Bluework and other bits

Sorry I’ve been awol. Issues with work kicked off at the end of May and I’ve really been struggling to get my head round them. In fact, I’ve struggled to do anything much, including sew, but I do have a couple of bits to show.

Firstly, the bluework is coming on slowly. I wanted a section that looked like a fragment of blue and white china from another piece of pottery so I used an old embroidery transfer picture and copied the central part of that into the right hand section.

I’ve used split stitch to outline the flower shapes and am filling them with a sort of cross between satin stitch and long and short stitch.

My usual mixture of threads. Some silk, some cotton and some a complete mystery.

Heavier weight and lighter toned threads on the larger flower which I plan to finish off in white stranded silk.

I’ve also made another brooch from some of the wooden offcuts and rusted painting cloth I brought back from my Dad’s shed at Easter to go in my Etsy shop.

This one is made from a square of rusted muslin that he was using as a paint cloth. I ruched it onto a much smaller piece of hand dyed cotton with french knots in a rusty-coloured variegated thread which gives it a lovely fluid, tactile surface.

I’ve mounted it into a square of apple wood left over from one of his chopping board projects.

The wood is smoothed but not polished and I love that understated background against the contortions of the bunched up fabric.