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Mary Corbet

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I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Mission Rose: Embroidering a Large Leaf

 

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Oh, goodie gumdrops!! I’ve been waiting all week to write this article for you!

All the preliminary work that goes into setting up an embroidery project for stitching is certainly necessary, but it’s not exactly Thrillsville, if you know what I mean.

I’ve learned to like the set-up process, but it is ever eclipsed by the anticipation of those first stitches.

Often, for me, the first bit of stitching tells me if the project is going to click. Will I like it? Will the colors work? Is the fabric right? Normally, these questions are answered with the first foray into stitching.

On the Mission Rose project, I decided to start with the large leaves on the rose. Perhaps it would have made more sense to begin with the stem, since, perspective-wise, it is the element in the design that is farthest back or underneath everything else. But I wanted to work the leaves first because I wasn’t quite sure about my choices of greens. Working a leaf would settle any doubts.

Were my doubts settled? Well, let’s work through the leaf and see!

Mission Rose: Embroidered Leaf in Silk Shading
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Mission Rose: Protecting the Ground Fabric

 

Before I started to stitch on the Mission Rose project, I knew I’d want something over the project in the frame, to help minimize dirt and such from soiling the ground fabric.

Because the ground fabric is silk (backed with linen), and because the embroidery will be done with silk and metal threads, this isn’t the type of project that can be submerged in a nice boil of sudsy water when it’s all finished. Instead, every precaution has to be taken to keep the piece clean.

In addition to washing your hands well before each stitching session, there are other precautionary methods you can employ to help you keep your embroidery project clean during its creation. When I was working on the Medallion Project last year, I basted a piece of plain cotton muslin onto the fabric in the frame, as a built-in cover for the piece when I wasn’t working on it, as well as to protect the fabric during stitching, giving me something to rest my hands on.

Tissue Paper over an embroidery Project
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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Monogram Frame

 

Hand embroidered monograms! Ahhhh! I am twitterpated by them! They are my One Weakness… to quote Dorcas Lane.

This inordinate infatuation with embroidered monograms and decorative initials was the impetus behind a crazily obsessive era of collecting old embroidery pamphlets and magazines from the mid-1800’s through the first half of the 1900’s, before it became really popular to collect them.

In the last six years or so, it’s become increasingly The Rage to collect vintage and antique patterns. The prices have gone up considerably on these old publications – when you can actually find them. So I don’t really collect many anymore, unless a happy chance brings me into contact with a volume I’m really interested in that’s affordable.

The old French magazines like La Broderie Blanche and Journal des Demoiselles, and the old Sajou pamphlets (especially those with line drawings rather than charts) are among my favorites. I have a good pile of them that I browse through occasionally for design ideas, alphabets, and general inspiration.

And sometimes, I stumble upon a little pattern that, with a little clean-up job, would be fun to share. Like this one!

Monogram Frame Pattern for Hand Embroidery
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Mission Rose Embroidery Project: Color Choices

 

When the Mission Rose project first started taking shape, I knew two things right off: 1. that it would involve very specific silk embroidery threads; and 2. that it would involve some goldwork threads, but not a lot.

The majority of the project will be worked with silk embroidery threads, specifically with Soie de Paris by Au Ver a Soie. I used this thread for the Tudor Rose in the Medallion Project, and I loved-loved-loved it.

While I was working out those five Tudor roses, I was already thinking to myself, “I would like to do a Whole Project with Just This Thread.”

Silk Embroidery Threads for the Mission Rose
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