Crewel Battlement Couching Certificate Course Workshop

On the last Saturday in May I went to the Guild's Certificate Course Workshop given by Di Kirshner on  battlement couching. Di provided some basic template shapes for us to  work with, but encouraged us to innovate. I took the circle shape and tried to create a tri-moon design. 

I worked the left hand crescent in 5 gradients of blue, beginning with the darkest on the bottom. On Di's suggestion I worked the right hand crescent with the same colours in the opposite direction. That worked well too, but my first attempt to fill the centre in a single middle colour was a disaster - and I took it out.

The less-ambitious replacement with 5 mid-colour layers and alternating dark and light French knots was much more successful.

At this point I began playing with a contextualising design. I was trying to keep within the stylised Jacobean crewel  and the moon goddess traditions. It took a few days and rejected drawings before I came up with one I liked.

I came up with the shapes of an owl, the back of a cat, a flight of birds and the tail of the cat morphing into a broomstick. Plus stars. I'm hoping I can embroider these in a recognisably crewel style. It's an eclectic mix - birds from northern goddess traditions and the cat from Egypt and Greece.

The owl was easy. I've done it before. The stitches chose themselves. Tatiana Popova has one in her Crewel Embroidery  book against which I could test my choices. The cat silhouette I thought I'd do in needlelace. I spent an evening on it but couldn't get it even (left). I think the area to be covered is too large. I tried, but cut it all out once I got everything else done.

I replaced it with a layer of closely couched black thread held in place by a grid, also in black. Much better.  

It is not really stylised enough for traditional crewel work but it might, as my mother used to say, pass with a push. I rather like the flock of birds and the stars, and it does have the witchy feeling I was after, and a bit of a tilt to goddess embroidery.

I've had fun with it, but fear it's a bit indulgent. Nevertheless, it has been shaped by Barbara's Design Online course and I like the result. I went through my stash looking for suitable fabrics to help turn it into something useful. 

After a few tries I settled on what was sold as a Christmas fabric, blue stars, silver moons with a bit of sparkle. 

I planned a pouch with a zip closure - until I figured this one really would be better displayed at eye level and dug out a large hoop I had bought from the Guild trading table to use for displaying something. I needed to join the fabric but the join is under the applique - and it worked a treat.

I gathered the fabric over the hoop, and backed it with calico.  I have left the rectangular background fabric  underneath in case I decide I've had enough display in which case I can remake it as a pouch!

I considered cutting the embroidery to a circle, but I think the points fit quite well with the stars.

I don't have a lot of display space left in my apartment. I tried it in a couple of places. There's a spot in the kitchen that would work. 

For the moment I've hung it on the door into my apartment, underneath the Alison Cole stumpwork piece 

I hesitated to hang it here. It seems a provocative thing to do, hanging a moon goddess image with witch associations on a front door would once have led to persecution and death. The stigma and fear lingers. 

Which, of course, is a reason to hang it there. I offer it as a tribute to those women who served - and serve - their communities as healers and interpreters, against the odds. It's also a tribute to the confidence I acquired to trust my judgement through Barbara Mullan's Design Online Course through the Guild.