05.11.10

Easy, apparently counted work…

Posted in Stitching Genres at 1:42 pm by deRomilly

I was reminded yesterday by a friend of a technique I had taught her several years ago. She was intimidated by all the counting in counted cross stitch, and couldn’t find a pattern she liked to learn on in any case. The easy solution? Make her own, without counting. If I can talk her into letting me take a photo of her finished project I’ll try to post it here.

What we did was the following:

Find an iron on transfer or a line art/coloring design she liked from a clip art book.
Transfer it onto a piece of counted fabric. In this case, aida.
Now fill in the various areas with the stitch of your choice. In my friend’s case, I taught her long-armed cross stitch. You can also use tent stitch, cross stitch, satin stitch, or any other filling stitch, lacy or solid that you like. Or a variety of stitches.
Stitch over the outlines with stem or back stitch.
Voila! apparently counted work that wasn’t counted.

Note: I’m not sure how regularly I’ll be posting for the next few weeks. Our old lady cat is in home hospice care, in the last stages of thyroid disease AND renal failure, so I find myself watching her and worrying more than I ought to, perhaps.

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04.25.10

My not-quite-a-UFO pile – Pockets

Posted in General at 6:16 pm by deRomilly

18th Century pocket

Years ago, one of the magazines I subscribed to, I think it MIGHT have been Samplers and Antique Needlework, but don’t quote me, it might just as well have been Piecework - published a pattern for an indigo blue crewelwork pocket. It was very 18th century American, and very pretty. Me, being me, decided that I didn’t want to be working everything I did in blue after all, and jumped sideways to pink. I’m still very proud of this set of pockets – at least the embroidery! I suppose I ought to actually stitch them together so that they can be worn with an 18th century gown if I ever get one made! Click the photo for details.

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04.15.10

Current Projects

Posted in Stitching Genres at 1:22 pm by deRomilly

Wow. It has been quite a week and a little bit over! I finished the stumpwork design in the last post, and now I’m working on a method to finish these little designs so that they can be displayed together in a group. More to come (and instructions) on that project!

In the meantime, I’ve been distracted a little bit from my model stitching (I’m having a grand time getting the new line ready – I’m planning on taking part in the Online Needlework show in October, so there’s a built-in deadline that reminds me that stitching isn’t goofing off any more – it’s actually work, no matter how much fun I’m having!) with a couple of projects.

I’ve got a project box that contains a pile of things I’ve started and never, for whatever reason, finished. In that is Tracy Horner’s Cirque des Cercles. When I take a break, I’m putting a few stitches into it here and there. Unfortunately, or not, I started it on black, in a variegated DMC color that isn’t made any more, so I’m HOPING that I have enough thread to finish it. I should – I bought out the store when I realized it was being discontinued! And if I’m one or so skeins short, they DO still sell it in the packages of all the variegated colors that they still sell, at least it wasn’t one of the completely discontinued ones! And I want to do the matching triangle design as well!

Artwork by Harry Clark - Studio, 78

Add to that my new obsession. You see, I’ve been researching Art Nouveau design for my next line of teaching patterns. And in one of the Dover books, I found this (click it for a larger view – it’s amazing!):

And me, being the obsessive I am, decided it HAD to be stitched. So I enlarged it – it’s now about 20X26 inches or so, and I’m in the process of tracing it off to simplify it for stitching. That’s one of the main keys to designing needlework – SIMPLIFY!! This piece in particular, is probably a bad idea, because of all the gorgeous pen and ink details. But when it comes to stitching, I’ve never been known to give up just because something’s a bad idea! (will I ever learn?)

So anyway. This is my new non-cross stitch project. It’s huge, it’s going to take forever, and I’ll try to keep you posted on the progress. I may need to set it aside for a while in the middle, too! I am thinking silk, beads, possibly sequins, and maybe even cotton and wool as well. It seems to scream for the overly baroque treatment!

So I’m stitching my models for the show (and having some of them stitched, again, if you’re interested in model stitching bellydancers or geometric pillow designs for me, send me an email and we’ll talk!). In my breaks, I’m putting a few stitches into my pile of half-started cross stitch projects, including designs by InkCircles, Indigo Rose, Teresa Wentzler and Miribilia (I don’t do anything that’s SIMPLE, do I?!)

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04.02.10

Jacobean Stumpwork – Step 7, Finishing!

Posted in Free Patterns at 6:06 pm by deRomilly

The finished embroidery

Welcome back! Hopefully the videos helped those of you trying this who were a bit confused about the needlelace leaves. Now that the leaves and petals are finished, we can put it all together!

Step 7 – Completing the Embroidery

First things first. We need to get those detached lace leaves off our muslin and Free!!! Turn the work over so the back is up, and carefully clip the couching threads, gently pulling them out to remove them.
Now go back to the front and clip the threads close to the away waste knots. The leaf should now come off of the muslin pretty easily.
Clip the dangling green threads close to the stitching. You should have secured them when you covered the wire with buttonhole stitch. You did do that, right?
Now clip the fabric around the blue petals. I like to do this in two passes. One to separate the petals, and another with very very fine, sharp embroidery scissors (I use the same ones I use for hardanger) to snip the fabric off very close to the stitching.
Note: At this point I should have taken my navy blue Sharpie and colored in the white muslin fringe and a bit of the tips of the wire. I didn’t. I KNOW this is going to haunt me. I may even end up going back and re-stitching the petals because of it…
Put the actual embroidery back into a hoop. Make sure it’s taut.
Using an awl, or the points of your sharp scissors, poke a small hole where two of the red petals come together, right down by the base of the french knot center. The hole should be large enough for the wires to go through, but not easily. We don’t want them swishing around wherever they want to go when we’re done!
Poke the wires from one of the blue petals through the hole.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the other three petals.
On the back of the work, interlace the petal wires together and secure them by stitching over them. I made a cross and then secured each pair of ends with a few whip stitches. Using your wire cutters or the pair of scissors you don’t care about, clip the wires about a sixteenth of an inch away from the stitching.
Referring to the pattern or photos below for location, poke holes next to the stem and poke the leaves’ wires into them. These holes need to be even smaller than the ones for the petals, simply because they aren’t going through stitching as well as the fabric.
On the back of the work, secure the wires with small whip stitches and trim them as you did the petals.
Congratulations! Your stumpwork is finished! You can bend the wires on the raised portions so that they lay the way you want them to, and then you can now frame it, or finish it as you like. (I’ve got a finishing suggestion in mind for these little pieces coming up soon!)