395 Bulgarian Samples

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I have been working over the past week, on a couple of samples for a workshop I will be running in September 2022 on Bulgarian embroidery. I realise this is a bit absurd, when there are plenty of projects with shorter timelines that I  could prioritise. This one is a bit of a challenge for me, because the focus needs to be on counted work, and I need to chart the samples - and I don't have much practice.

I have written about this collection elsewhere and the links here and above provide the background. Suffice it to say, the workshop is to be based on a collection of embroidery by Vala Georgieva, a Bulgarian woman whose son and daughter-in-law live here in South Australia. The tree of life motif above is from one of her runners. 

The issue I had with charting for use by others is around the clarity of coloured pencil once photographed, and the need to show both stitch and colour. I know I could use software or an app to do this - I have done that many years ago, but no longer have the software, which is, in any case, more useful when working from photographs.  I'm hoping my manual effort will be sufficient for this exercise. I'm hoping to get a friend to try it out for me - another reason for working well in advance.

This is a second motif from Vala Georgieva's work. The shape, I believe, derives from a figure of the Great Goddess, evident in Bulgarian embroidery since Thracian times. One of the distinctions of Bulgarian embroidery is the persistence of symbols from pre-Christian times, often incorporated into Christian practice. Recently I have been making bookmarks from Aida bands and I decided to chart this motif and incorporate it into a bookmark. It worked quite well, I think, and students at next year's workshop can decide if they want to use it that way or not.

I lined the back with silk. The earlier bookmarks I made were lined with felt, but that's a bit thick to use in a book.

I worked the Tree of Life motif on 14 count Aida. I did look for other fabric, but decided that this is closest to the texture of the fabric in the original, which is, I think, hand-woven hemp.

I folded the piece I had used various ways to find one that worked as a bag or pouch, settling, in the end, on an almost square shape.

This called, I thought, for another motif on the back.  Two Bulgarian motifs I had not examined in my original reading were these, known respectively as Elbetica and Celestial Turtle.

Elbetica is a symbol of the four directions - North, South, East and West and of the whole world, linked through a single point. It also represents the four seasons. The Celestial Turtle symbolises wisdom, moderation, perseverance, moderation and longevity.I chose a simple version of Elbetica.

I lined the piece with a remnant of linen from my stash, picking up on the red which is a feature of Bulgarian embroidery.

I'm very pleased with the result - and with having two sample projects which I think will work for the workshop. I can now check the instructions with a couple of friends and relax into some of the other projects on my list!

I hope I've done justice to Vala Georgieva's beautiful work, and her  commitment to Bulgarian embroidery.

Anglo-Saxon Horse

I thought it worth writing in detail about the Anglo-Saxon Horse kit I bought from Kerry's Medieval Embroideries Etsy Shop,  Medieval by Kerry .  Kerry is a medieval enthusiast in Toowoomba, Queensland, and has a range of interesting kits based on medieval manuscripts, artefacts and treasures.  Her website is well worth a visit. She has tutorials there as well as a blog. It's well worth a visit.

I ordered her Anglo-Saxon Horse kit as part of my follow-up research from the presentation I am giving next month to the World Embroidery Study Group on Viking Embroidery. I have started reading in detail about Anglo-Saxon and Celtic embroidery - in the historical context. Margarethe Hald's foundational book Ancient Danish Textiles in Bogs and Burials is my basic guide.

Kerry's design is really lovely. It comes on black linen with two shades of gold perle 5 thread and a hank of DMC metallic gold.

I backed it with black cotton before beginning.

The design is from a gold filigree fragment in the Staffordshire Hoard,  dated  AD 570-60.  There is a possibility it is a water horse with fins, but thought more likely to be a horse with stylised hoofs.

The stitches used are from the later Anglo- Saxon period, around 11th century and relate to the Bayeux Tapestry, stem stitch and couching. Most of the work is in the perl thread, with touches around the eyes in metallic. 

The swirls require care, but are not onerous - in fact quite fun to work.

I used magnification for some of it, but the threads are easy to work with.

Once I got into the swing of it, it moved along quickly.

I like the result a lot. Most of my presentation (when it eventuates, next year!) will be on embroidery of the early Anglo-Saxon period. While this is not embroidery from that period, it is a design from that period embroidered in a very clever and effective way.

I folded the fabric to form a pouch and found some gold dupion silk to line it.

It shows up rather nicely when the zip is opened.

And the front looks fabulous.

Catch up on projects since April

 The last time I posted here was after Di Kirshner's workshop in April. I have continued to post weekly to my England2020 blog. I am continuing that blog until we emerge from Covid. I had not imagined that would take more than a year! For the moment I continue but hope that one day I can return to this as my main or only blog. 

This is a summary of my projects since April.

The other reason for posting here now is to inform those of you who have an email subscription to this blog, that Feedburner, the service that sends the emails out automatically after posting, is being discontinued in August 2021, with no replacement. I have downloaded the email addresses of all those who have subscriptions and have created an email group. I intend to manually send an email to the group each time I post, using bcc so email addresses are not shared. If you do not want to continue receiving notification, please let me know, or unsubscribe to emails before the end of July. I will check the list of subscribers again on 31 July and adjust my list accordingly.

The top photo is a panel on the Aesop Frame. At the moment that project is on hold. The second photo is a sample I worked up to show how the 16th Century Icelandic couching style of narrative embroidery could be applied to a modern narrative.

I constructed this bag from some pinwale corduroy left over from a smocked dress I made some 15 years ago. The design is the result of a Certificate Course workshop on layered fabric. 

I also finished the blanket I was working from the pack of Sheepjes tiny sample yarns - a cotton/acrylic mix. It is very cosy and soft.

This is a bag for a friend's birthday - honeyeaters appliqued to an Ink and Spindle linen with Indigenous Spirit Figures on the side for protection.

And this panel, also Ink and Spindle,  has gone into another bag with a little bit of embroidery on the circles.

I did another Fisherton-de-la-Mere 2-day class with Christine Bishop. A few years ago I did this class and made a green version. I keep jewellery  in it and like it a lot. I also made the needle book.

I had bought a couple of bundles of remnants from Ink and Spindle, amongst them were two of bag size. and a a distinctive repetitive pattern. I've been embroidering around the pattern. 

One has made its way into a bag and the other one is still in the making.

I also worked a shawl using 10 ply Noro Ito wool and Nightshift pattern. I enjoyed and liked it so much that I bought enough wool to make 2 more, one for my other daughter and one for myself.

I'm working on the second one now.

Last weekend I attended the first day of a two-day course on Melissa Walker's Madagascan Moon Moth. I'm hoping to have the embroidery done by the second day of the course in a month's time, when we will work on construction. I'm making good progress because we are currently in lockdown triggered by a Covid Delta outbreak.

The other thing I did a few days ago was to make a photographic record of my unfinished projects, and unstarted kits. There are far more of the latter than the former.  I have included the composite photos at the end of this post.

I will do a trial run of another post in August, to test the manual email notification.  I hope to show progress on the Madagascan Moon moth, the next shawl, and another bag. Don't expect progress on the projects below!

More than I bargained for: Invisible Hem Finishes Sampler Workshop with Di Kirchner.

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.

It took a bit of thinking to come up with something useful from the finished sampler. Eventually I dug out some fabric that suited the thread I'd used, cut a piece the same size as the sampler and some edging strips.

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!