A little more Reticella

In my previous Reticella post here, Susan B kindly left a comment suggesting a look at Giuliana Buonpadre's colourful work and her book Herbarium. If you are looking for Reticella with a contemporary look, take a look at Giuliana's book here. 

To see a beautiful white on white Reticella square embroidered from one of Giuliana's patterns, visit Yolande's blog Fils et aiguilles here. Both sites have English translations.

I hope you will be inspired.

Till next time, happy stitching.

First Stitches

I  recently listened to Phillipa Turnbull's interview with Gary Parr on his podcast Fiber Talk. I was interested to hear her comment that beginners find it easier to embroider with wool rather than "slippery cotton" and I had an idea. I had some crewel wool that I purchased from the CEG sales table a few years ago.

Yesterday my grandchildren aged 6 and 8 were introduced to a needle and thread. They enjoy arranging the glass-headed pins in my pincushion but had not yet done any stitching. Both were surprised to find that unlike a pin, the needle had a little hole in it. And, the thread actually has to go through that little hole.

I edged squares of loosely-woven Aida-like fabric to make coasters and started them off with a row of running stitch. The idea was to teach them a few basics like how to hold the needle so the thread doesn't slip out of it and how to sew in a straight line and keep stitches all the same length.

After a few protests of "I can't do this. It's too hard", silence suddenly reigned. And I threaded needles. Then, one tied a knot so that the thread wouldn't come out of the needle and learned that it makes it harder to pull it through the fabric. We all learned lots of valuable little lessons.

I took a photo when the children had a break. The six year old  carefully tried to keep her running stitches all the same. The eight year old quite simply followed his own plan and drew lines with the needle and thread. To my surprise he used back stitch, something which he picked up after watching only once how I began the row of running stitch for him.

Although they did more stitching I didn't manage to take another photo before the coasters were eagerly wrapped and ready to give to their mom who returns from a 10 day business trip later night.

The wool worked well for little fingers stitching their very first project. I think I'll probably use it again for the next one.

If you haven't listened to a Fiber Talk podcast and want some stitching company while you stitch you'll find lots to choose from on the website here. I have particularly enjoyed hearing the voices of embroiderers whose embroidery I admire as well as learning a little more about them and their work.

Till next time, happy stitching.

Spectacle Case Last Round Decisions

I have almost finished the spectacle case I started some weeks ago, fitting in a few minutes here and there to work on it. Read about it in previous posts by clicking here, here and here.

With only one final round of stitching to do, I tried out a few alternate ideas. I tried rice stitch which you can see on the left below. First, with the dark green cross underneath and the corners crossed in light green. Then I reversed the colours and tried light green for the cross and covered the corners with dark green thread. No, those both looked too busy and seemed to detract from the rest of the embroidery.

Maybe plain cushion stitch in either light green or dark green? No, neither looked right against the row of brown cushion stitch right next to it.

How about a row of satin stitch in dark green, above on the right? No, too dull and looks heavy.

A row of Smyrna cross in light green as suggested in the pattern in the kit? Yes. I like the way it connects with the light green in the rest of the piece. I also like the contrast of its rough texture with the smooth brown cushion stitch. Smyrna cross works up quickly so it won't take long to complete the final round of stitching. See stitch diagrams for Smyrna cross here.

Do you also consider changing an embroidery pattern as you stitch? I find my mind going through possible options as I go along and I can't resist trying them out. Some ideas work and others don't, but it does make the stitching more interesting.

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On a different note, we were all thankful that Cyclone Oma did not make landfall here, but rather sorry that it didn't come just a little bit closer to the coast and bring us some much needed rain. Brisbane has had an exceptionally hot and very dry summer.

Till next time, happy stitching.