Last week, we talked a bit about Schwalm whitework and a stitching challenge / give-away for lefties. The challenge part includes stitching up a Schwalm project from Luzine Happel’s book, Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework, re-written for left-handed embroiderers, and corresponding with Luzine about the clarity of the instructions and so forth. The give-away part is the fact that the three participants will receive all the materials necessary to complete the project, including the linen with the design already on it, the threads, needles, and the book.

At the end of last week, we took an up-close, personal look at Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães by Yvette Stanton. Today, because I know you’re just dying to add this book to your needlework library, it’s time for a give-away!

Well, here it is! Yvette Stanton’s new hand embroidery book, Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães is out and available. And golly! It is beautiful!

If you’re familiar with Yvette’s other books on various types of lesser-known, beautiful whitework techniques, you won’t be surprised that this one is superb. I have to say, though, out of all her whitework books, so far, this one is my favorite. Perhaps it’s because her books just keep getting better and better, or maybe it’s because I have an affinity for the combination of drawn thread embroidery and surface embroidery. Guimarães embroidery just does this combination so well!

Let me show you what’s in the book – if you like whitework, this is bound to tickle your fancy!

Schwalm whitework embroidery is a folk embroidery that developed in the Schwalm region of Germany. It is characterized by its folk design elements (tulips, hearts, flowers, and so forth) and drawn thread (openwork) fillings.

The little goldwork dots in the outside edge of the Medallion are under way again. There are 50 of these little dots in the edge, and they’re worked in a combination of pearl purl (for the outline) and chips (little cuts of check purl) for the filling.

If there weren’t 50 of these dots to contend with, I’d say they weren’t too time consuming. The dots are about 5/16″ – 3/8″ in diameter, so they’re pretty small. This makes manipulating the pearl purl (which is a stiff thread) somewhat slightly less than fun. Actually, every time I finish a dot, I find myself saying, “Bah – that wasn’t so bad!” and I move on to the next fiddly little blighter with an ever-increasing excitement at being one step closer to the end.

Today, I’ll show you how I work the pearl purl outlines and talk a little bit about working with this versatile and beautiful real metal thread.