06.17.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Runner spread on my art table
Back months ago, when I bought the Society Silk Needlework piece at the local antiques shop, I also found another that I didn’t’ think I could justify buying. The EO had other ideas and we went back for it the next day.
I would really love some help in identification. It’s an interesting piece. I suspect it came from the same estate as the society silk, as the woman said the house had many many needlework pieces, most of which had been purchased on the owner’s travels through her life.
I’ve been through all my references, and although I can find similarities to this piece in many different locations, I can’t find enough that I can confidently say “this came from this area” or even “this was inspired by this area’s work…” I want to say Pakistan, Afghanistan, somewhere in that area… shisha mirrors, heavy flat silk on orange (faded) cotton…
Any ideas? Documentation sources you want to recommend?
In any case, it’s another very interesting, unique and striking piece, and I’m glad to have it in my slowly growing collection.
Closeups follow:
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Runner spread on my art table
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The central motif
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closeup
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closeups of border stitching
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Goddess figures?
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Closer view of top of “goddesses”
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04.05.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 9:00 am by deRomilly
Mary Corbet of NeedleNThread.com posted this yesterday, and I can’t say it better… So… WOW. Just wow.
I am in awe.
Embroidery on REAL eggs!
I’ll be back again with a real post later this week. 
But WOW!
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02.18.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
For those of you that received this via email back on Feb 10 and then couldn’t find it again, my apologies. I mis-scheduled!
This is the first in a random and un-organized list of stitching terms that I think people should know. These are just the first things that come to mind when I think of needlework terms today. Tomorrow there may be something completely different!
Beading - Oooh there’s a can of worms. Stitchers and knitters go not near the bead store for you know not what temptations await you there. Oh, ok. I’m an enabler. Shiny little things, beads can be added to knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing, macrame, tatting or what have you and all be called “beading.” And guess what? You can perform the act of “beading” all by itself with some wire and a pair of pliers. Defining beading is like defining “embroidery”.
Batting - the cotton or wool or polyester filling used between quilt layers. Originally, the etymology comes from the word “batt,” which is the name for the carded fiber mass that is the step before spinning into yarn.
Calico - In the USA, a cotton fabric often used for quilting. It is usually printed with a design, and traditionally this is a small print, often floral. In the UK, for calico, see Muslin.
Crochet - making fabric with one hook and a thread (can be thin for lace doilies or thick for afghans or something in between). Uses lots of thread, and is faster than knitting although often mistaken for knitting by random people on the street. (I’ve also had people see me cross stitching and ask me what I’m knitting, but that’s a bit extreme…)
Counted Cross Stitch - Using the cross stitch and a pattern to create pretty pictures. In many ways it’s similar to the Berlin woolwork of the 1800s, but now days is usually done using cotton floss on linen or other evenweave fabric.
Embroidery - Any surface embellishment created with a needle and thread. For example, all counted cross stitch is embroidery, but all embroidery is not counted cross stitch!
Frogging - Ripping out, whether embroidery, a seam, knitting, or what have you.
Knitting - the making of fabric with two or more sticks and one strand of yarn. Usually uses less yarn than crochet, is slower, and is often mistaken for crochet by random people when doing it on the bus.
Muslin - a 100% cotton fabric either natural or unbleached in color. It’s a plain tabby weave, and can be sturdy or less sturdy, often depending on the price you pay for it. It’s used as a ground for crazy quilting, as an inexpensive way to test out sewing patterns, and many other uses. In the Victorian era, muslin was available that was fine enough for high-end clothing.
Muslim - A follower of Islam. I include this because the misuse of this term instead of muslin is one of my pet peeves. I know they’re similar, but people, if you try to stitch a crazy quilt patch onto any of my Muslim friends, you are going to get at least an earful about sticking people with needles and pins.
