Quaker Embroideries in Adelaide

The Quaker community in Australia is working on producing a series of embroideries along the lines of those in Kendal, Cumbria UK. The 77 Kendal panels were worked between 1981 and 1989 by 4000 embroiderers in 15 countries and tell the some of the story of Quakerism. The Australian Quaker Narrative Embroidery/Friends in Stitches Project is the result of a visit of an Australian Quaker to Kendal in 2005 which was followed by a visit to Australia in 2007 from the Director of the Kendal project. 

So far 16 panels have been worked on the Australian project which aims for 40 panels.
The Australian panels use the same format and design templates as those in Kendal, and the same range of stitches. The colour palette is slightly different, reflecting both the Australian landscape and the interpretation of the stitchers.

The panels completed so far were on display at the Friends Meeting Room in Adelaide from 26-29 October 2017.  They are remarkable on a number of fronts.

Finding the images, stitches, design and words that convey a whole narrative episode in a panel is an art. It has found its stride in this project.  I came away with a strong sense of the Society of Friends in Australia.

The women staffing the exhibition were knowledgable, helpful and welcoming. They gave permission to take  photos and also to write about the exhibition in my blog.

As there are few photographs of the panels online I have focused on the embroidery detail rather than whole panels. I also emailed a draft copy of the blog to the address the women provided with the offer to alter or edit and the offer stands.




The photos are copyright. Any requests to reproduce should be directed to the Australian Quaker Narrative Embroidery Project.

The background fabric is wool, grown, spun and woven in Queensland and providing a lovely textured, firm and even surface for stitching.

The design skill of individual stitchers is evident in the stance of the figures depicted - they lean into conversation or activity. Their faces, with a few well-placed stitches, give them personality, making them, I am sure, recognisable.


The same range of stitches has been used as was used in the Kendal work. A book of stitches produced in Kendal was on display.

Anne Wynn-Wilson, while working on the original Quaker tapestry project, developed a stitch, now known as Quaker stitch, for embroidering the text that is an integral part of each panel.  The stitch produces a beautifully clear text that contributes significantly to the elegance of the panels. I intend to learn and apply Quaker stitch to my own work.


The detail of the flora and fauna depicted on the panels is terrific, cleverly conveying dimension with a limited range of stitches and superb colour choice.

My favourite depiction is of a tractor - the wheels given movement and dimension by the creation of spaces and angle.


I feel privileged to  have seen this exhibition - and enriched both by its contribution to Australian embroidery and, more importantly, its contribution to Australian culture and history.


I hope to see the other panels as they emerge - and one day the completed project.

Zen mandala

For some time I had thought that Zen colouring designs would make interesting embroidery, so a couple of years ago, when Herrschner's advertised some already printed on fabric, I ordered some for me and some for my Adelaide daughter.  She got to work on hers fairly smartly, but I put them on my embroidery back-burner. In the last month or so I dug one out as a back-up 'grab and go' project. 

I had purchased a thread pack to go with it. This consisted of a range of bright perle cotton. The thickness is not marked on the label, but it is about 5 - quite thick.                                                                 My concept for this mandala was a red edge, then very roughly following the rainbow from purple into a red centre. I didn't want to plan it in detail - and I certainly didn't want to colour it in pencil first. I wanted to use the threads to guide me and work it from the outside in, making decisions as I went.

I also wanted to try out a range of stitches. The narrowness of the bands of the design, especially when combined with the heaviness of the thread, places some limits on stitches. I worked the outside border in fly stitch. It gave the density of colour that I wanted - but used an entire skein of thread.

I gradually worked my way in, using stem, chain, more fly and French knots. Later I introduced pistol stitch (yellow row below).

Keeping to my rainbow colour movement wasn't straightforward but it provided a general guide. I tried to foreshadow coming colours and provide an echo of those I was moving away from.

I found it useful as I entered a new band, to try out colours on a wedge.


The density of the thread grew on me. It began to look like a carpet.


Most of it I worked in my hand. I needed to scoop most of the stitches and even if I don't always follow the maxim 'never scoop in a hoop' (picked up at a class at the RSN) these narrow circular bands are difficult to work in a hoop. I used a hoop for the pistol stitches.

The row of curly things gave me a challenge. I tried bullion knots and fly stitch before settling on a double couched line and French knots. The line below these is worked in Palestrina knot stitch.

The finished piece needed blocking - and easy task which straightened it up nicely.


By now I had decided what to do with the finished piece, which is about 10" in diameter.

No, not a bag.


I appliqued it on to the coat I made last year, using the red thread of the outside border and a buttonhole stitch.

It blends well with the wool fabric and I get to see it (as, of course, do others!).

I've really enjoyed this piece. The threads (somewhat to my surprise) were terrific. I have some other designs to do and another pack of thread when the mood takes me.

Deerfield Embroidery Workshop

The September workshop for the Embroiderers' Guild Certificate Course, was on Deerfield Embroidery and taken by Deb Richardson. Deb had researched extensively and provided us with background notes, many laminated photographs and some really helpful examples she had worked. 

We came prepared with a piece of white linen about 30 cm square and four skeins of stranded thread in shades of blue. Deb had designed a motif that gave ample scope for using a range of stitches. We each traced it on to our piece and we were up and running.

