Encrusted Seascapes

Last Saturday I was delighted to be asked to run a workshop for members at the Spring Meeting of Yorkshire and Humber Embroiderers’ Group (YHEG). This overarching group emerged from our active and thriving Yorkshire and Humber Embroiderers’ Guild Regional Group in the days before the Embroiderers’ Guild imploded, abandoning all its branches across the country and emptying their bank accounts on the grounds (perfectly legal but very distressing for the branches) that as a charity the monies of all branches were actually the Guild’s. In the wake of this destruction and devastation the Guild did offer £250 to each former branch who wanted to restart as an independent stitch group and many, including SEATA, to which I belong, did so.

Our EG Regional Group had always been a fantastic support and resource for all the branches and we are lucky that the people involved in the old Regional group are passionate champions of embroidery and textile art and decided to create an independent regional group (YHEG) to fill the gap. Anyone can join (for the princely sum of £10 a year) whether they belong to a Stitch Group or not. At the moment this gives access to three meetings a year. AGM in Autumn, Spring Meeting (workshops) and the Summer Gathering (speakers and trading stands) at the Regen Centre in Riccall, near York, as well as resurrecting the two-day Summer School. Costs are kept as reasonable as possible. For the Spring Meeting the cost was £15 for two x two-hour workshops, unlimited help yourself to hot drinks and a buffet lunch for members and £30 for non-members, which added to the tables each group had to sell unwanted stitchy stuff and to raise funds (heaven!) is a bargain.

I decided to offer the encrusted seascapes workshop I’d created for In The Stitch Zone back in 2022.

It works well as a workshop on a number of levels as it allows people to choose their level of stitching both in terms of variety and complexity of the stitches used and also in how much they add to the basics of a shell (or shells) and the organza strips. I only had the one sample (above) so it was an excellent excuse to stitch a couple more.

I particularly like using neutrals for this sort of encrusted work as it takes away the worries of colour choices for people who aren’t confident about using colour and it really brings the structure of the stitches to the fore. However, I also like indigo with neutrals so the second sample I stitched was on a scrap of indigo dyed sheet. I actually started it it the disastrous market I mentioned in my last post, hence the slightly washed out look of the photo under indoor spotlights.

I always start with scraps of organza and a shell. With a freeform embroidery like this, staring at the blank hooped up fabric can be as daunting as a blank page or canvas, but scattering the organza and stitching down the shell helps to break that deadlock and while you are using simple stitches to attach the shell, your creative subconscious is already working away, deciding what will be next.

Doodling with stitch, in effect. I also like to use any left over thread in my needle after I’ve stitched the frondy bits, to add to the French knot/bullion knot/bead bit at the bottom. It gives a more random feel than using a single strand and ending up with lots the same colour and also helps to build it up as you go along. I love French knots, but doing loads all in one go can be a bit tedious.

I returned to the neutrals for my third sample, stitched on lovely slubby silk noil.

And decided to try out some new stitches like the back to back rows of up and down buttonhole stitch on the left and the threaded zig zag chain in the middle.

I never refer back to the previous sample and although the basic premise of organza scraps and shell is the same and there are some stitches I use which are recurring favourites, like feather stitch, Palestrina stitch and French knots, each one is unique.

I’m adding this officially to my Workshops bar at the top of the page so if you’re interested, get in touch.

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Mother Medals

Among the many bits and pieces in my collection of broken and unloved jewellery are some vintage sentimental ‘Mother’ brooches. Although there is a market for vintage brooches in general, these are still seen as old fashioned; partly, I suspect, due to the wording. However, we still use the term Mothers’ Day rather than Mums’ Day, so I wondered last year if I could make them into something a little more up to date and wearable. I’d seen some faux medal brooches made from ribbons and oddments of vintage jewellery on Pinterest and being awarded a medal for being a Mother seemed appropriate. So last year I made these:

The blue one sold almost straight away, and this year, having obtained a couple more ‘Mother’ brooches I decided to make two more. The first was pretty straightforward. The original brooch pin was still in good condition so I could use it as the top of the medal. Grosgrain ribbon is sturdier and less likely to ‘walk’ than satin ribbon, so I used another piece of the orange floral ribbon I’d used before and simply blanket stitched it over a pelmet vilene core to give it more body. I added a needlelace edging in variegated thread to bring out the greens in the pattern and the brown agate heart pendant was just the right size to be the ‘medal’.

