02.19.10
Posted in Free Patterns at 12:24 pm by deRomilly
I want to apologize for not getting comments approved more quickly this week. Sinus infections turning into bronchitis stink. Even more so when your husband gets it at the same time — and his wants to become pneumonia!
We’re both doing much better, thank you. And now for Step 2!
Supply Notes:
I was asked how much floral wire you need for this project. Eep. I haven’t measured yet. Floral wire comes either on spools or in packages of cut pieces. One of either will give you plenty of wire to do this project a couple of times over. About 1 1/2 to 2 yards will be more than enough.
I also neglected the small pieces of yellow felt you will need for the flower center. If you can match the color to the thread you’re planning on using, that’s even better. 2 pieces of felt, each large enough to cut the circle out of. (I’ll edit the supply list with both these notes today as well.)
Step 2
Stem Stitch finished!
Note: When putting this into the hoop to start embroidering, I realized that my chosen fabric really wasn’t sturdy enough to support wire and padding on its own. If you even suspect this is the case, please get a second piece of muslin and when you put the embroidery in the frame, put the muslin onto the back of it to provide more support. I used a piece of polyester/linen blend that I had lying around that was the right size.
Again, you can click the pictures to see more detail of what happens to my stitching when I do it when sick! 
And a slightly different angle and light source...
- Once in the frame, use three strands of the green embroidery floss and stitch the stem in stem stitch. (Link goes to Sharon Boggin’s wonderful stitch dictionary!)
- When you have stitched the main stem, use TWO strands of the green to stitch the tendril, also using stem stitch.
Note: Remember when stitching the stem stitch, that the tighter the curve you have to go around, the smaller your stitches need to become.
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02.12.10
Posted in Free Patterns at 1:52 pm by deRomilly
I’ve been planning on this for a long time, but haven’t managed to stitch on it to continue the series. So. Here’s the plan.
I’m going to start this today, and post the instructions as a stitch-a-long. You can stitch it with me, or wait for the end when I’ll post all the directions along with the crewel work instructions for the same design.
Supplies
- Tightly woven fabric of your choice, 9X9 inches square.
- DMC or silk embroidery floss in the following colors:
- red
- blue
- green
- yellow/gold
- 6 inch embroidery hoop
- 9X9 inch square of muslin
- One package or spool of wrapped floral wire in 32 gauge. You’ll want white. That way if it shows, you can use a permanent pen to color it into the right color – I often use green for the leaves, but we’ll be wiring the smaller petals on this piece as well.
- Embroidery needle – crewel or embroidery #9.
- Tapestry needle – #26
- OLD scissors or wire cutters to cut the wire Do NOT use your good embroidery scissors for this. Or even your not-so good ones!
Edited to add:
- 2 small pieces of yellow felt to match your yellow floss – about 1 inch square each.
Pattern - click for full-sized printable version
Step One:
Print out the design. Note: the image to the left may be HUGE. If it prints at a full 8.5X11 sheet of paper, you will want to reduce it to 40%. OR, Click FlowerPattern for a pdf version that you can open with Adobe Reader.
Transfer it to a tightly-woven fabric of your choice, with the following exceptions:
DO NOT transfer:
The leaves.
The four small petals
My flower drawn on my chosen fabric. It's centered on the 9" piece of sateen.
I’m transferring it by tracing it onto a piece of polyester/cotton blend sateen that I have in my box (I collect scraps from interior designer friends who are getting rid of them for just this sort of purpose) with a permanent micron pen. You can also use the blue pens ones that wash out with cold water, but they sometimes feather into the fabric. Once it’s on my fabric, it doesn’t look like much, but this will show you what to leave out in more detail. Click the image for a larger version, if you really want the details!
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06.01.09
Posted in Design Theory at 7:00 am by deRomilly
Stumpwork detail
If you’ve been following me you know I took Sharon Boggin’s Encrusted Crazy Quilting class. I’m loving it to death. Every time I take another class from this lady I find another layer of myself and how to work it into my work.
In this case, I’m trying to find more depth in my work. A friend of mine, one to whom I’ve taught stumpwork techniques, laughed heartily when I told her this. I think she missed my point. Stumpwork is dimensional, yes, and very pretty – I’ll keep teaching it and doing it. But texturally, it’s not particularly layered or deep. I can find cool thing after cool thing in historic stumpwork designs, but in general they are beside one another. The thing about what Sharon does is the sheer baroque depth of it all –
First Encrusted CQ Block
So anyway, class completed, my block now looks like this (click the photos for details):
And I’ve finished a second one:
Second CQ block
And working on a third and fourth (they’re lighter). These four will turn into a small wall hanging, taking lessons from the Sumptuous Stitches class, and the Studio Journal class, I have built to a theme of Madame Pompadour: something I came to as I realized that my blocks all reflected the colors in paintings of her in my print collection. It’s evocative, there won’t be anything specifically figurative, but I’ll know. Although I am toying with the idea of using her quotes in the sashing when I put it together. I rather like “Intelligence has no gender.”
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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.
-
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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