Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Cape Reflections Sampler and Queen Stitch

This little sampler was designed for the 2009 Ighali Embroidery Convention in Fish Hoek Cape Town by Leslie-Ann Meek. These old photos don't do it justice but the silk threads we used have the most beautiful lustre.

Notable characteristics of Cape Town are represented in the different bands - vineyards and their abundant wine-making grapes; ubiquitous oak trees that drop acorns and leaves with their resident squirrels; 

and a sampler representing Cape Town wouldn't be complete without Table Mountain, its unique fynbos vegetation and its proteas.


I was reminded of my sampler when I came across Lesson 269 for Queen Stitch on Queenie's Needlework blog because I used Queen stitch for the proteas. I found it a tricky stitch to do especially on 40 count linen with silk thread. But I found it both interesting and rewarding to stitch and I like the way it suits the petals of the proteas. Getting the angles correct in the Montenegrin Stitch mountain was also a challenge.


If you're looking for unusual stitches, Queenie has gathered all sorts of stitches and has clear photos that describes how to do them on her blog Queenie's Needlework. She is gradually including the stitches on an intriguing sampler that you can see by clicking here.

Till next time, happy stitching!
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* Fynbos is an Afrikaans word literally meaning fine bush. 

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Martha Edlin

On a trip to London some time ago I was fortunate to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum to look at the embroidery. While making my way to the Textile rooms, I came across the embroidery of Martha Edlin, a 17th century embroiderer. I was astonished by her skill and the complexity of the work she accomplished as a very young girl and I wrote about that visit in my my blog post Embroideries at the V&A.

Having seen Martha's work I was interested to learn that Tricia Wilson Nguyen has made a detailed study of Martha and is now offering a short on-line course titled Martha Edlin - her life and embroidery. Not only does Tricia focus on Martha's remarkable embroidery, but she sheds more light on the situation of women at that point in history. 

Besides Tricia's video lectures, there is also a small free silk project that you can choose to do as well as have access to a filament silk video. Tricia points out that to comply with V&A licensing restraints, access to the course is limited to 31 days. Find out more about what you can expect from the course and make a booking on Tricia's blog Thistle Threads here. $5 dollars of the course fee will go to the V&A, specifically for detailed photography of embroideries that they hold and that are not on permanent display. This should give us all more opportunity to admire and study some truly exceptional embroidery.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Butterflies and Op Shops

I've been stitching a butterfly. It's a little outside of my comfort zone as I mostly do counted work. But this was a special gift. My granddaughter found a brand new embroidery kit at an op shop. Knowing that I am an embroiderer, she wrapped it up and put it under the Christmas tree for me. 

Although the kit came with all the necessary thread we're changing some of the colours to her favourite colour, purple. 

This week we took photos of my progress, and my granddaughter helped me to edit them on my phone. I learnt quite a few things about what you can do with a phone camera.

In case you are wondering, an op shop is a thrift shop. It provides an opportunity to find a bargain. They accept donations goods for resale and they are run by volunteers. It's a way of recycling goods as well as providing financial support for the charities that administer them. It's also a  good opportunity for children to learn to how to shop according to a limited budget. My grandson was delighted when he found complete sets of DVD's of some of his favourite movies, all within his budget.

'Till next time, happy stitching!

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Christmas 2023

The Christmas tree is up with help from my grandchildren and my daughter. All the decorations have been unpacked and hung in place, and my Christmas angel is on the top. 


This sweet angel was embroidered on felt as recommended by Tricia Elvin-Jensen who had stitched a similar one. It's rewarding to stitch on felt because the stitches show up so clearly. I was pleased with how the angel's ringlets turned out. It was my first attempt at such l-o-o-o-n-g bullion stitches.

This will be my last post before Christmas. There's just a few days to go and there are still Christmas presents to think of, wrapping to do, and some baking I want to finish before Christmas Eve. 

I hope you have a peaceful and joyful holiday season and wish you a very Merry Christmas. 

'Till next time, take care and if you have a few spare moments, happy stitching too!


Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Hardanger Sample

There's a pretty Hardanger stitch that I've been meaning to try out.  I had prepared the block ages ago and cut and removed the threads ready for the filling. During the dark damp weather over the last week I tried the stitch. I like the slight curvy arms of the big cross in the centre.


There are two separate bars for each arm of the centre cross. A bar is woven over one and under one fabric thread. You can see the individual threads in the unworked corner in the photo below. 


In the beginning working on those single threads felt flimsy. But once the weaving was done it seemed reasonably sturdy, bearing in mind that any form of cutwork does make the embroidery more fragile.


The smaller crosses in the corners of the block are a variation of Dove's eye stitch. Each of the four blanket stitches that usually form Dove's eye, has one an extra wrap. The result is a more distinctive upright cross. I need more practice to get that tension right.


By comparison the lace fillings on my old sample below are the traditional Dove's eye stitch, that is more commonly found on Hardanger embroidery. You can recognize it by the open diamond shape in the centre of the cross.


I like the way the big cross turned out. It's a pretty stitch for a pincushion.


Till next time, happy stitching!


Friday, November 24, 2023

Christmas Craft Fair

If you're in and around Brisbane on Sunday, you'll find lots of lovely hand embroidered gifts for sale at the Queensland Christmas Craft Fair. Shop too for second hand craft materials - including fabric, thread, embroidery hoops, lace, ribbon, books, patterns and much more.

Further information about the Craft Fair is available on the Guild's website here.

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Lovely Whitework

I find whitework fascinating. It's a broad term that includes both counted thread work and surface embroidery techniques and covers many different types of embroidery worked mainly with white thread on white fabric.

