More small projects

The holiday journal is finished and just waiting for me to add some extra papers, pockets etc. to the inside.

Doing blanket stitch so close together took longer than I bargained but I like the effect.

Then I moved onto another one of my samples for my upcoming Embroiderers’ Guild workshop later in the year. Grey on grey felt embroidered in pale blues.

Fly stitched edge, straight stitches in a radiating pattern and french knots:

Feather stitch edging with a chain stitch spiral:

And I’ve turned what I think might have been a vintage money clip into an upcycled sea glass pendant. First of all I sawed off the long bit of the clip following the lines of the design at the bottom.

Then I pierced and cut out the middle section with a very fine saw, again following the edges of the design, and leaving three tabs to attach the sea glass to.

A lot of fiddly filing happened next, to really shape the central section and tidy up the tabs before I could set it with a lovely piece of deep turquoise sea glass.

I love using the piercing saw and the fiddlier the design, the better. I really need to get back to making some more of my original jewellery…

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Small finishes

It’s reading for a new show time again and so I have managed to sit and stitch through a number of small finishes. Firstly, one of the designs Ruth produced for us at November’s Embroiderers’ Guild meeting, made up into a card.

The border is in feather stitch, the centre in a spiral of split stitch, the main oval parts of the petals in Corded Brussels stitch (needlelace) and the ends in satin stitch.

Then I decided to make up a little magazine kit I bought from eBay in 2009. Simple stem stitch and lazy daisy stitch for the wheel barrow and the flowers/leaves.

Then french knot middles to the flowers and my first ever attempt at a Dorset Button for the wheel.

I was fairly pleased with it until I put the kit picture next to it for comparison…

Obviously a technique I need to work on but it has made a nice little card.

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‘Purple Depths’

I’ve had the idea of turning an old pocket watch case into a pendant for a while now, but it wasn’t until yesterday, when after a challenging morning helping my 11 yr old to muck out her bedroom, I felt in need of something simple and soothing to stitch. The watch case itself was ready to go, I just needed to find the fabric…

…then track down the Dinky Dyes variegated silk I knew I had that would go with it, select three tiny nuggets from my sea glass collection…

…and I was good to go. Seed beads first.

And then the embroidery – feather stitch using one strand of the silk and scattered trios of french knots.

To finish I layered a piece of wadding over a circle of card and snipping the edge of the fabric, I wrapped each tab round the card and lightly glued them to the back before setting the whole thing in the watch case.

It’s been a long time in development, but I’m absolutely delighted with the result.

If you’re interested, you can find it here.

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Daily stitching

My little one has just started secondary school and has gone from packed lunches to school dinners. This has suddenly given me 10-15 minutes extra in the mornings and so I’ve started doing a little stitching before I head off to work.

The huge french knot piece is heading for the last leg. Last time I shared it, I’d got this far:

But a summer’s worth of stitching at boot sales, meetings and these new morning stitching sessions has got me to this point:

The bottom edge is now complete, the second corner defined and all I have left to do is the final edge. That said, there is probably hours of work still before I can put in the final stitch!

The other thing I’ve worked on is my amulet, although I’m thinking it’s more likely going to be a book cover. At the end of the workshop in July I’d feather stitched and beaded the printed fabric to the background felt and used beaded blanket stitch to attach a rusty washer to the centre.

Since then I’ve used my favourite metallic Madeira thread to back stitch all round the printed design. Just enough metal wrapping around the core thread to give a subtle sparkle. It’s twinkly rather than blingy!

To fit in with the found washer in the middle, I’ve added some large textured gold tone loops from a short section of chain. Each one is couched down and then french knots added at the ends of the couching stitches.

I’m amazed at how much I’m getting done in these little sessions, although it is extremely tempting to just do a few minutes more – and then end up late for work!

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Chris Gray Weekend Part 2 – Amulet Workshop

As our meeting on the Saturday afternoon was to be followed by an all day workshop with Chris on the Sunday, at the end of the meeting we got a tantalising preview of all the goodies we were going to be using – piles of gorgeously dyed fabrics, threads, and beads, paints and box upon box of intricately carved wooden stamps all laid out ready. Talk about whetting the appetite!

The next day our task was to choose two pieces of the lusciously dyed fabrics that Chris had provided and print them up with one of Chris’ blocks to stitch into an amulet. If we had any of our own spare fabric, we could print that as well to take home.

