Category: General Embroidery


Experiments for the Chorus of Angels Tablecloth

Comparison of cloak stitching, petal stitch on one side, triangular up and down buttonhole stitch on the other.

With sixteen angels to do, it seemed like a good idea to work out a plan of action. My first idea was to have green capes with red stitching and red capes with green stitching, so that was the first thing I tried. Red on green is certainly working, and looking at the comparison between petal stitch or an upward pointing stitch for the trim on the cape, it seemed to me that petal stitch was the clear winner, so I put that in place.

Comparison again: somehow it is clearer that the dress should not have red trim

Yes, definitely, that works.

And I like closed feather for the trim around the shoulders, too.

The red neckline and hem – not so much. It looks like a failed attempt to link the trim on the cape, rather than a harmonious trim on a dress. Ugh!

Part of the problem, I think, is that the border is too narrow, but I was afraid of the red pulling itself forward too much.

Skirt trimmed now in a palish green, and the edges of the cape are in place

So, here’s what I’ve settled on.

The cape is edged with Mountmellick stitch, which makes a rather charming edging stitch. I think of it as a cross between blanket stitch and chain stitch, even though it’s not really, and wasn’t used as such originally. The dress edging is much broader than the first one, two rows of up-&-down blanket stitch face to face, and you will note that I’ve patterned them, with a V-shape alternating with a short pair of stitches. Then I’ve added two rows of cable chain stitch to broaden the edging further.

David’s Hares – close ups

I really enjoyed working the Hares, and I thought you might enjoy a few close up and oblique views. I think there’s not much to say, as I’ve already said it, but if you have questions, please use the comments section and I will do my best to respond usefully!

Oblique view of the centre of the Hares, with most of the hare at the front visible, and all three ears in view
Close up on one of the raised pile tails.
Close up of part of the Hares, showing the red blanket stitch edge, pink pads on hind paws, french knot eye, and little raised tail.

More on Aethelflaed

A woman on a dark brown horse, wearing a modern riding dress inspired by Anglo Saxon riding horse.

So, after my first two attempts at Aethelflaed, I had a fascinating day with my reenactor friend Vara, talking about the garments and decorations of the period, and she showed me this photo of her daughter riding astride, but in a modern riding dress inspired by early medieval garments.

Rowanne is apparently intrigued by what I’m doing, and has given permission for me to put this picture up, showing her and her horse Lola!

Rough sketch of a woman in an early medieval veil, seen in profile

I also had a chance to do a sketch of a woman in profile, wearing the right sort of veil, complete with a fillet, with the added suggestion that Aethelflaed should be wearing a bright white veil, since that would be a sign of wealth and authority, and that sleeves would have been all in one with the dress.

So, I’ve had a bit more to work with, and had another go.

Another attempt in gouache to depict Aethelflaed, in red dress and white veil, on a white horse

This is better, I like the straighter back, and the dress covering the horse’s rump. But my goodness, if you compare her with Rowanne and Lola, she’s much too long in the body. I need to shorten her somewhat.

Furthermore, I think the horse has got too tame – back to the cross-eyed one staring out at the viewer!

But then, I think, I might be able to start playing around with placing her on the background and choosing colours for her. Which, my goodness, will be About Time!

More on David’s Hares

The Three Hares, still mainly in outline, but now with a ring of red blanket stitch

The yellow wool was really a lovely fabric to be stitching on, but being a bit mobile around the edges, I decided I wanted the circle of blanket stitch in quite soon, and didn’t keep it quite as neat as I might have hoped.

However, it looks lovely, the red contrasting nicely with the ground and will the brown hares (I keep wanting to call them bunnies, but hares have bigger ears, which must make it easier to share them!)

The Three Hares at the end of the second day of stitching, ears now filled in solidly

The innermost line on the ears is a pinky-cream mohair, and I’ve also used it for little pink pads on the hind paws. I’ve no idea whether this is accurate to life, but it gives the design a lift at the edges, and I think that has helped enormously.

You will note that I’ve kept all three Hares at the same rate of development all the way through. That’s made it easier to think of it as a single design, “David’s Hares”, rather than three versions of one hare. It also means that when I was working the progression of shades in the ears, I didn’t have to make notes, and while it’s true I’m a more note-taking-minded stitcher than I used to be, something like this is meant to be more freestyled!

Hares now solidly stitched and given eyes and noses, and little pink pads on their hind feet.

I don’t know what I’m going to attach the Hares to, but I’ll think of something..

Here you see I’ve actually finished the stitching, including a pile stitch for the tails. I’ve not cut it, but left it soft and curled, which makes for a slightly stronger shape, and possibly more hardwearing too. But my goodness, pile stitches take more thread than you expect, even when you’re expecting it (if you follow me!)

Close ups will come in a later post, but in the meanwhile…

In Memoriam, David Singmaster, mathematician, metagrobologist, mischief, and friend. Thank you, David.

