05.22.09
Posted in Free Patterns at 7:44 pm by deRomilly
The finished flower
This is the beginning of a series of designs in various stitch styles. They will all use the basic 4X4 inch design and adapt it for the different styles of embroidery.
Crewel is one of my favorite embroidery styles. There is just something about the softness of the wool and the variety of stitch texture that makes me smile as I’m stitching. It doesn’t hurt that once you get familiar with the stitches, crewel wool covers the ground fabric quite quickly and is therefore very quick to work, relatively speaking. (I am VERY slow when it comes to counted work, so it is a pleasant change to embroidery something I can finish easily.)
Supplies
- Linen or cotton twill or cotton canvas (NOT needlepoint canvas).
- 6 inch embroidery hoop or 8 inch Q-Snaps — something to stabilize your work.
- Paternayan tapestry wool in the following colors — your choice of shades:
- green
- red
- blue
- gold or mustard
- Chenille needle, size 20
Steps:
Note: Since this is such a small design, work everything with one strand of wool unless otherwise noted. Links are to Sharon Boggin’s online stitch dictionary, which has the best instructions for stitches that I’ve ever found on the web.
Click on any of the images for a larger view.
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Pattern - click for full-sized printable version
Transfer Design to center of fabric. Use your favorite transfer method. I used a heat transfer pencil, which reversed the design, something I wasn’t worried about. Note, though, that these work better on fabric that has a bit of polyester in them… Since mine was 100% cotton, it took a lot longer to transfer, and wasn’t completely clear.
- Center design in hoop.
- Begin stitching the stem of the flower at the end furthest from the flower. Work in Reverse chain stitch with green wool. If you prefer, start at the flower end and use chain stitch. I prefer reverse chain stitch in this type of design area because it’s easier for me to judge how large the stitches are and make them even.
- Whip the chain stitch from the flower back to the stem.
Whipping the chain stitch
- Work the tendril in outline stitch or stem stitch with of green.
- Work the large petals in laid filling work in red. Work outline stitch around the outside area (that isn’t part of the small petals).
Laid filling stitch - lay long stitches in a grid across the petal and then “tie” them down where they cross with a small diagonal stitch. The direction you lay the grid and how uniform you make it is up to you, and can help define the character of the embroidery.
Laying the grid
Tye the grid at the intersections and stitch an outline stitch around the outside edge.
Finished laid work.
- Work the smaller petals in satin stitch, radiating from the sepals out to the point in blue.
Blue petals added.
- Fill the flower center with French knots worked with two strands of gold. I used one wrap on the knots, rather than the two I usually use. You could probably get the same effect with one strand and two wraps.
Center finished.
- With green, outline the top leaf with buttonhole stitch. Because of the curved edges, the lines will bend toward each other on the inside of the leaf.
Buttonhole stitch around leaf.
- Again with green, outline the bottom leaf with four rows of outline (crewel) stitch.
Stem stitched leaf - 4 rows of stem stitch around outline.
All done! And ready for a frame, to be made into a pillow, or used as part of a quilt block. I’m considering using all the different samples of this series each as the center of its own crazy quilt block… a sampler of sorts. Hopefully similar colors and the design will unify them. We’ll see.
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12.03.08
Posted in Free Patterns at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Yesterday we had a ladybug find her way into our house. Given the fact that it has been in the twenties Fahrenheit outside at night, I can’t say I blame her for wanting to hide on my husband’s sleeve. She got back in 4 times before he finally managed to keep her off his clothing and get inside without her. Despite the temperatures, she’s much safer outside — our cat Dora had her eye on her as a snack…
This little girl to stitch is quite a bit bigger than your average ladybug beetle! Measuring about an inch long, she’ll stand out on an ornament or a pillow.
You will need:
- Red stranded floss
- Black stranded floss
- Red felt
- Ground fabric (a tightly woven calico, silk or satin will work best)
- Click the pattern to enlarge it, then either print it from the page or right-click and save it to your computer before printing.
- Transfer the “stitch frame” to your ground fabric.
- Cut 3 pieces of red felt to match the felt template.
- Tack the felt with very small whip stitches in layers to the main body of the bug on your ground fabric. Tack the smallest piece down first in the middle. Then the middle piece over that, and the full sized one over the top. Doing it in this order provides a smooth surface for the final stitching.
- Draw a line down the middle of the felt body.
- Work the head in padded satin stitch.
- Stem stitch antennae if you want them. I left them off of mine because I’m planning to cut it out and make it into a brooch, sitting happily on a needle-lace leaf.
- Satin stitch over the wings, following the diagonal lines on the diagram. Be careful that coverage is smooth and even. If the outside edge isn’t as smooth as you might like it to be, work a stem stitch around the body. This will hide any bobbles you may have made.
