06.23.10
Posted in General at 3:04 pm by deRomilly
I’ve been writing on another site a lot about Help files, and reading the manual, and learning new software. It got me to thinking about how and where I go for help with needlework these days.
Now that we have fewer and fewer local needlework stores around, I wonder, what are people doing when they have a problem, or can’t figure something out in a chart?
My response was, for many years, find an expert. And I could usually pop over to the local needlework store, where there was an entire staff and customer base of experts. Sometimes they were confused by the strange things I asked (I was never into doing things the “normal” way: usually I wanted information on medieval or 18th century techniques, and there weren’t as many resources then as now…), but I never had a time where by brainstorming between a group of us we couldn’t come up with a solution. Now, though?
Where do I go to solve problems or learn something totally new?
- My local EGA chapter, which, unfortunately, has also been dwindling in size. It’s time to renew my membership – I’ve been away too long.
- A group of friends who also stitch – if one of us can’t figure it out, usually someone else, or all ofus together can.
- Workshops. This usually entails travel these days, and a lot of the lovely big conventions are gone
(CATS comes to mind…)
- But you know, I also still go hang out at the needlepoint shop, even though I rarely do canvas work (I DO clean them out of threads regularly, though!) And I’m starting to think I need to make the 40 mile trek to my only remaining not-so local cross stitch store more often.
What do you do for needlework companionship and help these days?
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05.11.10
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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06.24.09
Posted in Samplers at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Sad Sampler
I thought I’d written about this before, but I don’ t seem to have – maybe on a forum or rec.crafts.textiles.needlework usenet or somesuch.
So here goes again.
Years ago I was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (that’s also where I got the name Romilly, but that’s another story). I don’t fight, so I needed something to do with my hands — I started a sampler, taking historic motifs from various patterns I owned and mixing them up, adding a few of my own and such.
It was also a way to use my stash of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads and Weeks Dye Works threads.
What I learned, the hard way — they mean it when they say “don’t wash.”
How I learned it. Squirrel pee. Or bird. Whatever it was, it’s three drips on the sampler. In retrospect, these were not thread or fabric choices I should have made for a piece I was going to be carrying around in the woods with me!
I tried to wash out the stain – it’s still there, though I can’t get a good photo of it. I think it melted some of the fabric threads. And the red threads (aren’t they always the culprit?) ran. All over the old-formula lugana – the stuff with NO cotton or natural fibers in it at all (OK, so it was also a way to get rid of a fabric I hated stitching on…) so it stains easily. It’s sad. Both the situation and the sampler.
The sampler sits in my UFO (unfinished objects) box to this day. I keep meaning to try overdying it in a tea color to antique it a bit – or just cut it up and use it in a crazy quilt as is. I never seem to get around to either of them, though. And so it sits. Waiting for me to do something – anything with it.
Details below. As usual, click to see closer.
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Sad Sampler
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Top of the band area – see the bleeding?!
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Sampler Motifs
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Small (tiny!) motifs – some over one
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My initials – Before EO
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Holly Point Strawberry. I’m still proud of this!
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Pulled work area
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hardanger section
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A very pretty white cutwork area. I’m still proud of this.
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03.25.09
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
I fell in love with Opus Teutonicum, or “German Work” back when I was active in the SCA.
Generally worked in white on white linen, I love the way the various filling stitches show up against the lightweight ground.
I don’t have permission or any personal photos – while I love the style it’s actually one of the few I’ve never tried to do on my own.
If you’re interested in seeing it, though, I highly recommend the following sites. Good photos, including close-ups and good information about trying it.
Opus Teutonicum on Historical Needlework Resources
West Kingdom Needlework Pages – Whitework
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02.16.09
Posted in Stitching Genres at 7:00 am by deRomilly
As I’ve noted here before, I collect historic needlework books, including the facsimile editions of Weldon’s practical needlework that Piecework put out several years ago.
In these volumes (and in the early 20th century Weldon’s Encyclopedia of Needlework that a friend gave me) is a canvaswork style they call “Ivory Embroidery.”
Weldon’s says, “The work is known as ‘Ivory Embroidery’ fom the fact that its being entirely executed in white, at least as far as the filings are concerned. Silk is used in preference to cotton as being more glossy, and filoselle is more useful than any other make, as being readily splet and used coarse or fine to suit the requirements of any particular portion of the pattern.”
It goes on to describe various canvas stitches – mosaic, byzantine, etc. that we use in modern needlepoint. They never mention if you stitch the background: indeed some of the partial patterns they show indicate that you might not…
It sounds absolutely beautiful. But I’ve got a problem. When it talks about designs, it says they are available for sale. there is no image of a finished project (at least not that is easily interpreted.) I haven’t been able to find a clue as to the type of design considered suitable in the day. (Or that nagging question about background, either). In addition, the only reference I can find for this type of work is IN Weldon’s. No one else seems to talk about it, nor have I found even one extant example.
Has anyone seen an actual design for one of these? Or an extant example you can point me toward? I’m fascinated by the idea and I’d really like to see an original.
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