If you enjoy seeing the whitework that other embroiderers are doing, below are some links that I have happily visited - more than once! 

1. Yolande has stitched a beautiful English Whitework band sampler designed by Darlene O'Steen. There are lots of photos and there is an English translation included on her blog Fils et Aiguilles une Passion. Click here to visit Yolande's blog and see the sampler.

2. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Luzine Happel came up with the idea of creating a joint Schwalm sampler and she proposed the idea on her blog. The result was that 74 embroiderers from 14 nations contributed 91 Schwalm embroideries, all stitched during Covid. These embroideries have been expertly combined into an extraordinary hanging. There are photos of the final piece and meticulous details of what went into making it on Luzine's blog here. There is an option for translating between German and English on the home page of the blog.

3. The Gary Parr interview on Fiber Talk Stitch Hour with Tricia Wilson Nguyen on 16th century whitework has some very interesting snippets. It's a 90 minute video and there are some technical problems, but there's much to glean from the details Tricia unearthed while studying old whitework samplers. The link will take you to the YouTube video here.

4. Mary Corbett alerted me to Janna Jackuszewska's cutwork patterns in her blog post here on Needle 'N Thread. Joanna is from from Poland and conveniently makes her cutwork patterns and copies of her magazines Haft Richelieu available for us in her Etsy shop KIZI MIZI StudioVisit Joanna's shop here.

Have fun browsing all this beautiful whitework. 

And happy stitching too!




Friday, September 8, 2023

Back of the embroidery - travelling threads

In her blog post of 6 September, Mary Corbett talks about the back of embroidery, specifically the back of something like a tablecloth where the back remains exposed. Although you don't see the back when the tablecloth is laid out on the table, there are times when the back is visible. The question is just how much attention should you pay to the back while you are stitching. 

You can read Mary's post here where she suggests a nice balance between keeping the back neat but not going overboard and spending too much time on it. Her tip for managing travelling threads by using an embroidered path on the back holds true for any type of embroidery. 

Cupcake pot holder

When considering how neat the back of an embroidery should be, take the type of fabric into account - whether it's a close weave or an open weave. I wrote previously about moving between pulled thread stitches on an open weave linen. Random threads across the back of the embroidery that show through to the front distract from the regularity of the counted work. Here's a link my blog post about how to minimize any show-through to the front of the piece by keeping a constant rhythm to the stitches.

The back does matter and it's worth thinking about how much the travelling threads on the back will show through to the front - whether it's surface embroidery with coloured threads like my cupcake pot holder, Mary's little tablecloth, or whether it's pulled thread work with white thread on white fabric. 

Unless you are entering a competition, I think the back must be neat but it does not have to be perfect. Control travelling threads either by keeping a pattern or rhythm to the movement from one stitch to the next, or as Mary so clearly illustrates, by following a path on the back that's already been stitched.

'Till next time, happy stitching!



Monday, August 28, 2023

RSN Tutor in Brisbane

I had a lovely afternoon at the guild on Saturday. It's not often I get to a meeting and this one was really special. Sally Randle gave us an illuminating insight into her three years at the Royal School of Needlework.  She trained as a tutor at the RSN headquarters in Hampton Court Palace, London and has recently returned to Brisbane to teach embroidery.

Several beautiful embroideries of different techniques such as crewelwork, canvaswork, blackwork, whitework and goldwork were on display. All were accompanied by detailed workbooks. These included the design ideas, thread samples, stitch samples, records of the project's requirements and finally the evaluations. Also noted were the hundreds of hours each project took to complete! Catch a glimpse below of Sally at work over her embroidery frame at the RSN.

Besides her own embroidery, Sally was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and have the unique experience of working with the RSN team on some of the embroideries for King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation. How amazing was that?!

Visit Sally's website here to find out more about her new studio and the classes and services she offers. You can also see more about an upcoming RSN Christmas class, suitable for everyone including beginners, that she will be teaching in person here in Brisbane. I've no doubt you will be in good hands.

'Till next time, happy stitching!

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Photos courtesy of Bryna Black from the media team of the Royal School of Needlework

Sunday, August 13, 2023

The back of the Embroidery

This is the back of my Daisy Band Sampler Pincushion. There was quite a lot of unpicking on that daisy row because I wanted a sequence that I could repeat all across the row and keep the back looking uniform. Below you can see how the thread enters and leaves each eyelet in the identical way. (Those little fluffy threads on the lower edge of the band of diagonal cross filling were snipped off when all the stitching was finished.)

Because the fabric used for pulled thread is usually a more open weave, threads carried across from stitch to stitch on the back may show through to the front. Any haphazard stitching on the back can often be picked up and it detracts from the finished embroidery. You can check for this by placing the embroidery over a dark background. It's then easy to make sure that no threads are either showing through holes or where they are noticeable and look untidy.

On some types of embroidery where the fabric is more closely woven, it's quite acceptable to carry thread across short spaces, but with pulled thread a little more care is a good idea. For neat pulled thread work it's important to keep a rhythm or regular pattern to the stitches. Each stitch should be worked in the same sequence, and pull in the same direction. 

Daisy Band Sampler Pincushion

Here's the finished embroidery. You can see more about the Daisy Band Sampler Pincushion in a previous blog post here.

Co-incidentally just after I finished writing this post, I listened to the latest interview with Yvette Stanton on Fiber Talk. Yvette and Gary discuss how useful it is to look at the back of the embroidery, not to check how neat it is, but to see exactly how the stitch was worked. There's a lot to learned on the back. 

'Till next time, happy stitching!