- With two strands of black, work French knots over the red satin stitch.
Congratulations! It’s a ladybug! Or, skip the stitching altogether and attach a cute ladybug bead that you found at the local bead store! (One of these days I’ll find a use for these cuties! click on the pictures to see them bigger!)
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06.14.08
Posted in Free Patterns at 4:30 pm by deRomilly
Of mice and Romis. 
It took me longer than expected to get to the computer to convert patterns for you. But I’ve got one! OK, so I’ve got two. These are from a very large sampler I’m designing. Wish me luck, ’cause when it’s finished I’ve got to actually STITCH the thing!
Have fun with them. If you use them, let me know how!
Standard copyright notice applies. Feel free to use for personal use only, please don’t sell the design or mass-produce stuff from it. If you want to use them commercially, please ask and we’ll talk. If you link to it, please link to the entire post, not just to the chart.
Click to enbiggen. Note: the first one prints better than it displays, at least on my monitor.
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04.14.08
Posted in Free Patterns at 9:24 am by deRomilly
These quick lace mitts were designed and made for my friend Rebecca. She hasn’t seen them yet, so if I see a “squee” on her blog I’ll know she reads this one. J
I learned the lace pattern in some sweater that I knit a while ago that didn’t work on me at all. I had the swatch left over, though and applied it to mitts.
Pattern below the picture. As usual, copyright belongs to G. Romilly Mueller, all rights reserved, feel free to use for personal use only, no commercial use, and if you’d like to post to your site, please post a link here rather than reprinting.
Patons classic merino in Royal Purple
Size 4 (3.5mm) and 2 (2.75mm) needles
Gauge: 12 stitches over 2 inches on smaller needles
Cast on 48 stitches on larger needles.
Work k2p2 ribbing for 2 inches.
Switch to smaller needles and begin lace pattern as follows:
Row 1: P1, K1, SSK, YO, SSK, YO, K1, YO, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K1 Repeat 3 more times.
Row 2: P11, K1, repeat 3 more times.
Row 3: P1, SSK, YO, SSK, YO, K3, YO, K2tog, YO, K2tog. Repeat 3 more times.
Row 4: P11, K1, repeat 3 more times.
Repeat lace pattern until work measures 6 inches, ending with a wrong side row.
Knit a row.
Purl a row.
Switch to larger needles and work K2P2 ribbing for 1 ½ inches.
Bind off.
Seam the 1 ½ inch long ribbing, leave 2 ½ inches open for the thumbhole, and seam the rest of the mitt.
Pick up and knit 24 stitches around the thumbhole on the smaller needles. I did this in the round, but you could pick up the ribbing straight before you stitch the lower part of the glove together, and then just run the seam up the thumb ribbing as well.
Work 2 rounds of K1P1 ribbing. Cast off.
Weave in ends.
Make the second one.
Copyright G. Romilly Mueller, 2008
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04.04.08
Posted in Book Reviews, Free Patterns at 12:27 pm by deRomilly
…not to be confused with the Geometry of nature!
I found a new-to-me website. It’s in Dutch, but she translates into English below each post. And even if you couldn’t understand it, the charts are amazing!!! She found the old charts in her Aunt’s attic, and she and many friends have been digitizing them and offering them on her blog for personal use. Definitely worth a look: archives, too…. Lilian Kok: http://myauntsattic.web-log.nl/
If you like my little geometric designs you’ll love these. I found the site through the Gift of Stitching yahoo group.
The Gift of Stitching is the first needlework magazine I’ve bothered to subscribe to in a long time. It’s completely in electronic format, which allows them to have lots of color and lots of patterns and articles for less money than printing them. And the designers are international, which provides for a broader view of the art form in general.
Not affiliated (yet, though in the spirit of full disclosure, I do hope to put up an affiliation link soon…).
In addition, I recently received a copy of “The Art & Embroidery of Jane Hall, Reflections of Nature“. All I can say is wow. This isn’t a project book, but it does detail many of her projects. With her own words reflecting a magical outlook on nature and the world around her punctuating the photographs, this is worth every penny I paid for it. Link above is to Amazon for ease, but if you can find it at an independent bookstore, please do. The images are detailed, clear, and she works lifesize… stumpwork beetles with couched gold wings: 3/4 inch wide. TINY things. The gold thread that’s couched down is the size of sewing thread. Little silk scales made for a mermaid’s tail that are the size of a pinhead, tacked down with miniscule little stitches. And I thought *I* was insane with the tiny tiny fiddly work!!! I’m going to have to revise my opinions. Maybe there are levels of insane? Like rings of hell?
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