The second was a little trickier. The ‘Mother’ brooch in this case was a carved mother of pearl heart in a sad and sorry state with a damaged brooch back and a chunk broken off the edging. It was still so pretty I was determined to use it, but as the ‘medal’ rather than the top. I managed to remove the remains of the back without further damage and added a carved bone rose from a broken vintage clip on earring to cover the broken area.

Then I needed a base ribbon which was about as wide as the heart. After turning out all of my ribbons, I found this gorgeous dark gold 1940s hat ribbon which set the note for the colour palette. I layered it up with vintage black satin ribbon, gold organza ribbon and a heavy cotton striped ribbon, carefully applying tiny strips of bondaweb to the back of each piece and ironing them in place. Then, to add some subtle sparkle and keep the edges down I added feather stitch and blanket stitch.

On this scale the multiple layers would have been too thick to sew through and turn inside out, so I folded over a piece of satin ribbon and blanket stitched it over the top to finish off the raw edges.

Then I added beaded blanket stitch edging featuring some lovely pale gold seed beads. It’s so easy to do and makes such a satisfyingly neat finish.

Lastly I stitched part of another broken brooch with a working catch onto the top.

Combining vintage hat ribbon, broken brooches and and odd earring, I really like that this medal is made up from things that women would have worn in the past. It may not be as in your face floral and brightly coloured as the others but I rather prefer its understated elegance.

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Northumberland Holiday Journal – Over Half Way

I’ve counted up the completed pages and I’m just over half way through finishing off the Northumberland Holiday Journal. And that includes going back adding additional stitching to the running stitches on the label sides of the spreads this week.

I was discussing it with Debbie and she suggested adding to the running stitches and making more of a feature of them. I wasn’t sure initially, as I hadn’t wanted the stitches to stand out, but I’d already done that on the back of the Mount Grace page, and the more I looked at the pages, the more sense it made, making the labels feel more balanced against the larger embroideries. So I’ve gone back through the pages I’ve already done and played with different ways of threading and whipping the running stitches.

Whipped running stitch for Mount Grace.

A double threaded running stitch for the Drakestone to Harbottle walk

And a sort of reverse chain but hiding the thread under the running stitches for Bamburgh Castle, which is the spread I finished this week.

I used running stitch in a dark blue/grey thread so it toned with the greys in the background to the Beast and also the indigo thread I used on both sides of the Lindisfarne spread which is over the page.

Heartened by Ruth’s championing of the feather stitch I used earlier, I made sure I left a bit more space around my writing and used it again, rather more successfully this time I think.

The indigo thread is the same as I used for the petals and the yellow stranded cotton I whipped the running stitch with is the thread I used for the centre of the flower.

The journal is feeling much more cohesive now and making a feature of the running stitches that frames the label is working brilliantly. Definitely a good shout, Debbie – I’m really pleased with the results. Thank you!

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Still Moving It On

After my trial of one of the easier pages last week, I started at the beginning of my 2023 Holiday Journal and have managed to complete the frontispiece and two spreads.

The frontispiece confirmed what I said last week about not being able to get running stitch even on both sides – it’s not even perfect when I’m using the aida to regulate the stitches on one side!

I’m not sure (but it doesn’t irritate me enough to undo it) about using feather stitch to attach the label for this spread. I think had there been a bigger border around the writing that might have helped, but at this stage it’s still very much about trying things out to see if they work. I chose the burgundy thread for the feather stitch and also for the French knots to echo the colours in the William Morris print.

Behind the French knots I ended up with a sequence of larger, closer together running stitches, so I decided to make a feature of the stitching and smoothed it all out by whipping it.

Two (almost) spreads down:

I’m glad it’s all coming together and as I can break it down into small sections, it feels easier to do – not so overwhelming and something I can pick up in short breaks.

