos of the iris, it was pretty much complete, but don't you think that the yellow really brings the flower to life?



Here's the completed piece. I haven't yet decided what to do with it - any thoughts?



I love the yellow!



There are two colors of yellow here - the knots are actually elongated French knots.



The color selection on this particular project was really fantastic. I had a lot of fun working it!

Now.... what to do with it??

Labels: needlepainting, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, November 17, 2007
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I finally took the plunge and started to put together a practice embroidery project that will include beetle wings and goldwork. I'm pretty excited about it, so I thought I'd show you the beginning of the project in photos.

I'm afraid you won't see any goldwork or other embroidery actually worked yet! Instead, I'll just chronicle how I'm starting out, and then I'll give you updates as I go.



I started by considering the type of fabric I wanted to work on. I have an upcoming project that I was considering working on velvet or cotton velveteen, so I thought this would make a good opportunity to practice a bit working on velveteen, just to get comfortable with it. It's not the most luxurious fabric - I'd rather be working on silk velvet, and perhaps for something grander, I will. But in the meantime, I didn't want to buy stuff I didn't have on hand or make an investment in fabric for a practice piece.

The design was conceived on a paper towel while I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and doodling. I liked the paper towel scrawls, so I snatched a piece of paper and the bag of wings, and I laid out the wings in the general pattern so that I could see what size the pattern should be overall. Then I just sketched around them with a pencil, and, when I got to where I liked it ok, I drew over it with a black pen.



My next step was to pick out three wings that were relatively consistent in color and size. They look good on the red velvet! (At least, I think they do!)

Then I framed up my fabric.



I tacked the fabric to 8" x 10" stretcher bar frames. I do love those frames! They are a quick way to frame up a project squarely and securely.



You can see here the back of the project. I'm probably going to grumble a bit over the raw edges, which will surely shed little bits of red all over the place. I could take care of that and brush the edges with fray check to prevent future frustration!

Notice that the back of the project looks white - that's because I've lined the velveteen with muslin to provide support for the goldwork. I'm not planning on a lot of goldwork, but I do like a double layer when working with metal threads.

The pattern will include a couple kinds of gold, beetle wings, and some beads, though I haven't figured what kind of beads yet. I was thinking something like pearls would look nice and rich, but I may find some darker specialty beads that will go along with the wings. We'll see.

I don't plan on this project taking very long - but my hobby plans and the rest of my life do not always coincide, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner.

Any suggestions for beads?

I'll keep you posted on progress!

Labels: beetle wing embroidery, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, November 16, 2007
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Jo of New Zealand sent a photo of one of her recent pieces, on which she embroidered the little fuschia design I posted a while back. Her crazy quilt fabric postcard is really nice!

You can find the fuschia design listed in my list of hand embroidery patterns, which I just updated last night, if you didn't catch it when I first posted it.

Here's Jo's piece:



The fuschia makes a great accent on the square! It's pretty, isn't it? And I love the seam treatments! I keep thinking that some day I'll do at least one nice crazy quilt square, just to try it - the attraction to me is the variety of stitches that can be used to embellish the piece.

Thanks, Jo!!

Labels: needlework pictures, pictures, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, November 15, 2007
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This was a fun embroidery pattern to draw up. I took the inspiration from this from a door plate, of all things. You know, sometimes I think it's a curse when everything you see - even the most mundane things around your house - scream, "Wouldn't I make a Great Embroidery Pattern?" That was certainly the case with this, and I've been thinking about it for a loooong time.

So this slender bunch of flowers could be embroidered a number of ways. Oh, yes - they would serve for needle painting - but... I was thinking that, worked on a very fine linen or batiste (probably linen, since it's a bit sturdier), the design would make an excellent study in whitework. If I were going to use whitework techniques on it, I'd make use of the typical outline type stitches and seed stitches, but I'd also try some more textured stitches, or even some pulled techniques, for the various leaves, just for variety.

Well, in any case, here's the design, and you can do with it whatever pleases you! Click on the pattern for a larger version, which you can save to your computer and scale up or down.



