AlwaysStitching
A record of my stitching and related activity - mostly smocking and embroidery - and what I am learning along the way.
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Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Flannel Flower Tote in Fennel & Saltbush
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Flannel Flower tote
My apologies for a font variation in this post which I have been unable to resolve.
Ink and Spindle recently released a new linen, printed this time with flannel flowers.Thursday, April 11, 2024
Early Women of Books bag
It began when I read The Gilded Page by Mary Wellesley, an extraordinary book for anyone interested in Medieval History, telling stories about the making of books before the printing press, of those who laboured in the industry, and those who commissioned works. Amongst these are stories of at least nine significant women, largely overlooked in their times.
Of course, my first thought was that I could make a bag, featuring the names of the nine women, along the lines of the Voices of Women bag I made in January. When I mentioned this to a friend from my 1965 undergraduate Early English Literature and Language Course, who was also reading the book, she wanted a bag too. I began to wonder if it would be possible to photograph the finished bag and somehow print the photograph on to fabric. While I thought about that I got on with the embroidery
I therefore began to create summaries of the nine lives, using The Gilded Page as a base, but adding and checking with other books and Internet sources. I put these together with photos of the embroidered faces and published a booklet entitled Early Women of Books on Blurb. It can be purchased as print-on-demand or in pdf form. I have no royalty on it, so the price is that placed by the printer. The whole book can be previewed free on the site, but it does take a long time to load in full.
I have now ordered a small number of Early Women in Books bags to be printed. I will report back when they arrive - estimated to be at the end of April. When they arrive I will have the original embroidered bag, a booklet about the women, and four printed bags. It's been a very deep rabbit hole for the past couple of weeks. I've learnt a lot.
The Guild is having an exhibition in August as part of SALA (South Australian Living Arts) with a theme of Divergent Textiles. It occurred to me today that these bags might be my entry! I think they qualify as divergent - crazy might be a more accurate term.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
More Glazig Workshop preparation
Over the Easter weekend I have made an effort to work the two samples I need for the Workshop I have to give later this month. I was hopeful this is the last of my preparation, following the printing of notes and linens earlier this month.
The samples are about 2" square. While they are not overly ambitious, they each require 5 or so different stitches and the use of Au Ver a Soie Perlee thread - quite a bit to get used to.
I worked in a seated hoop stand. I needed both hands to maintain tension, as well as protecting my wrist.
I used the smallest piece of linen I had printed for the first one - figuring better for me to use than a student. I stitched it to a piece of old sheet to fit it into the hoop.
It was relatively straightforward until I came to the open chain border, which was very awkward to manage in the hoop, so I ended up taking it out and working it in hand.
The green section is a feather stitch, the beige ones and the pink flower are buttonhole stitch (one close together, one further apart). The red flower and the yellow centre are eyelets, the purple corner is woven and there are three varieties of chain stitch.
It's a bit rough. I needed magnification. The silk is lovely to work with and largely holds its twist.
The second sample was in most ways simpler. The leaves and dark berries are buttonhole stitch and the red flowers eyelets. There are three versions of chain stitch.
The photo here shows my waste knots and the simple chain stitch border before embellishment.
The embellishment proved a bit tricky. The stitch chart lists it as chainette surjetee. The diagram suggests a series of loops under each chain stitch without anchorage. Searches in Jacqueline Enthoven's The Stitches of Creative Embroidery produced no likely stitch. In the end, I came up with a version which gives the side loops indicated in chainette surjetee and is held in place by weaving under and over each individual chain.
It will be interesting to see what the Certificate Course students come up with.
I'm a bit concerned I may not have provided enough thread of any one colour for students, especially for the daisy flower in the first sample above. I intend, however, to give them the option of cutting another length from the spare reels I have. The colour choice isn't great, but this is expensive thread, and we are, after all, learning about it.
Monday, March 11, 2024
Cockatoo Bag
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
April Certificate Course Glazig Workshop
Last week I realised I needed to get organised for my April Certificate Course Workshop on Glazig Embroidery. The notice, with information about student requirements, needs to go into the Guild's March newsletter.
I can’t invent a design of my own, and I can’t breach copyright, so am working in narrow parameters.
I cut squares of linen, discovered my iron-on transfer pen was defunct, so decided I could use (some very old) dressmaker's carbon to transfer the designs to the squares. This enabled me, in between a hairdressing appointment, shopping for family dinner and weekend house guests, to write the notes and newsletter notice. I emailed the notice to the Guild and the notes to Officeworks for printing.
After transferring about 5 motifs to linen using the carbon, I found time for a trip to Spotlight between picking up the printing and taking a granddaughter to JEMS on Saturday, to buy a new transfer pen. It is medium thickness, and worked well.