Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – Beginning the Gold on the Spot Sampler

Interlaced Ladder Stitch In gold Thread on the Spot Sampler

Interlaced Ladder Stitch In gold Thread on the Spot Sampler

I finished the silkwork on the Spot Sampler some time ago, but then ran into a problem, largely one of priorities. There have been so many other things I fancied trying, and so I’ve been working on the Amarna Map, the Christus Natus Est Panel, and a whole host of others.  I’ve also been feeling just a bit jumpy about the real metal threads, and wanted to wait until I was feeling settled enough to read the instructions and make sense of them.

I have at last made a start, though. I even managed to thread my Japanese needle with thread from the Real Metal Thread Pack that arrived in the post a few weeks ago. Perhaps the practice thread I was using was quite simply fractionally too thick for the eye of the needle.

I started with Interlaced Ladder Stitch – which wasn’t necessarily the best or easiest starting point, but it is area number one on the chart! I’m a little disheartened that the gold thread has broken up quite as much as it has, here, but I’m leaving it there for now to act as a basis for comparison as I do other stitches. I’m going to try using even shorter lengths, and maybe even use a stiletto or similar tool to keep loops open while I pull the thread through.

 

9 Comments

  1. Penny says:

    I LOVE the way you are always challenging yourself with new stitchery themes, materials, stitches. Its wonderful!! Sometimes I get so locked into finishing something that I don’t do the experimentation that might take it to the next step.

  2. Nice start! Are you using the gilt special tambour or the passing thread? I am finding the tambour doesn’t break as much and has a more delicate look to it.

  3. Lady Fi says:

    Great to see this stitch! And thank goodness your website is up and working again!

  4. Elmsley Rose says:

    Why don’t you ask the group re the real metal thread breaking? And any other tricks (other than an awl/laying tool) for keeping the loops at the same tension when the thread goes through?

    Other than that – yay – you’ve launched! Good luck on the journey!

  5. I find asking an expert quicker than trial and error, although for some reason I always try the latter first.

  6. I’ve never tried goldwork; think I might just leave that one to you, since you do it so well!

  7. joco says:

    I took a two year needlework course ages ago.
    Never do much these days. But I liked the gold work.
    I did it on terracotta velvet, to make it look sumptious.
    Maybe I still have it in a drawer somewhere.

    I bought my gold wire in London somewhere near Manchester square?
    At the back of Selfridges somewhere. It looked like a fine old private house from the outside, but inside it was Alladin’s cave.
    What is a Japanese needle?

  8. Alex says:

    It’s a complex stitch and I wonder if the twists and turns of it have contributed to the thread breaking up. Shorter lengths?

  9. Janice says:

    You even threaded the needle, eh?! Progress indeed! Yes, I can see what you mean and I would be disheartened too. So I guess it’s just a question of practice makes perfect. And as you know you can practice with the actual stitches and get them right, perhaps you really do have to waste quite a lot of the gold thread before you get the knack of laying it perfectly. Horrible though that sounds….. Good luck. I know you’ll get there.
    xx