How would you see this pattern interpreted? What kind of technique do you think is suited to it? Any ideas??? I'd love to hear them!

Also, lately, I've mentioned to readers that I'd love to be able to share any photos of work they do with the patterns from Needle'NThread, and I've had two readers lately who have sent me photos! If you've used patterns from here and you want to share your work with other readers, don't hesitate to send me a photo. You can e-mail me at mary [at] needlenthread.com.

Labels: free embroidery patterns, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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Book covers make great embroidery projects. I had fun working with children this past summer on book covers embroidered on wool felt. It isn't a new idea by any means to embellish the cover of a book with embroidery. If you want to see some fantastic pieces of embroidered art, you need to check out the British Library's Database of Bookbindings.

If you visit the British Library's Database of Bookbindings and search for "embroidered," you will find a whole gallery of gorgeous old embroidered book covers. You'll want to do a "keywork" search for "embroidered," and select "gallery" for the display method. Then you can spend hours (or at least a good many minutes!) browsing these beautiful little pieces of history.



In the gallery view, you'll get an overall view of the embroidered bookbindings. There are lots of them! You can browse through examples from different centuries and different countries.



You get a fairly good full shot of each image when you click on it, with all the pertinent details of size, workmanship, and so forth.



You can click on the photo for a close up, which allows you to see all the embroidered detail on the piece. Some of them are really opulent, like this cover in velvet worked over with gold.

This is a fantastic gallery, and excellent for browsing through when you just want to relax and search for inspiration. You'll get a good sense of the techniques of particular historical eras, and you'll marvel at the artistry of these pieces.

Thanks to Megan of Elmsley Rose for the link!

Labels: historical needlework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, November 12, 2007
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I'm always happy when I find out that people really do use the embroidery patterns and other resources on Needle 'N Thread! Actually, I find it really exciting! It makes the effort of keeping up the website worthwhile! One reader sent pictures, so I thought I'd share them...

Meeta used the sunflower cross pattern and the flower medallion pattern, and stitched up two really nice projects! She used a variety of stitches, especially in the second medallion, where you can see bullion stitch as the filler in the "buds" at the four points, vandyke stitch as the center flower petals, stem stitch, seed stitch, satin stitch, etc.!

They're both well done, and I like the use of color in them! So here they are for your enjoyment!



I love the use of seed stitch as filling in the outside leaves - it "frames" the design and finishes the edge.



The center flower is worked in long and short stitch, with a lattice work center. Although the photo is somewhat blurry, you can still get a good idea of the stitching.



And I like the interpretation of this pattern, too. The center, the filled areas, and the buds put the color and weight of the design in good places. I especially like the fact that she didn't fill the large leaves, as that would have been too heavy-looking!

Don't you think she did a great job??

Thanks, Meeta, for the photos and permission to publish them!

Labels: needlework pictures, pictures, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, November 11, 2007
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I do like William Morris, and his textiles inspire all kinds of ideas for designs for surface embroidery. I like taking one little ingredient out of a whole William Morris design and focusing just on the one element for embroidering. As for this particular little motif, I like it a lot! And I plan to work this one soon!

Again, this embroidery pattern is the product of practicing drawing on a tablet with a pen. I know it's not that professionally done, but I think it produces an ok result to trace as an embroidery pattern.

Actually, this pattern and the next two that I've been working on, have lots of possibilities. I plan to work this one (if all goes well) in a combination of wool, wool-silk blend, silk, and beads. I'm going to stick with the colors that are in the original William Morris motif - that is, a golden honey color, some shades of red, and some shades of dark green. I'm going to use long-and-short stitch for the surrounding leaves, palestrina stitch for the outline of the inside, stem stitch for the stems, fishbone for the leaves. The "dots" will be beads, I think. So that's on my upcoming projects list, if all goes well!

Oh, and I am scaling it down a little bit. It's a bit big here for what I want!

Here's the pattern:



I hope you like the pattern and have the opportunity to do something with it!

I'll be cleaning up my pattern index soon, but you can find more embroidery patterns in the meantime under Free Embroidery Patterns Index.