I soon realised that I should have taken more care to choose a piece of truly white linen. My cream piece did not show the blue of the Deerfield work to the very best advantage, although the quality of the linen was good. Deb had worked the piece herself, so we were at liberty to repeat the stitches she had used, or to choose our own from the range given in her notes.

Mine is a mixture. I used most of the same outlining stitches as she had and very similar filling for the leaves and the bird's body.

However, I went for a bit of a variation when it came to the tail. I used feather stitch in the four shades of blue I was using. I am quite pleased with the result.









Here is the completed piece. Of course, I decided it should be made into a bag.

So I blocked it and went in search of fabrics in my stash with which to line it. I came up with a fine lawn handkerchief of Jim's.

I felt good about using it - something that I haven't felt in the 3 years and 4 months since his death. He would have liked to be part of the endeavour.



The handkerchief was quite large, so, folded in half, it made a reasonable bag. As you can see, I even got out my cutting board and a tape-measure, measured it properly and cut the linen precisely.

I'm improving.


I made the bag to the size of the folded handkerchief, folding the top over to form the channel for a drawstring and a frill at the top. The only cut in the handkerchief was a small slit on one side to allow me to thread in two cords.


I then embroidered the checked top, using stitches from the Deerfield motif.

Two twisted cords, one made from the remains of the four skeins of stranded cotton in various blues, the other from a skein of variegated blues, and two tassels complete the project.

I do so enjoy these monthly workshops for the Certificate Course, even though I am not enrolled in the course. It is a real chance to expand my repertoire, to learn about various kinds of embroidery, try them out. It's interesting and fun, even if I don't ever pursue the genre further.

In the case of Deerfield, I can see myself using it and integrating it into my future work.

Once again, I am grateful to the Guild for allowing members to attend these workshops even when not enrolled in the course, to Christine Bishop and Barbara Mullan who organise the Course, Deb who taught it and my fellow students, who share their learning, knowledge and interest

Mairi Tam

A couple of years ago the South Australian Hand-spinners and Weavers had sample bags at the Stitching and Craft Fair. I think they were free to the first 50 customers of the day and I was lucky enough to get one. Inside were - in my case -two skeins of green Shetland wool which I added to my stash.  After knitting the two swing jackets last month, I went through my stash to see if there was anything I could make up while in the mood. I found a skein of apricot merino/silk/alpaca mix that I made up into a shrug for Brigid ( and forgot to photograph).                                                                                                                           

Meanwhile, Veronica saw the pile of skeins and made very complimentary noises about the green Shetland wool. Needing no more encouragement, I set about finding a pattern I could use to make her something. It is about 4 ply - a little fine for a shrug (or rather, insufficient wool to knit a 4 ply shrug!). In the end, I decided on a hat, and found a pattern called Mairi Tam in Wendy Knits Lace.

This proved to be a great pattern to make on a recent trip to the Gold Coast with three of my grandchildren. I got it started before I left and it served me on the plane and the first couple of days away. 

I had almost forgotten the pleasure of knitting small lacy things with shape. The initial pattern is simple enough to remember and it is great fun to see the shape emerge.  The decrease rows require a bit of checking back with the pattern, but, with the help of markers, the rhythm sets in and it is easy to keep track and check for mistakes.

The finished product is very pretty. 

The instructions were to block it around a dinner plate. I thought this would stretch it too far, especially the band, so I used a smaller microwave dish. Even that, I thought, might have been a bit too far. It might have been better not to block it at all.                                                                                                                               When I got home I added some shirring elastic by hand through the band.

It was a big success!

Hems and Edges Day 2

The second day of Gay Sanderson's Hems and Edges class at the Embroiderers' Guild of SA in September was every bit as good as the first. 

We began on a new square of linen, folded and pinned our hem, taking care to match our corner folds before tacking the hem down.

We then worked a pulled thread hem along one side. I had a go at a drawn thread hem in the same stitch on the other side of the square.

I preferred the drawn thread version on this 28 count linen, but I can see that the pulled thread one might be  preferable on a fine handkerchief linen.

I then worked an edging stitch without a hem - designed for such things as bookmarks or other items where you do not have room to turn a hem. This is a great stitch to learn and satisfying to do.







We needed to work enough to turn a corner, but I liked this one so much I finished it off at home and worked the fringe as well.

 

We finished with a picot edge. 'Satisfying' is the word that keeps coming to mind for this work. When I  worked such edges for tablecloths many years ago I had the same feeling.











There is something deeply fulfilling about completing something very simple yet so neat and shapely with a needle and thread where there was once a raw edge.

Again, I worked the whole hem around at home to get the effect.







I left, however, the back in several stages in order to use the piece as a sampler, to remind me how I did it.



Towards the end of the session, Gay produced a box of various objects she had created using these techniques. Amongst them was a hanging decoration made from a strip of linen twice as long as it was wide. She also gave us each a couple of pieces of linen she had machine-edged so we could try out extra ideas.

At home I used one of these to have a go at a hanging decoration, using a simple motif I found in the tiny Coats 50 Counted Thread Embroidery Stitches I had inherited from my mother many years ago.

I worked up quite quickly. Alas, I had checked the size of the fabric by folding, but did not get it right.




The technique worked, but did not deliver an object based on perfect squares.

It does, however, show the technique and the kind of result I can expect to achieve.

Once again, it was lovely way to spend a Sunday - learning techniques with a great teacher and sharing my learning and endeavours with a small group of like-minded women. Bliss.