Chris had told us a tale of a lady who never did any stitching on one of these workshops – she spent the whole day printing – and after experiencing the fantastic crisp images the blocks produce…

…I completely understood where she was coming from.

Everywhere I looked was another block I wanted to try.

I’d come out of the house in a hurry (as usual) and grabbed a handful of scrap fabric to print on rather than the whole bag. Ultimately this was a good thing because had I grabbed the bag instead I don’t think they would have got me away from the blocks.  Even so, I printed on everything I had. When the calico was covered, I printed on silk dupion, which turned out pretty well in spite of its slubby surface…

…printed and patterned fabrics,

odd shaped scraps and oddments…

…and I even ended up printing on ironed out silk carrier rods, scrim and chiffon and emptying out my workbag in case there was anything else remotely usable hidden in its depths. The scrim and chiffon were a revelation. We were printing with emulsion paint – no fancy textile inks or paints  – using blocks with very fine detail and the results were amazing. First the scrim:

Close up you can see how crisp the image is despite the crinkled nature of the weave.

Then the chiffon. I didn’t expect much of a result with emulsion paint on such a fine fabric, but I was over the moon with how well the blocks printed on it.

By this time pretty much everyone else was already stitching, it was nearly lunchtime and the blocks were being washed and packed away, so I resolved not to try and cadge any more fabric from anyone else and sat down to stitch the print I had chosen for my hand dyed fabric piece. Medieval tile pattern on turquoise of course and feather stitch around the edge to attach it to the black felt behind.

I love the rust-coloured patches in this fabulous thread and once the block was feather stitched down, I went back and beaded it with matte iridescent delicas in similar tones.

A rusty washer was perfect for the centre.

I attached it with beaded blanket stitch, using some more of the same beads and another favourite thread, my bronzy metallic Madeira.

Next step is to back stitch around the design in the Madeira thread.

Chris posted some more images of the lovely work done by everyone else here. And then if her generosity of knowledge and enthusiasm wasn’t enough, she presented us with this lovely amulet to be raffled at our AGM at the end of the month.

Thanks Chris, it was brilliant!

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Bankfield Museum and Shibden Hall

Last month a group of members from Scunthorpe Embroiderers’ Guild had our summer outing to Bankfield Museum in Halifax to see the Exquisite Threads exhibition. As well as some amazing pieces from the Embroiderers’ Guild collection, including the Millennium Casket…

 

…there were pieces from Bankfield’s own collections…

…pieces from the recent Regional competitions…

…and an old friend: the ‘rainbow squares’ which was one of the first things I sewed with the Guild when I joined. Each branch was given a colour and each person stitched a square using primarily that colour. They were then joined together in long chains and displayed at various places around the country. The last time I saw them was at the Quilt Museum (now sadly closed) in York but didn’t think to get a photo of my square. So here it is!

Upside down – but I think only I know that! Simple feather stitch in shades of red, with seed beads added.

Then we went on to Shibden Hall.

Not much in the way of textiles but plenty of inspiration. The stone mullioned window in the middle of the above picture is set with the most gorgeous medieval painted glass rescued from an abbey I believe, after the Dissolution.

These guys are delightful. They remind me so much of the characters in the margins of the Luttrell Psalter.

“Tee hee, I nicked your dagger…”

“Life…don’t talk to me about life…”

“My name is Spike…”

“No… I’m shy…”

“Plough your garden, Mister?”

Inspiration strikes! Watch this space…

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Orchid barrette

At our Stitch Club last Saturday I was all set to begin some Ruskin lace work for my last year’s Lake District journal. That was until I realised I’d forgotten to pack a frame. So instead I selected a piece of hand dyed vintage handkerchief, an oddment of slubby thread, a piece of calico to stabilise it and a fine thread to couch with and started to doodle.

It wasn’t entirely aimless. I’m in the middle of some upcycling ideas and one of those was to create a rich jungly background for a single plastic orchid earring and then turn it into a barrette. After I’d doodled the slubby thread all over I added trails of feather stitch over the top in a variegated cotton, made up a pad of felt and pelmet vilene and began to lace the embroidery over it.

Then I stitched on some gorgeous little polymer clay beads – more dangles really – that I’ve had for ages.

Next the orchid went on.

Finally I attached a commercial new barrette clip to a piece of grey felt and blanket stitched it to the back…

…before popping it into my Etsy shop here.

So pleased with it – that earring was just too pretty not to have a new lease of life!

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