This antique goldwork panel has me completely enchanted, if you hadn’t guessed by the inordinate amount of exploratory articles devoted to it!

Besides learning about the piece itself and the techniques involved to create the panel, I do have an ulterior motive in the study of it. More than likely, I’ll develop a project based on it. I like embroidery projects that are spin-offs of something I’ve learned about. And this goldwork panel appeals to me so much, that I think a spin-off project is an absolute necessity.

Time for a guest post! Today, Laurie Latour speaks about Gingham Lace, which is also known as “chicken scratch embroidery,” among other names. In today’s article, Laurie shares with us some photos of beautiful pieces from her own collection and tells us a bit about stitching on gingham. Enjoy!

Lace and gingham – hmmmmmm…. not usually thought of together, especially not as an embroidery stitch. While it’s not real lace-making, lace stitch is a type of needle weaving worked on gingham that produces many lacy looks. It’s not difficult to do and works up quickly. Inexpensive gingham and floss are the only supplies needed, which is, no doubt, one reason it was especially popular during the Great Depression.

Depression Lace, Hoover Lace, Snowflake Lace, Amish Lace – it goes by many names. Let’s take a look at some pieces from my collection.

Oh, the plaited braid stitch! It is a beautiful stitch, but unfortunately, for some reason, many stitchers are intimidated by it. Let’s alleviate that intimidation, shall we?

Just a quick little note today, to offer you some inspirational stitching from a reader!

Sometimes, we run into those stitchy situations where we need a wee bit of sparkle in our embroidery – whether it’s because we like sparkle in general (I’m kind of like a crow that way) or we’re creating something that normally has a bit of iridescence to it (like bugs’ wings, for example).

Recently, I caught myself embroidering with two things I never stitch with, and it set me thinking.

Remember that piece of old goldwork on velvet we were looking at several weeks ago? There’s much more to look at and to learn from the piece! Today, I’ll show you some stuff on the front and talk a little bit about what the back shows us, too.

First, let’s look at some bumps.