Birthday Dress

I have just taken a bit of a plunge and made a dress that isn't smocked for a granddaughter's seventh birthday. I have had a kit for a smocked dress, size 7, for several years, chosen for Veronica because of her colouring. I had, however, no kit in hand for her twin sister.

I've been looking for a few years (well, just over 30 years) for a dress to make with a piece of vivid blue cotton. The fabric was given to me when my own daughters were about the same age as the twins are now, by a cousin in England. She gave me several pieces. I used the others, but this piece remained.

It has an unusual weave. The warp has an openwork stripe that creates a tiny pleat effect, which is reinforced by a fine elastic thread running in stripes across the warp.  It is in remarkably good condition, given its age, with the elasticity still fully functional.

I've always had a notion to see if I could smock it. However, I decided to finally use it, and to find a very simple pattern that would give full effect to the texture of the fabric.





I came up with Simplicity 2377. It is an easy pattern, and I had some braid I thought might enhance it.

The pattern proved to be very straightforward. I went for sleeves. It has elastic around the sleeves and neck. I decided to add elastic under the bodice as well.

It will be very simple to put on and off.

The braid proved a little tricky - do you put it on the stretched fabric or the unstretched? I went for stretched around the bottom, using the machine. It produced a slightly flaired effect - not bad, but I rejected a second row of braid around the bottom (photo is washed out - the blue below is true).





I added braid under the bodice, but did it by hand.

I like the simplicity and colour of this dress. There is enough fabric left over to make a skirt - watch this space.

Penny, I do hope you are as pleased as I am that I finally got around to using your last piece of fabric! Niamh was certainly happy.

Hungarian Point Bag construction.

I delayed finishing my little bag while stitching birthday dresses, but I set myself a goal to finish before the next meeting of the Embroiderers' Guild Back to Basics group, which is tomorrow. The construction isn't as highly focused as the counted thread work, so it's easier to find a little time here and there.

First came chain stitch around the edges, and backstitching along fold lines.





After some hesitation I decided to add tassels at the bottom - an optional extra in the instructions. It is, after all, over three years since my tassel binge!

The scary bit is cutting the border away but it all folded up as it was meant to.




I used a small piece of silk ikat for the lining, top stitching it down.



The sides were then whipped together using the chain stitch outline thread.

A twisted cord secures the top.

I'm pretty pleased with my little Hungarian Point bag. I learned quite a bit and have a pretty, tiny bag to show for it.

Thanks to Carol Mullan for the teaching and design.

A Second Cardigan

I had bought enough of Bendigo Woollen Mill's Harvest wool to knit a second Cardigan with lace front detail for my other daughter. This time the wool was in a dusty blue. This proved to be a fortuitous colour as most of it was knitted in the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney while staying with friends.

We had a lovely time knitting, especially in the evenings, inside their warm houses with the mist and rain outside.








I also got a bit done on the train journey back down the mountain.


By the time I came home I had the back, one sleeve and one front finished, but competing demands slowed my progress once home. I have been helping my eldest granddaughter with her chosen project of making herself a Tudor costume as part of her research into Queen Elizabeth I. As she has to create a blog within the school as part of this, I am not posting myself, but will give you a summary and peek when the project is over.


Nevertheless, I've really enjoyed knitting this, and have finally finished it. The wool is lovely to knit. It feels good in the hand, is firm and takes a pattern well. I like the natural fleck, which adds interest. The colour in the photos is all over the place - the colour on the train and in the last photo are truest.

I initially selected blue buttons, but swapped them for smooth wooden ones. I have stitched them on back to front - hiding the flower transfers at the back and showing the smooth wood.

It's a little late in the season for an 8ply cardigan, but will get a bit of a run on cool mornings or evenings. This has been a great project - soothing and easy to pick up and put down.

Hungarian Point update

I have not posted for a couple of weeks. While I continued stitching on my recent visit to friends and family in Sydney, I wasn't in a position to post and I've had a backlog of other things to do since I returned. Usually I have a couple of posts in reserve for such situations, but have run my reserve out!

I had intended to finish the Hungarian Point work while away. I didn't want to take the many skeins of stranded thread I might need as I figured it would end up tangled. I therefore devised a little aid. I chose the graduated colour threads I thought I might use, cut a 40cm length of each and threaded them into a spare piece of linen that Gay Sanderson had kindly given me in class.

This worked really well - I could draw out individual strands of the thread and also see where the gradation was or wasn't working.

While I managed to do a bit of this stitching on the plane, I discovered I couldn't manage counted thread work AND talk to friends - so the counted thread work didn't progress very far until I got home.

It is then much harder to pick it up again, as you are out of the rhythm and have forgotten a bit.I had hoped to extend the pattern a little to enlarge the bag slightly, but was having so much trouble getting back into the flow of it that I decided to stick with the original size of the bag.


I finished the counted thread work yesterday. As keen eyes will see, there are a few errors evident in the last colour waves on the left-hand end.

         



My little linen thread sorting mechanism helped me a to repair some of the damage by identifying the colours I needed to fill a couple of gaps.

I debated unpicking back to the green, but I doubt my eyes are up to it. I will move on to the construction phase and use it as a learning tool.

I wasn't idle while talking to friends - some more on my knitting project soon!

Another Denim Bag

When I made denim bags for my granddaughters for Christmas, my daughter indicated she would like one too. Serendipitously, as her birthday approached, another pair of my longsuffering jeans gave out along a couple of seams - a sign it was time to make more bags!

