The Saturday before Easter the Guild's Certificate Course Workshop was taken by Di Kirchner on invisible hem finishes. The instructions were to bring a piece of homespun 110cm x 25 cm. I wondered how on earth we would use such a large piece of fabric.
We were also asked to bring a friction pen. I searched everywhere for mine, but in the end left home not having found it.
At the workshop, I was well out of my comfort zone - measuring, ironing, folding, ironing, tacking, ironing, then finally stitching, to create 6 pleats. Without an easily erasable fabric pen my job was harder.
To my horror, when I asked Di why the fabric piece was so long, the answer was because we might want to keep going and do more! I though she had rocks in her head.
Di had brought along a steam station iron. I, who am at best an indifferent ironer, was impressed. It made a real difference to both the speed and the end result of the pleats.The workshop focused on 6 finishing stitches - three of them invisible stitches and the remainder decorative stitches that can be used to cover a hemline.
I was hooked. At home I finished the six outlined in the workshop. Without a steam iron station I wasn't going to get the same finish. So I researched steam iron stations on Choice, found the most recommended one online on special and ordered it. It arrived two days later. The one in the photo above is mine, not the one Di had at the workshop.
All I have to do now is reorganise my cupboards to store it conveniently.
Truly hooked. I continued to measure fold and stitch until I had filled the 110cm piece.
Now who has rocks in her head!
I enjoyed mining the A-Z of Embroidery Stitches. The only stitch I used that was entirely new to me was Rosette chain stitch - and it gave me no end of trouble.
I undid it several times and in the end used perle thread rather than stranded, but I still didn't get it even. It is a real tension challenge.
If the sampler was to be useful in identifying stitches it needed labels. I played around with Inktense pencils I had bought in Kendal several years ago, but in the end settled for a fine archival ink pen.
As recommended by Di, I scalloped the end of the sampler with buttonhole stitch. I then added the strips of floral cotton to the sides by hand, like bias strips, but in this case, cut on the straight.
My lines, as you can see, are not perfectly place - a combination of the pull in the fabric, the missing friction pen and my error.
I found a cardboard roll, cut it to size and put double-sided tape around the ends. I made two circles in the floral, backed them with interfacing and gathered them to make two caps for the ends of the roll.
I hemmed the large piece of floral and attached it to the roll, along with the sampler.
Since this is all about finishes I even turned under and whip-stitched the raw join edge underneath.
The new iron was a big help in all this.
The result is a neat roll to keep an embroidery flat in between working sessions or once finished.
I played for quite a while to find a fastening I was happy with. This bow was still tied on the grosgrain ribbon that had adorned a package and it blended perfectly. I wanted the bow for decoration, not to be opened and tied as a fastener,
In the end I cut the ribbon short, attached one end of it to the calico with a button and worked a button hole on the loose end of the ribbon.
This is a long way from where I thought I was going with a workshop on hem finishes but there you go.
I'm happy with my sampler, my roll - and my new iron!