Labels: free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, November 10, 2007
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Here's an embroidery pattern for tulips, inspired by William Morris's designs. I drew it myself on my new tablet! Gosh, I love that thing!

The primary reason I invested in a tablet was to be able to draw up my own embroidery patterns. I've been getting some very good help from Margaret on how to create vector format images. Unfortunately, I haven't quite gotten to that point yet, but in the meantime, I will keep sketching away.

Here's yesterday's practice piece, a little tulip design inspired by a William Morris print. I like William Morris - his scrolly stuff is excellent inspiration for needlepainting (long-and-short stitch shading) ideas.

I hope you like this particular pattern!



It's not a super realistic looking rendition of tulips, but I do like his style. I could see this worked smaller (the pattern could be resized smaller), with two-toned tulips - orangish red and red, or yellowish orange and orange. Where the leaves join the stems, and where the leaves are "overlapped" by each other, the shades of green would be darker, but overall, I'd go with a lighter, brighter shade of green.

Anyway, if you can find use for it, have fun with it!

Labels: free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, November 08, 2007
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Here's the follow-up on yesterday's first shots of my pair of embroidered pillow cases, and an explanation of what they were for and all that! Before I launch into it, thanks to everyone for their positive response! I really just thought "This is sooo silly to bother with" - but I was having so much fun with them, I couldn't stop. Now that I see other people like them and have enjoyed looking at them, I'm glad I finished them!

Both pillowcases are a cotton-poly blend, and I stitched through the two layers of the cuff. It seems to me that natural fibers "work" with the thread better. I don't know why. Linen, cotton, real silk - these are so wonderful to stitch on. For some reason, the poly-cotton simply doesn't stitch as well as the 100% cotton. I would be interested to know if other embroiderers think the same way, or not. Maybe I'm just imagining it! Let me know!

So the pillowcases were for a contest on the Craftster website, which is a huge forum website with all kinds of craft-related stuff on it. I feel I should caution people against some of the content on the site, though. Extra caution, especially if you have children. But overall, there are some very clever and artistic people on the site who share tips and tricks for different types of craft-related hobbies. I came across this "challenge" on the site, and, on whim, I thought "why not?" I've never really done anything in way of a contest before, so I did it.

In fact, here's my plug for my entry: If you go look at the Awake Asleep Pillowcases on Craftster, and you find you like them, you can also visit the challenge category, go to the poll, and vote for my project, by clicking on "challenge #22" - and you'll get a list of the entries. Mine's titled "Awake Asleep: Opposite Faces Pillow Cases." Click the radial button and hit submit. It's that easy. Oh, you do have to register to vote (left hand column), but it only take a few seconds if you want to do it.

What do I get out of it? Some thread and patterns and stuff from DMC - about $280 worth. When I joined, I admit I joined because - yes - I wanted the stuff. I figured it would be good to have for my kids' classes, and... you're right, I'm cheap enough to say it - it's stuff I don't have to pay for.

So there, in all it's glaring cheapness, is my plea for your vote!

Here are the other photos. This is the whole shot of the black one (overlapped by the white there in the corner!)



Can you find my rendition of Charlie Brown? I couldn't help it. He just materialized! (OH, no pun intended!)



My clown's a little more subdued in this one. Well, after all, he is sleeping!



For some reason, the drooly guy is really a favorite!



How does one illustrate a sleeping pumpkin? That was a weird problem.

And so, there they are!

What do you think? Worth it? Will you vote for me? Actually, you don't really have to if you don't want to! I'm not super-attached to the idea of winning! And there are a couple other really nice entries on there. So you might want to vote for one of them!

Ok, onto other projects. I'm in the mood for something.... grand! I have some goldwork to repair, some tiny lace trim to add to an ecclesiastical project, my silk sampler to make headway on, a Christmas present I want to make, some beetle wings I want to play with, and ... *sigh* stitches to film (I have a list of about 20 I would like to do for you before Christmas), and, finally, a website to overhaul! I want to give this one a new look. So, wish me luck!

