12.16.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the Art Nouveau, Art Needlework, and Arts and Crafts movements recently. All of them are related, and William Morris and his daughter May feature predominantly in the fiber arts movements of the times. So what have I been thinking, other than I LOVE this group of related styles?
I’ve been thinking about thoughts. William and May Morris believed that Berlin Woolwork was a scourge on embroidery. Berlin woolwork, for those of you who don’t know the details was worked in very fine wool (often equivalent to 2-3 strands of our cotton floss in thickness), and was counted from a chart onto lightweight canvas in cross stitch. It often reproduced a piece of famous artwork, or just pretty pictures. Uh oh. This sounds familiar. Could it be that this was just Counted Cross Stitch in wool? (Yup, it could. It is. It was.)
William and May Morris wanted to bring back what they considered the higher craft of “real” needlework. Crewel stitches. Design decisions on the part of the embroiderer. Silk threads. Embroidery that looked like stitch work and didn’t “just” reproduce a picture in pixel mosaic.
Now I’m not going to speak or type against counted cross stitch – I design the stuff, after all! However, I was thinking about the book I gave away a couple years ago… “Art of William Morris In Counted Cross Stitch”. And then I got thinking about the cross stitch woolwork “reproductions” of Morris designs that are found as kits in the needlepoint shop (Beth Russell?)… and my thought?
I think William Morris is rolling around in his grave in despair.
And I’m laughing. Because embroidery techniques rise and fall in popularity. And while counted cross stitch has been very popular over the years since the 80s (partially because it really IS easy as these things go…) the freestyle embroidery stitches are coming back. Look on Craftster at some of the finished projects. Look at the popularity of Sublime Stitching. Look at the wonderful embroidery on the Ning groups: Hand Embroidery Network and Stitchin Fingers. These are good things. And we’re richer for the variety.
Try new things. Be a stitching dilettante!
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12.14.11
Posted in ELMOWS at 4:55 pm by deRomilly
You will probably want to enlarge these before you stitch them… But what do I know? You might want to work them tiny with one strand of silk! If you do, I’d love to see the results!
A freestyle embroidery pattern! Use it for your technique of choice – crewel, long and short stitch, goldwork – your call. I’d love to see what you make from it!
The actual line pattern is about 5 inches wide by 5 inches tall in its entirety. Feel free to use a photocopier to enlarge or shrink it to a preferred size!
Note: Elmows are distributed as a pdf file. If you don’t have it on your computer, you can get the free Adobe PDF Reader here. This creates a nice clean chart or pattern that you can print on your printer (and size up or down using a copy machine, or even work from the monitor, if you want.
What ARE these things? What can I do with them and is it safe to buy them from you?
If something goes wonky, PLEASE email or call me
(919-249-8698, 9-5 ET). I want you to be happy!
Reminder – please read–
Because of the size of my downloadable shopping cart (relatively small), after Elmow #12 I will have to begin rotating Elmows. This means that as I add a new one, the oldest remaining one will no longer be available. When Elmow #13 goes up, Elmow #1 comes down. #14 loses #2 and so forth. If you want older Elmows, now is the time to get them. 
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12.12.11
Posted in Monday Treasures at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Back in 2008, Karen at kcEnamels took part in a bead journal project. This was April’s entry. I’m in love with the purple elephant. 
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12.09.11
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
I can’t remember where the drawing for this motif came from. I’m not particularly happy with the results of the color choices. It was stitched in hand dyed wools, and the transitions melded in a way that became less than coherent. I think if I were doing this motif again, I’d use standard colors, so that I could balance the wings better.
I’d also probably do it in silk or metal thread work rather than wools, but that wasn’t the point of this exercise!
I AM pretty happy with the stitching, however. As usual, click to enlarge.
What I don’t think I’ve mentioned is that this piece of fabric is a piece of IL019 linen from Fabric-Store.com in white. I rather like it. It’s a medium-weight linen that I’d be happy to use for shirts. I also like their heavier-weight linens for skirts and things like the great Shower Curtain project. Which fell off the radar this year, but I intend to transfer to the fabric in January. It’s not high on the priority list, because the bathroom it’s intended for low on the renovation list in the house. I should really be doing the work for the upstairs guest bathroom instead, but it’s not as interesting to me at the moment… maybe I need to rethink the design and technique for that one…
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12.07.11
Posted in ELMOWS at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Welcome to Holiday Month here on Stitching with a Shimmy!
Use as is or transfer only the tree or only the greeting! Use it as a Christmas Tree, a Solstice Tree, or a generic holiday tree…
The actual line pattern is about 5 inches wide by 6 inches tall. Feel free to use a photocopier to enlarge or shrink it to a preferred size!
Note: Elmows are distributed as a pdf file. If you don’t have it on your computer, you can get the free Adobe PDF Reader here. This creates a nice clean chart or pattern that you can print on your printer (and size up or down using a copy machine, or even work from the monitor, if you want.
What ARE these things? What can I do with them and is it safe to buy them from you?
If something goes wonky, PLEASE email or call me
(919-249-8698, 9-5 ET). I want you to be happy!
Reminder – please read–
Because of the size of my downloadable shopping cart (relatively small), after Elmow #12 I will have to begin rotating Elmows. This means that as I add a new one, the oldest remaining one will no longer be available. When Elmow #13 goes up, Elmow #1 comes down. #14 loses #2 and so forth. If you want older Elmows, now is the time to get them.
Permalink
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I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the Art Nouveau, Art Needlework, and Arts and Crafts movements recently. All of them are related, and William Morris and his daughter May feature predominantly in the fiber arts movements of the times. So what have I been thinking, other than I LOVE this group of related styles?