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Market Makes

Late November and early December is my really busy market season but I find the actual markets are a great place to work on new pieces. It gives me something to do – can’t sit and do nothing! – and it’s a something interesting to talk to potential customers about. It seems ages ago now, but the first piece was created at the Preview Evening for the Pop-Up Christmas Emporium at Caistor Arts and Heritage Centre. Back in October I created this snowflake pendant (now sold)…

…using a silvertone/pewter tray setting. At the Preview Evening I used another smaller one as the setting for this little scarlet ribbon rose pendant, stitched onto pelmet vilene with a centre of golden yellow French knots.  

Next was the Gainsborough Old Hall Christmas Market. This is the fourth year (with a break for Covid) I’ve done this market, which is lovely and Christmassy, with seasonal music and a fabulous Medieval setting, just extremely cold!

The first day I worked on a new leaf brooch. I have a little job lot of these machine embroidered heat distressed leaves which I think might have once been a wreath. They have made fabulous additions to all sorts of upcycled pieces in the past and I wanted to make a brooch, featuring a pretty crystal droplet from an odd earring dangling from the end like a dew drop.

This was a good place to also use some of the flat backed raindrop beads I bought for my Tattershall memory journal.

I blanket stitched the leaf, a layer of pelmet vilene for stability and a commercial felt backing together and added the crystal drop at the end. The medieval windows of the Old Hall make a great backdrop for photographs. The brooch is available here in my Etsy Shop.

The following day I decided to return to ribbon rose embroidery and create a little trio of roses on hand painted pelmet vilene to fit into an empty vintage pendant setting.

Luckily, another straightforward stitch, as the cold did make it difficult to do anything too intricate. Very pleased with the sizing of the trio of roses/rosebuds. I’ve called this one ‘Albertine’ and she’s available here.

I couldn’t quite believe what I’d managed to create over the weekend, especially when there was all the business of selling going on, and this was quite a busy market. I had high hopes for the following weekend, which was the Christmas Art Market at the Ropewalk in Barton Upon Humber. Nothing like the use of the term ‘Art’ to really get the Imposter Syndrome going…

I decided to create another pendant – this one using a big chunky silver tone setting – to make a sea glass underwater themed piece.

I’ve done a few in a similar vein over the years and I love the combining the free form stitching with tiny sea glass pieces. I used silk carrier rod as the background because I love the texture and the lustre of the silk and added stitching in a variety of cotton threads. Feather stitch and Palestrina stitch.

Better photograph of the finished product in the snow the next day. This one is also available here in my Etsy shop.

The Christmas Art Market was not great. Far fewer people engaging, so much less busy, but strangely I found it much harder to focus on my stitching than I had at Gainsborough with the more frequent interruptions. So much so that on the second day I brought some ordinary stitching to do rather than start another piece of jewellery.

Reminding myself that there is a cost of living crisis and even if my work is under-priced, as I’ve been told, jewellery is still a luxury.

I can’t stop making anyway…

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Bamburgh and Lindisfarne Holiday Journal Pages.

After having finished off two pages this week, I can’t quite believe that I only have two more pages to complete for this year’s holiday journal. The first one to be finished was the Bamburgh Beast. Last seen it looked like this:

I reduced my photo of the Beast to a suitable size and traced it onto the scrap of gold fabric. Then I simply back stitched the outline in my favourite metallic Madeira thread. There’s a bit too much direct sun on the photograph to tell, but it does sparkle.

I also added some running stitch along the lines of the backing fabric to add a bit of texture.

Then I turned my attention to the Lindisfarne page, which was inspired by this little piece of beachcombed hand painted china.

I used hand dyed indigo cotton in long and short stitch for the petals and the centre. I wanted the subtle and random shading in the thread to echo the highlights in the original piece caused by the thin and thick paint in the brush strokes.

The leaf is also long and short stitch with a variegated fine silk thread and a thicker cotton thread for the stem and mid rib.

I used feather stitch to attach it to a scrap of sand coloured fabric for the backing.

Then I glued on the fragment of china. It fits almost perfectly! The indigo is such a good match for the paint: even more so than I thought initially. If I glance at it, it almost looks like the china is transparent and I’m looking through it to the stitching underneath. I’m very pleased with the effect!

