Embroidered bags 3 of 3

The third of my embroidered bags also utilised crocheted medalions from Portobello Gypsy. This time I used quite a few smaller medallions to form a group of flowers around a small square doily with an inset of a lace butterfly.

I secured the doily to the bag with a double border of closed  feather stitch.I also overlay some of the crocheted medallions with a few lace flowers that were stitched to a bridesmaid's dress I wore in 1970 (or was it 1969?). The dress is long gone but I kept the lace flowers (and some of the fabric). These, I think, are the very last.

 For this bag, I wanted to try out some of the lattice stitches from Mary Corbet's Lattice Sampler.

This piece is battlement couching - filled in with shades of pink and the top layer couched down.


The one to the left has a similar purple fill, adjacent to it is crossed on the diagonal in a variety of colours.

Here we have couched crosses within a couched grid.

I have tried to link each fill to the next one with a colour carry-over.







I used perle thread for most of this work and couched a bundle of threads in feather stitch as a border around the whole thing, adding a couple of lace butterflies for good measure.

This one is lined in a tiny floral and has a cotton lace edging. From the way Niamh walked around with it on Christmas Day, I think she thought it was OK.

Men of Skyros: Lattice Man

I am very happy so far with my Bokhara and Darning Men of Skyros, but thought I'd try a lattice on the pantaloons of the third of the men.

It was relatively easy to put in the first row of threads. I put the lines two threads apart - easier to see than the single thread of the original mending stitch. The even-weave linen helped.

Similarly, there is plenty of guidance to place the horizontal row.

Couching down the thread intersections, is however, a bit trickier. Here I have only couched down the top tips and the lower left - but developed a bit of a curve in the latter. By working two threads apart for the original rows, I gave myself a bit of a challenge in couching in small spaces.




From a distance, he looks as if he is wearing gingham, or checks. It will be quite a hard-wearing stitch, and worth the experiment, but it isn't a stitch I am going to use again on this project now I have the darning stitch under control.

I have applied the darning stitch to the rest of Lattice Man - with my magnifiers I can work a proper running stitch!

We had a couple of sunny Winter days while I was working on him. I took my hoop into the sunny extension and worked in the natural light. Jim took a photo.

Here's Lattice Man finished, and, below, the three men so far.

Men of Skyros: Original Darning Man

With a bit more confidence and my clip-on magnifiers I have returned to the first Skyros man I began. This time progress has been more to my liking.

With the magnifiers I can see well enough to work the darning  as a running, rather than a stabbing stitch while the work is still in the large floor-standing hoop. This makes it much easier to get a base line to work from. Rows can then simply follow the 3x1 darning pattern of the original row - much faster and more satisfactory.

The new work is denser and more even than the original.

The work isn't fast,but it is not painstakingly slow either, and, more importantly, it is enjoyable!

I have dubbed this figure 'Original Darning Man' in recognition of the darning or running stitch, and his place figure on which I began the project. I have, in fact, experimented with a couple of other stitches, and have Bokhara Man and Lattice Man on the go as well. More on them soon.

I am very grateful for the encouragement and tips from fellow stitchers and bloggers. Lyn's blog on magnifiers is helpful. I wrote about my clip-on magnifier when stitching the Toy Chest Etui and should, in hindsight, have been ready to use it when I started my Skyros men.

I bought my magnifiers in Australia from the Fox Collection.

The magnifiers make a big difference in getting a good base line to begin the running stitch. From there, with the magnifier, I can see to (1) move over by one thread and (2) move down one thread in each stitch. There is much less counting when you can clearly see the thread and stitch length you are following!

So Original Darning Man is finished and I am very satisfied. I am also pleased with some of my stitch variations and will incorporate them - but I am satisfied that I can restore running, or darning, stitch to its place as the main stitch for this project.

Winter Birds Table Topper Start

After the Samurai, I wanted a project that had large components, a bit free-flowing and involved no counting,  preparation or construction. I settled on a kit for a table topper, bought, of course, on sale.

I bought this because it is so cheerful. I like the colours, and the style reminds me a bit of Hungarian embroidery, which I admire. I also like to have some projects on hand that require no finishing once I've finished stitching and I rather liked the edging on this one.










The thread is 5 Perle - solid and fast, and the instructions consist of a large diagram and a sheet of stitches. Basic.

I began on the red berries and really enjoyed the freedom after the cross-stitch effort of the last weeks.

I moved on to the pine needles, and decided to couch them rather than have long loose stitches as in the diagram. That seemed to work well.



I then decided to experiment a little on some of the larger leaves, trying some of the lattice techniques that Mary Corbet has been writing about in her blog.

I needed the filling fairly dense, so used two shades of green with the framework lines fairly close together. It was possible to get the lines intersecting so the colour is all light at the tip and all darker at the base and a mixture in between. It gives a textured effect that I quite like.






It doesn't look so good, however, with the gold veins in place.

Next I played around with the cream-coloured blobs that I take to be snow. Not having a lot of experience of snow, I don't know whether birds actually choose snow rather than exposed branches to sit on, and I would have expected the thread to be white, not cream - but I am out of my knowledge base and may be too literal.

Rather than large blobs of satin stitch, I tried layers of couched lattice - a layer on the straight and couched down overlayed by another set at a 45 degree angle. It would work well for a nest, but probably isn't the best effect for snow.

The photo also shows how the gold veins for the satin-stitched leaves sink into the work, while those on the latticed leaves stay on the surface. Looks like satin stitch wins for the leaves.  I want to try something else for the snow (assuming that's what it is!). It's good to be working on something I can easily play around with.