It was a privilege once again to work on this label to provide embroidered folk motifs on Penny Sage’s Marianne dresses. Each dress has 7-8 flower motifs – each motif taking around 30 minutes to… More
Lose yourself
This week Eminem performed in my tiny corner of the world. Only a few kms away in fact. I thought about his track ‘Lose Yourself’ and it reminded me about the ability of embroidery, or any handcraft for that matter, to lift you outside of yourself.
Last weekend I framed up a small piece using a design from Yusai’s book ‘Tambour Work’. I’m working on gauzy organza – the fabric is quite open so I’m hoping the holes I’ve made will close up with some steam. The design called for DMC Cordonnet. I don’t have any of that so I started with 100% cotton machine sewing thread. That split and broke badly so I switched to polyester sewing thread. It’s working much better – strong and doesn’t split as much. The natural fibre snob in me doesn’t like that it’s polyester. The effect of this design is going to look a bit like net lace I think. I love the look of black thread on delicate fabric – beauty and decay all at the same time.
Really loving my new lap stand – it’s perfect for tambour work.
I got Yusai’s book from Alison Cole Embroidery in Australia. I also buy hook needles from her.
I have a work trip coming up next week and a couple of exciting course I can’t wait to write about……
K’s Creations Lap scroll frame
I’m working towards having frames and frame supports that can be folded flat and stored easily. Mr Meadowy and I hope to be living on a boat in the near future and for that reason I can’t have trestle legs permanently in situ.
We all want to be comfortable when we stitch and a lounge chair or sofa is where I head to stitch and relax. My hoop lap frame works well but, it’s not great for tambour work – I can’t get the fabric taut enough.
I have a really large scroll frame I had made locally which will be great for large pieces. Cue the K’s Creations Lap Frame. Like all my purchases I did my research – read reviews (what few there are) and checked YouTube. I had two purchasing options. I could buy directly from the maker in Austin Texas. That would involve getting it sent to my NZ Post address in Oregon then paying an eye-watering amount to get it to NZ. Option 2 is buying it in this country at a higher price but much cheaper shipping. There’s only one retail store in NZ that has a comprehensive range of embroidery loot – Ribbon Rose in Auckland. I order online mostly and visit when I can. Ribbon Rose isn’t specialised enough to stock tambour gear like tambour hooks and holders but they have a good range of threads – especially silks.
I feel like this lap frame needs a name. The Duchess comes to mind.
Van Dyke
Not the show. The embroidery stitch. I learnt this one last night – it’s kind of cool with a little plaited braid that sits on top. God bless Mary Corbet and her video tutorials. Trickier when you’re left handed like me. I have to reverse the instructions and when she says left, I say right. When she says up and down I say down and up. One of the challenges of being left handed. It feels good to learn something new – this week it’s the Van Dyk.
Practise, practise, practise
Last weekend I decided to mount my lap hoop with some organza and have a go at doing some tambour work that way. I bound my hoop with fabric to make it more grippy. Yeah….so……it didn’t work very well. I just couldn’t get the fabric to stay drum tight which made my stitching really difficult. So it will be back to the roller frame for me. Like any skill, the only way I’ll get good at it is to practise, every day if I can. Even if the lap frame didn’t work out at least I had an interesting view, a movie and a coffee. The movie was Velvet Buzzsaw. Meh.
Material storage
Every time we move our home we have different spaces to use and often that means different storage needs for our precious supplies.
I hope to be moving on to a boat in the near future and while the boat has lots of storage, I won’t have a designated craft area where I can display my books and have threads/fabrics in little bins that fit in a shelf.
Along with embroidery, I like to journal in a traveller’s notebook using diecuts, stamps and nice paper. I also like to knit and I have a sizeable stash of yarn. Then there’s the embroidery gear – hoops, slate frames, cotton threads, silk threads, cotton perle and crewel wool. There’s needles and tambour hooks and crochet hooks and pins…….I could go on.
One advantage of moving is the chance to tidy and re-sort. Daiso (Japanese store that sells almost EVERYTHING) has opened up 5 minutes walk from my apartment. They have great little plastic boxes for storing thread. I’ve also found the perfect boxes for storing my stash – and they have removable dividers!
A year or so ago I bought two retro suitcases (70’s). They’ve been useful for storage so I figured if I bought a couple more then I can either store them in the cabin or in the large space where the boat’s inboard motors were (it has an outboard motor now).
I can’t and won’t get rid of my supplies. When I see them I know I’ll never be bored. If I’m poor I can keep making without spending money. If I’m rich I’ll have plenty to do when I ditch the office slog.
I figure my supplies can either stay in the cases or be out and displayed depending on where I live.
Oh, and I like to sew clothes as well…..oh lordy.
2019 Feather Neckpiece
I finished this year’s piece using Louis’ first moult. The ground fabric is grey silk organza. I used the tambour hook to attach beads around the outside of the crescent-shaped piece, as well as diagonal lines. In hindsight I didn’t need to do the lines because they are mostly hidden. Good practice with the hook at least!
I decided to make daisies to complement the yellow markings on the feathers. They were youngster bird feathers so a one off. All his grown-up feathers have come in grey. I used cream silk satin for the petals and yellow Mill Hill beads for the centres. I don’t know the correct way to attach feathers to fabric so I put a stitch through the shaft to secure and then stitches over the shaft. I’m pleased with the result overall. Now I’m itching to start a new project……..
Books like gems
Let’s face it, books are exciting. These two did not disappoint. The Point De Croix et autres secrets de broderie is more like a box of recipe cards than a book. Each card shows a sample of embroidery produced by Lesage and information about the techniques used and the materials. I feel like one could work through each design and learn a lot in the process.
The second book by Gail Marsh was a surprise for me in a unique way. I’m a somewhat distant relative of Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth who collected a vast amount of exquisite embroideries from around the world. The collection is housed in Gawthorpe Hall in England. This big old home is where my family originates from so I was thrilled the see lots of photographs from the collection in this book. The book explains techniques in their historical context, for example, knotting. I’d never heard of it! I’ve tried tatting but it struck me that this old way to show off a delicate wrist might be possible to do in the dark of a movie theatre.
Can’t wait to read these books cover to cover but a library issue is counting down to due date beside me…….about, you guessed it, embroidery.
This weeks mantra is I MUST NOT BUY more beads.