So, two pages left to do. The Wallington page is a good way on, but I need to do some more research before I can create the star map for the Kielder Observatory. Then they all still need stitching to the relevant pages in the book and I need to create a title page and labels to explain what each one represents, but it’s feeling like a win.

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Geode Progress

This is proving a lovely steady relaxing stitch and working up quite quickly now I’m heading for the centre. Last time I posted I had just added the eighth stitch: feather stitch with an added a sprinkling of beads and it looked like this:

Following the open nature of the feather stitch I wanted a more solid stitch for the next round, so I chose Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch and a wonderful soft variegated silk thread. Great thread, but completely wrong for this stitch. Something this project has reiterated is how much the look of a stitch is dependent on the texture of the thread, especially the more sculptural knotted stitches.

The softness of the silk thread meant that the caterpillar-like wraps of Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch were completely lost and it looked a lumpy mess. So out with the silk and back to a perle cotton, which showed up the wraps as I wanted.

The next stitch was heavy chain, which had been successfully used by a couple of other members of the Stitch Zone group. Mindful of the issues I’d already had with the previous stitch, I went for a tightly twisted mercerised cotton so I could slide the needle easily behind the stitch loops. It’s a nicely weighty stitch and it gave me another good solid line. I worked the chain stitches very short, so it ended up looking like a braid, which I really like.

Next, a more open stitch and a completely new one for me, courtesy of my Mary Thomas book. This one is called Knotted Cable Chain Stitch and is a bit of a cheat, as the chain loops aren’t full loops – the bottom part of the loop comes out from under the knot, which you can see in the photo below. But once I got into the rhythm, which is always the initial hurdle with stitches that have multiple stages, I enjoyed working it and it certainly stitched up a lot faster than either of the two previous rows.

Lastly in this week’s stitching, threaded running stitch, which I chose for the opportunity to use some stranded cotton, even if it was only for threading.

So, about two thirds done and all down hill from here!

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Geode

The class I teach weekly, In The Stitch Zone, is intended to be accessible to people at all levels of stitching ability and as such I am always trying to create projects that can work at all levels, from a complete beginner to an expert. I spotted a piece of embroidery on Instagram recently which I think was supposed to look like the layers of a geode. What occurred to me was that it could become an interesting twist on a sampler of line stitches, stitched in concentric circles with some beading thrown in for extra sparkle and textural interest. We are starting the project on Monday so I can finally reveal my sample so far, which I started stitching during panto week.

I kept to my favourite shades of turquoise – mainly because I have a box filled with different types of turquoise threads and it was easy to grab and take with me – and a background of rusty gold in a 6″ hoop. I wanted to use quite bold stitches and also to try and utilise some of the fancy threads we all accumulate that you can’t actually stitch through fabric. The first row was Pekinese Stitch which I managed to thread with a very lovely but very slubby pure silk. I think the slub makes it look a bit untidy/unevenly stitched but I love the colour and it is supposed to be based on a natural form after all, so I’m trying to squash my tendency to neatness!

I followed this with a deliberately uneven row of wool roving, couched down with a shiny rayon thread: again something I wouldn’t usually use but I wanted a hint of shine against the wool. It wasn’t too bad for tangling but it was very springy and difficult to get it to pull the wool into place and hold it.

I followed the couching with a straightforward row of chain stitch in a heavy perle…

…and after that, whipped a row of running stitch with a length of hand dyed tubular ribbon. By having a thin thread for the running stitch and using a very thick one to whip it with, I really like the wave effect it’s given to the twisted ribbon.

Next, a knotted stitch and I chose Palestrina Stitch which I worked in two strands of a single strand silk to try and give it enough weight to compete with the chunky row next to it.

Next, time for some sparkle and the opportunity to use up a lovely string of quartz beads I’d had for ages but only just discovered that the holes through the middle are tiny – too small for anything but the thinnest wire and my thinnest beading needle. I couched them down in a circle and then went back and worked French knots over the couching stitches. I love that these cube shaped beads have been drilled corner to corner so they sit up like little crystals on the fabric.

