Stretching embroidery and finding a cork board

Most embroiderers will know that the way to flatten out your embroidery once it is complete is to damp stretch it. But do we all do that? Mmm...  well, not me.

I did try stabbing pins into my ironing board to stretch out and hold my damp linen but the pins didn't go in properly or stay in very well once I started stretching out the fabric. In the end I simply steam ironed the work face down on a thickly folded towel, pulling at various points as I went. Not too good either because the towel left little rough marks pressed into the linen and if I pressed down too hard the threads, especially the numbers 8 and 5 perle cotton, would flatten out and look squashed and sad. The thing to use seemed to be a cork board and damp stretching. I did look for a board from time to time but they have been a little hard to find.

For some time I have been reading Karen Ruane's stitching blog and besides the beautiful photographs of her work I was fascinated by how pristine and crisp the embroidered pieces always look once they have been damp stretched. Karen kindly sent me the link to a post on how she does the stretching and you will find it here. She uses a cork board.

After some more determined searching (what did we do without Google?!) I found cork boards made by Andrew Lundin at Get Cork here in Cape Town. Andrew was extremely helpful in making sure I got what I wanted, advised me on what type of cork may be suitable, kept in touch with me about the progress of the shipment of cork he was awaiting, and finally the making of the board. You can have a board made to size and if you are looking for an unusually shaped cork board this is where you will find one. I couldn't resist snapping this one in Andrew's workshop.

With my board safely home I did a test stretching with a white handkerchief just to see how it went. The damp cotton picked up very slight pale orange marks in 2 places in the centre, and where the pins pierced the fabric a ring of colour about 5mm in diameter also appeared around each pin. (Sorry I didn't take any pics). Further advice from Karen was that some cork does seem to give off colour and that sealing the cork works well.

My dear husband took on the task of the sealing and 5 coats later, though the instructions recommended only 3, I have a very nice sealed cork board to use.

 

This is the sampler I want to stretch. Its pulled thread work and the linen has become quite distorted between some of the rows of pulled thread squares. The question is: Was my tension far too tight - I do tend to work tightly - or will the wrinkles stretch out?

 

I'll take some pics as I go and put them up on my next post. Till then happy stitching!

Roses

A friend and I spent the morning picking roses and having coffee under the trees at Chart Farm during the week. I was surprised that there were any roses to pick after the heat wave we have had. The colours in the rose gardens were so enticing but I tried to stick with pinks.

 

The buds opened really quickly and the colours are glorious. I put them in the passageway between my sewing room and the kitchen so I could stop and smell the roses every time I went past. 

 

The best scent is from the cream rose with the deep pink-tipped petals.

 

 

Felt Christmas Stocking ornament and a clever boy

Yesterday an embroidery friend told me this story. Her daughter had bought two of my Felt Christmas Stocking kits some while ago. Before Christmas she gave them to her 8 year old son to work.

Usually a child who finds it difficult to keep still, he stitched the entire little stocking himself, only asking for help with a knot to begin and ending off the threads. Then he stitched up the second stocking, saying to his gran that he thought he would change the pattern a bit and he did!

The two little stockings hung proudly on the Christmas tree. When it was time to decorate the table for Christmas lunch, he decided he needed a small Christmas tree on the table so that he could hang the stockings on it. He happily hung his two little stockings - on a small fern that he dug up from the garden! After lunch the stockings were returned to their place on the Christmas tree. I wonder what happened to the fern?

The rest of the story was that the boy wanted to know why his mom hadn't bought more of those little things for him to make! Thanks so much for that lovely story Lois. Its always good to hear that your patterns or kits are being used and enjoyed. It makes all the time you put into preparing them worthwhile.

Dresden Lace and Pulled Thread work.

Next week I'll be teaching a short workshop about the basics of embroidering Dresden Lace. The little sprig I embroidered has been sitting on my shelf as I considered the challenge of teaching a technique which depends on the use of a very fine fabric for one of its defining characteristics.

To be able to embroider on the fine muslin I have chosen, you need to be able to see extremely well. A bright light and a magnifier are essential unless you have outstanding eyesight. But, you won't know until you try working on such a fine fabric whether you can see well enough to do it or not.



Dresden Lace Sprig on muslin - 3cm x 4cm

 

So I've adjusted the small design and made it suitable for embroidering on a 28 count fabric. Now I know that if there is anyone who just can't see well enough to work on the fine muslin, they can spend the morning profitably working on another piece of fabric with a lower thread count per inch.

 

Pulled Thread Sprig on 28 count linen - 5cm x 6cm

The outside petals are optional and can be added afterwards and filled with a different pulled thread stitch to that in the centre. I have used diagonal drawn filling in the centre and single faggot stitch over just 2 threads for the petals. This gives a nice contrast between the two areas.

 

Now to finish the notes, prepare design cards in two sizes for either muslin or linen, cut fabric and threads, and prepare the kits.

Rag Doll

Looking through my photos I found the rag doll I made and couldn't show you until it had arrived safely in Brisbane.

Christmas was coming up and my one year old granddaughter needed a doll for her pram. I found this fabric some years ago and have been waiting for the chance to make it up. Its a VIP Cranston Print and beautifully done.

 

Everything was printed on the fabric including the instructions. I specially liked the pretty face of the doll.

 

I thought the navy was a little dark so added some lace to her clothes.

 

When Lila opened her present on Christmas morning, the first thing she picked up was not the doll, but the doll's little teddy. Aren't children funny?