Needlepoint - Know who you’re talking to when you use this one! To a “normal” person these days, the word needlepoint brings up thoughts of that tent or half-cross stitch wool on canvas monstrosity that Grandma made in the seventies. To an historical reenactor, it might very well mean very delicate lace made with a needle and thread instead of knitting needles or bobbins on a pillow! But if you go into a store specializing in needlework you will find many many wonderful designs stitched on canvas, and many ways to stitch them. (Even though I rarely do needlepoint, I haunt needlepoint stores for really neat fibers to use in my other embroidery styles!)
TINKing - Knitting backwards. (Ripping out one stitch at a time.)
Wadding - UK terminology for batting.
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02.11.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Lucinda in the Rose Garden - the first design I created
I have a confession. It may seem strange coming from a cross stitch designer, but while I really love designing cross stitch, as I get older, I’m finding myself stitching less and less of it. This isn’t to say that I don’t still love it. In fact, last week I found myself very pleased with the meditative qualities I remembered while stitching a new pillow design (and boy did I need those meditative qualities at the time!)
For me, counted cross stitch was a gateway drug. It was the thing that got me beyond the hatred of that stamped cross and stem stitch sampler I started when I was six and only finished at 12 because I wanted to learn crewel, and my mother insisted that I finish EVERY project before starting another one (even if even SHE couldn’t figure out the instructions for the turkeywork stitch on that second crewel piece I tried…).
I taught myself counted cross stitch in the mid-80s for two reasons. One, I couldn’t find a crewel kit on the shelves to save my life. And second, I still had a bit of trepidation about starting a new crewel pattern when I hadn’t finished that first one.
My first cross stitch project was a little 18th century man with a no-smoking sign. I was hooked. My second… Theresa Wentzler’s Fantasy sampler. (And just to make Mom roll over in her grave, I’ll admit here and now that I STILL haven’t’ finished the thing, even though I love it and want it on my wall.) People have told me that I didn’t finish it because it was too complicated for a first project. If that were the case I would have gone back to it, knuckled down and finished it later. No, I didn’t finish it because it still makes my eyes cross with all those blended threads! I’ve learned a lot about design from those projects that I haven’t finished, and I went on to start my own line… which kind of sidetracked me from stitching other people’s designs. The image above is of the very first design I ever created myself, with a link to the pattern purchase page. I’m about to send her companion, Talieson in the Rose Garden off to my model stitcher! Finally.
There are still three pieces by other people in my workbox: That Fantasy Sampler, Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles, and Indigo Rose’s Millennium Sampler, which is now hard to find. (There are more in the UFO box… But I’ll rotate those in later.) I do take a few stitches on them once in a while, which means that they will get finished at some point… but it’s not going to be soon.
And you can expect more than cross stitch from Golden Circle in the coming months/years. Now, back to stitching that newest cross stitch model of mine…! (psst – it’s another pillow!)
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01.05.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Past Art Montage
I have, in the past, called myself a needlework dilettante (or a craft dilettante, but I always seem to put them back into my stitching, or my stitching into my other crafts…) But recently I have begun looking at this as less of a detriment and more of a benefit to myself and my growth as an artist.
I was listening to a program on NPR last week and a historian stated about a past scientist that made great inroads into Astronomy, and who happened to be an insurance man in his day job, that “back then you could be more than just a scientist – you didn’t need to specialize like you do now.” I found myself taking issue with that statement, both in science, and in other lifetime pursuits (like my needlework).
In science, many many discoveries have been made by so-called “amateurs,” even recently. (Note the elementary school students who did original research on bees and were published in the Royal Society Journal). Of course, the scholarly world of academia tends to frown on this – as they also tend to dislike anything that is written in a way that normal people can understand. <sigh>
But that’s actually not my point in this rambling post! My point is that experimenting with your needlework styles — trying out different types of embroidery and then trying to combine them into work of your own, is the best way to truly take your work to the next level. And mine, too. If you do mostly cross stitch, try a small redwork piece. If you do mostly historic reproductions, try adapting one in a modern style. Try out new things, new types of needlework. I’ve realized that that’s been my goal ever since I started REALLY stitching way back when I was 12! And I’m going to take it even further this year. And to share my voyages. First stop – crewelwork shower curtain! (With a pause to finish the pseudo-ivory work flower I’ve been working on!)
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