The first of these bags is for Katherine's birthday.

The original pattern I used (Stitched Treasures by Ann Francene Dimmer in Vol.20 No.11 of Creative Embroidery and Cross Stitch)  had a rounded and a squared version. I thought the squared version might be more useful to an adult.

As before, I wanted to use the back pocket of the jeans as a pocket on the outside of the bag. The pockets are placed a bit high on the jeans, but still useful for an accessible pocket on the bag.

I have collected a few more doilies and crocheted medallions since I made the last of these bags, so had a choice of embellishment.

I settled for a base doily in a very open work pattern, and a cluster of round medallions as my base. I appliqued these down by hand using machine thread, but decided to add some stitches using embroidery thread.

I found I could get some dimensional effects by stitching around the threads connecting the various rounds of the medallions. The effects on the large, lacy doily were more subtle.

I then began to build up layers of embroidered wheels of various kinds around the other side of the applique.

Rather than thinking garden and flowers, I began to think planets and spheres, space, night sky and Earth.

I made it up as I went along, adding and tinkering.





Eventually, satisfied with the result, I added a zip, joined the seams and created a handle.

For lining I used a length of kimono fabric in a denim-y blue.I included an inner pocket in the lining.



I am pleased to say the bag turned out well and was much appreciated by the recipient.

Embroiderer's Guild of South Australia: Class in Hungarian Point Embroidery

Photo from Guild Website

I  spent 10am - 3.30pm both days this weekend attending a class in Hungarian Point Embroidery at the Guild. The class was run by Carol Mullan, a Guild tutor for 25 years, currently with the Yorke Peninsula Branch of the Guild. Carol specialises in tutoring Counted Stitch Embroideries and Canvas work techniques as well as teaching students how to design for embroidery.

The Guild description of  the class was Hungarian Point needlework is a more intricate form of Bargello/Florentine embroidery and is usually worked on canvas. In this class students will be working on linen fabric with their own choice of silk or cotton threads. As a number of different patterns will be provided, students can choose to work a sampler or a small draw string bag. The illustration of Carol's finished bag is from the Guild website.

I really enjoyed the class. It was purposeful, and I learned a lot. It was also friendly and relaxed with a lot of incidental learning - shared hints and tips about all sorts of things.
We looked at the beautiful samples Carol brought, and some of her source books before getting down to stitching. Everyone followed their interest. Several students tried out little tile motifs - working some of the basic patterns in a circle rather than a line. I wanted to get the hang of colour change - so set out to work the bag with some colourways.

By the end of the first day, I had worked my way through the green sequence into blue. That night I moved through blue to purple and brown.



I love the sense of play involved - so many possible effects from even one simple pattern. Simply stitching, experimenting and asking questions establishes a feel for the design and a rhythm of work.

After a couple of hours I needed my magnifier. Even using 28 thread-count linen and three strands of cotton, it was much easier - and more accurate - with magnification.

Robbyn Hutton, from the Guild's Education Committee, generously acted as hostess for the two days, bringing home-baked morning tea, organising tea and coffee and washing up for us. It felt really comforting and supportive.

As we stitched today, Carol constructed a bag, showing us each step- a perfect craft guild technique; working alongside the pupils, a bit ahead, modelling and discussing.


By the end of the two days I had embroidered just over half my bag.

I hope to finish the embroidery - and the construction - over the next two weeks, while I am away in Sydney visiting friends.

I will post progress when I can.

I am taking baby steps to come to terms with grief and widowhood. I am so grateful to family and friends for their love and support. I am also grateful for the companionship, sharing, mutual respect and simple decency of  Guild members.

Crewel Bluebird of Happiness

This is a longer post than normal. Normally I'd have broken this post into several stages - but got carried away with the stitching!

I bought a kit for Elsa William's Bluebird of Happiness crewel work cushion a year or so ago. After the petit point work of the Toy Chest Etui, I was looking for a complete change of focus, so got out the Bluebird.


First I set it up in a  roller frame and attached it to my floor stand. to get it to work with the stand I mounted it in a portrait, rather than landscape direction.

It wasn't long before I decided this wasn't comfortable to work with, so I remounted it in my sitting frame and a hoop.

This worked a lot better, even though I could only see about a quarter of the canvas at a time.

It has been a really enjoyable project. The colours are varied and beautiful with harmonious blending as well as some contrast.



There was enough stitch variation to keep me interested. The bulk of the stitching is satin or long and short stitch, but the shapes are quite varied. I found myself frequently switching to split stitch - it gives a better texture, especially in the feathery bits of the bluebird.The wool was great to work with.




Each quadrant had its challenges. I like the inclusion of lattice and buttonhole stitch.


It has taken me a few weeks to work this piece, and I have enjoyed it greatly. I spent yesterday tidying up the little bits I had left undone. When I ran out a colour just before finishing a section, rather than begin a new thread for a small area, I moved on to a new colour, then came back and finished off.

I love the shapes and colours -  the trunk and roots of the tree become an elegant feature of an otherwise colourful piece.








It was only when I took it out of the hoop to do the final finishing that I realised the effect of the black space around the circular component - a really lovely design touch.








The construction was quick - the kit came with backing and cord. I stitched it on three sides, inserted the fill and stitched the fourth side by hand.

I'm very pleased with the result.