 

If I could choose, I think I would have chosen either a brighter colour or a softer colour for the doll's clothes. I wonder if this pattern was made in any other colour ways?

Happy New Year and a Smocked Dress

To end off my last post for the year here is a photo of my granddaughter on Christmas day.

She is wearing the very first smocked dress I made, not for her but for her mom all those years ago. I used a variety of stitches and colours and just had fun. She is a real girl and loves dressing up and putting on shoes. But yes that is a car she is holding! Her big brother who is 3 likes to play with her and teaches her how to play cars.

The last day of 2013 already and tomorrow the start of a new year! How time flies. I wish all my readers a very happy, healthy 2014 and lots of pleasant times for stitching. Thank you for all your comments and support. It's been lovely chatting to you whether through comments, email or in person in the supermarket.

Till next time, Happy New Year and Happy Stitching!

Christmas Stocking for the Christmas Tree

Someone reminded me this week about my little Christmas stockings. She had just come across one that she had made after a workshop I gave at an Embroidery Guild Christmas meeting a few years ago.

I've put all my workshop notes together, and the pattern for the Christmas stocking is now available in my Etsy shop Lynlubell - just in time for you to make one up before Christmas.

The finished stocking is about 9.5cm high and is ideal to hang on the Christmas tree. You can even add some small surprises as a little gift for a special friend.

You could also add some beads or sequins to the little stocking for extra Christmassy sparkle.

 

 

If you'd like a pattern, click here for the link to my shop Lynlubell on Etsy.

 

We have family visiting for Christmas so it may be a while until my next post. It will be a busy time with two little grandsons in the house but what fun it will be to enjoy Christmas through the eyes of a 3 year old.

 

Till then, happy stitching and have a wonderfully happy and safe festive season!

Lyn

 

 

Space dyed yarn

Its a while since I did any knitting and using spaced dyed knitting yarn was new to me. It gives the effect of fair isle knitting but without the careful counting of stitches and the changing of colours every few stitches. The results seem unpredictable until you've knitted a few repeats of the dyed lengths of the yarn, but its intriguing to the last stitch. 

This was for my soon-to-be 1 year old granddaughter. The pattern was a free one from Red Heart and the yarn was Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter double knitting.

If you are looking for a good wool shop in Cape Town try Orion Wool and Crafts in Gardens. Roger provides a friendly, helpful service and has a good range of knitting yarn and some embroidery threads too.

At the same time as I knitted the pink jersey, my daughter knitted a tiny blue one using King Cole Splash double knitting.  We had quiet, companionable evenings sitting together knitting and comparing notes as we went along. Yes, we knitted in the steamy heat of Bangkok! Who notices the heat when you are visiting from another continent and you have an opportunity to sit and knit with your daughter?

The blue jersey is a very small size and the repeats of the dyed length are longer so the results are quite different. I just love the pretty band of coloured fair isle of this one.

One thing we did discover is that to get the fronts to look similar, and the sleeves to look similar, you have to make sure that you start the second front, or sleeve, at the same spot along the length of the dyed repeat of the yarn. We really wanted those bands of colour to match up on each side or we'd have had the random look which seemed a bit too busy for a baby. We were a little puzzled as to how we were going to do that, but once you have knitted the back and then one of the fronts you get to know the wool and how the pattern of the space dyed yarn works. Perhaps this is all quite obvious to experienced knitters. It took us a while to figure it out.

Knitting for babies is rewarding because it goes quickly. The fair isle effect of the space dyed yarns makes for interesting knitting and I'd love to try another little jersey soon.

Christmas presents

In my last post I said I'd been busy making pyjamas for my two grandsons. Here they are ready for wrapping and posting, together with a pair for a little cousin who is the same age.

 

Its a while since I have been able to buy pure cotton t-shirting to make my own t-shirts. These t-shirts are from a local chain store. I simply cut out cars from the pants fabric and appliqued them onto the t-shirts so that they 'match' the pants.

 

Usually I leave my Christmas shopping and present making to the last minute. In a way this year is different yet not too different. One pair of pyjamas has to reach Brisbane by Christmas Day. Tomorrow I'm off to the post office.

Dresden Lace Whitework Embroidery

For years I have been fascinated by Dresden Lace embroidery and wondered whether it is possible for me to do something similar. Most pulled work today is done on linen, but the Dresden Lace embroidered in the 18th Century is very fine and that is what I find so appealing. The embroidery itself is mostly counted work and usually includes a wide range of pulled work stitches combined with shadow work and a limited number of surface stitches.

Its taken a while to find suitable fabric - fabric that is made from a natural fibre, is fairly transparent and that has a high thread count.  With this fine fabric, I have found that a magnifier and a good light are a must to be able to see and count the threads.

The year is drawing to an end and on reflection I seem to have done rather little embroidery. I did however put a couple of small items on the CEG exhibition a couple of months ago. This Dresden Lace Lily was one of them. It's one of a number of similar pieces that I have been working on during the year.
 

1. Dresden Lace Lily embroidered by Lyn Warner.

The design was adapted from a sleeve ruffle which appears in Heather Toomer's book Embroidered with White. Another challenge was to find unusual stitches and stitches that vary in texture.

 



2. Dresden Lace Lily embroidered by Lyn Warner

The other piece I had on the exhibition was a small canvas work book cover and I'll post a photo of that soon. Now to get back to the pyjamas I'm making for my little grandsons - pyjamas with cars on them.