Labels: embroidery for fun, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, November 07, 2007
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Well, here's the finished embroidery project that I was working on. It's a pair of "opposite" pillowcases, hand-embroidered in regular DMC stranded cotton.

I started embroidering the pillow cases about 3 weeks ago, then ran into a snag and wasn't able to stitch for about a week. They were for a contest, so I figured I'd just scratch the idea. But yesterday, I decided to at least try to see how far I could get, as I didn't want to waste the effort. Besides, if I hadn't pushed myself to finish for the deadline, I would probably have never finished the stitching!

They lack a couple finished details: jumbo ric-rac (black on the white and white on the black), and some text. I was going to split the following line of poetry and put the appropriate half on the appropriate pillow case. But oh well. I'll definitely add the ric-rac, since I think I'll give these away as a Christmas present.

This is the line:

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles awake you when you rise.
--Thomas Dekker

So here are some photos of the project:



When I was in college, one summer I designed and copyrighted a line of notecards and stationery called "A Few Good Laughs," which I sold to make money for school. I drew the circles by tracing pennies, and filled in the circles with caricatures of laughing faces. For the pillow cases, I traced the lid of a vitamin bottle and free handed the faces.



The white pillow cases are the "awake" ones. I should've gotten a better shot of the individual pillow cases! Darn.



And here are some close-ups on faces. I embroidered the black pillow case first, and the kid with the ball cap has an "A" on the cap on the black one. So I put a "Z" on this one...



A little long-and-short stitch bow on this chubby baby...



A little flower girl here. She's a bit fuzzy around the chin. I had part of a small skein of black DMC when I started this... so I was running short by the end! I had to make my threads last a bit longer than usual. I learned a lot on this about fabric: I don't like working on blends! And passing through two layers is hard on thread. I should have bought the cotton and made my own pillowcases! Also, I could've waxed my threads to alleviate some of the wear, but it would've taken too much time. Ah well. Next time! (?? Next time???)



Aargh, matey!



The white background necessitated a snowman...



And Santa... and a clown.

So that's white one close up - I'll follow with the black one ("asleep") tomorrow!

Between the pair of pillow cases, there are 19 different embroidery stitches used, and 46 faces altogether.

What do you think? Could I start a face-ish pillowcase trend?

Labels: embroidery for fun, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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Most of my embroidery patterns that I have used for special projects are drawn by hand on tracing paper. I just got a new toy, though (a Wacom Intuos3 tablet), and my plan is to convert some of my hand-drawn embroidery patterns into cleaner digital images. Well, I'm no graphic artist, let me tell you! But I thought I'd share my first attempt. It's not so great, but it's a neat pattern that I've used, so I even have photos of this particular one worked.

I embroidered this stole several years ago. The pattern is an adaptation of a motif on a very old vestment, part of which I sketched, altered, and then adapted to my project. I like the stylized flower / pomegranate thingy, even if my sister does insist they look like something out of Little Shop of Horrors!

Here's the pattern, worked in silk on silk. Mostly it's worked in satin stitch, although some parts are stem stitch filling. If you've meandered through my whole website, you may have already seen this! If not, you'll find links to close-ups of the rest of the flowers on the stole and to a whole image of the embroidery on the gallery page.



And here's my first attempt at drawing something on the tablet. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be! It's takes some getting used to, but it's fun, so I'll stick with it and hopefully, I'll improve with time and practice!

But, in the meantime, if you want this pattern to play with and to adapt to your own project, feel free! Right click on it to download it to your computer. You can scale it up or down in a photo editing program, or you can use a copy machine. The image is flipped, by the way. The picture above is from the right side of the stole - the pattern is drawn from the left side! I just realized that! Sorry!



For all you graphic artists out there, I can't help but admire your skills! It must take perseverence at this kind of thing to get good at it! I don't know any of the tricks for working with these kinds of images, so if anyone has any links or suggestions or anything, I'm all ears!

Have fun with the pattern!

Labels: free embroidery patterns, pictures, silk

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, November 04, 2007
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