Inside the layer of beads I felt it needed another chunkier stitch, so I used whipped chain stitch, whipped with some sparkly dark turquoise chainette thread – not the greatest photo under artificial light.

And my final row so far is feather stitch in heavy perle. I worked it quite small so the ‘arms’ were quite short but I felt it was a bit too open so I went round again and stitched an iridescent seed bead into the base of each open chain. Much better photos in daylight this morning!

I think I’ve got far enough to give an idea of the concept and I like the fact that the circle now has a bit of a wobble to it, which should develop as I continue into the middle, like a natural geode.

More fun, I think, than just a linear line stitch sampler.

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Peas and Wallpaper

Despite the lack of space, the peas have fitted in nicely and don’t look too squashed or too small. I started with rows of variegated brown feather stitch ‘pea sticks’ and added the stalks over the top in whipped back stitch.

The peas are two straight stitches which start side by side at the top and go into the same hole at the bottom to give a point. I’m always up for some ‘plein air stitching’ and started adding them on a trip to Lincoln to meet up with Karen (Lincs in Stitches).

Once the peas were nicely spaced over the stalks, I finished them off with a trio of tiny straight stitches in a single strand of stranded cotton to create the calyxes. Next I need to find some 2mm silk ribbon for the leaves.

I know it’s not really the best idea to start yet another project when there are other things on the go and especially when I’ve not made any progress on my June AND July Move It On Project, but I need something straightforward to stitch while I’m out and about and Ruskin lace definitely does not come into that category. The Ruskin lace is to go into a 2015 holiday journal which needs some other stitching doing for it, including a version of the wallpaper in John Ruskin’s study at Brantwood, near Coniston.

It’s quite light and modern for a Victorian wallpaper and I particularly liked the motif with stars on the right so I chose it as one of the pieces to stitch for the journal.

I originally planned to do it in applique, but when I came to look at the design I’d printed out ready to go, it was clear that the stems were going to be far too narrow, so I’ve revised my idea and it will all be embroidered. We were up in the Lakes for the weekend a couple of weeks ago and as we visited Coniston, it seemed appropriate to start the stitching there.

The lines will be in split stitch to give the right sort of width and each leaf will also be outlined in split stitch and then satin stitched over. Nice and straightforward, easy to take out and about and it’s still moving old projects on.

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Richly Textured Ribbon

Finally I can show a project that has been ongoing since I was asked in February to create an unusual ribbon embroidery workshop for Lincolnshire Textiles (formerly Lincoln branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild). The remit was for something ‘richly textured’ but after some heavy googling and falling down Pinterest rabbit holes, I was fed up of looking at flowers, lovely though some of them were, and completely lacking in inspiration. It wasn’t until I was working on one of my sea themed upcycled pendants a few weeks later that a germ of an underwater idea took root.

I did some doodling with some oddments of silk ribbon just to see what was possible. French knots are definitely textured but quite greedy on ribbon. However, I liked the idea of ruching up ribbon on the surface using French knots – perhaps working them in thread rather than ribbon.

The loose twisted ribbon stitches for the tentacles of the anemone worked well from the start, although I was less pleased with the satin stitch body.

What I had taken away from this doodling was that an underwater themed piece would definitely work. The anemone was a definite, if I could create a smoother body and I wanted to use the ruched ribbon for brain coral. Doodling take two. On the right, a shorter satin stitch body. Still not right as the ribbon gathers as it goes through the fabric, leaving rough top and bottom edges. On the left, an idea for surface couching inspired by something I saw on someone’s Instagram of a section of a Jenny Adin-Christie kit. I’ve no idea how the effect was worked, but it was a wide flat thread of some type folded in a zig zag pattern and after a bit of trial and error, I managed to get the ribbon to behave and couched it down to produce the smooth edges I was looking for as well as giving an interesting textured effect.

Time to finally draw the design and use the anemone body I’d just trialled to make a prototype.

Some feather stitch and threaded chain stitch seaweed gave the design a bit of balance and added more textural interest. This was enough to give me a finalised design which I finished stitching this week.

That’s the easy bit – instructions complete with diagrams next! Good job the workshop isn’t until September…

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