Chorus of Angels Tablecloth

Chorus Of Angels design, inspired by the “May Queen” design by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.
Chorus Of Angels

Some of you may recall this design, which Mam and I were thinking of developing into the background for the crib figures I inherited from one of my great aunts. I’ve not managed to think of a way to make it work in embroidery yet, so I keep on looking at it and thinking “No”, and moving on.

Sigh.

Design plan for the angel medallions

However, it has occurred to us that using the same angels as the basis for a design for the Christmas tablecloth might work quite nicely, and will give us another chance to play with the shapes and design.

So, sized for the purpose, planned out and tweaked. And we’ve decided, rather than embroidering directly on the tablecloth (if you’ve ever embroidered a tablecloth, you will have a fair guess why we aren’t!), we are going to prepare the applique separately and attach those to the tablecloth.

Initial layouts of the applique of the angels

We’re using quilting cottons in red, yellow, and green, and we’ve got everything cut out and pinned approximately in place, and now we’re not sure what to do next!

So there are some experiments ahead. I’m thinking of restricting the colours to stranded cotton in the same red, green and yellow (as far as possible), and using a variety of interesting edging stitches. And we both have samplers of those in our embroidered Coat of Many Flowers and the Little Jacket!

Working on Aethelflaed

Marginal picture from a medieval manuscript, showing a man and woman on horseback, the woman with a falcon on her wrist

You may recall that the planning and designing of Aethelflaed is proving quite a long winded process, with a lot of repetition and rethinking going on.

I’ve been looking for medieval women on horseback, because I want Aethelflaed under her own steam, as it were – not lead on a palfrey, but mounted on her own horse, with the reins in her hands.

The best I’ve found so far is this one, which I think was in the Holkham Picture Book Bible.

A painting in gouache of a medieval woman on horseback, very clumsily done, and based on the lady in the picture above.

I started with the lady, and began some alterations. I want her horse to have some personality, so I’ve turned the head towards us, and lifted it a little.

I’ve extended the skirts somewhat, and given the rider a veil that flies a little, held in place by a golden fillet.

But the high contrast suggests a silk or brocade, and I want something that suggests a sensible woollen riding dress.

Then I found some Viking and Anglo-Saxon reenactors and talked to them. And goodness, that gave me food for thought. In particular, yes, riding dress was indeed a garment that an Anglo Saxon woman like Aethelflaed might have worn. But Anglo-Saxon dressmaking was not at all like ours.

Another gouache of a medieval woman on a horse. Still clumsy but a new iteration.

In particular, whereas we tend to have pattern pieces that start with the widest part, and remove fullness by means of darts, pleats, or gathers, Anglo-Saxon dressmaking started with the narrowest width and added fullness by means of gussets and gores. In fact, an Anglo Saxon riding dress would have a full circle’s worth of gores inserted into the side seams, resulting in something roughly like this.

But not quite. I’ve actually been to talk to my reenactor friends, and there are a few bits which don’t quite ring true. I have some photos to work from, so there is more to come…

Making a Mending Kit

Open Spectacle case, showing various parts of the mending kit in place.

I have a rather nice spectacle case which is surplus to requirements for spectacles, but which I thought I could make useful for other purposes, so it’s now a mending kit!

I’m notorious in the family for reaching for needle and thread even when a machine stitch might be better (I was doing some mending when visiting with friends a few years ago, and when their father rang, they said “Guess what, Rachel’s been here half an hour, and she’s already got a needle in hand!”), but what I don’t have is a mending kit I can just stuff in a suitcase/glove compartment and be sure it’s to hand.

Pink felt pocket embroidered with a tiny flower.

I put some thought into what I wanted to have to hand, and embellished various elements with embroidered motifs inspired by the motifs on the case.

There are pockets for small cards of thread. I’ve used half metre lengths of stranded cotton in a variety of colours so I should always have something close-ish to what I need.

A second pocket with floral decoration

Other pockets hold some round elastic and a measuring tape. The measuring tape isn’t often necessary, but it’s hard to improvise when you need one.

I’ve found a small pair of folding scissors and attached them at the back of one of the sections, as well. I’ve seen an idea for a captive blade for a really minimal mending kit, and I’ve a small packet that idea might be perfect for, but I don’t have to be minimal here!

Three sections in pink felt beside the case they fit in.

I’ve ended up with three sections.

The top one is essentially a needle book, but I’ve tacked four shirt buttons to one page, and I’m gathering safety pins for another. I’ve got two sewing needles and one rather larger eyed needle on the one page with needles in.

There are three cards with three colours of thread on each, in their own pockets, one pocket with elastic (black and white) and one with a tape measure. If I find a flatter tape measure I’ll swap that out. I’m sure I have one.. and on the back of the middle section I’ve got a strap for the scissors.

You just watch, I’ll not need it for a year at least!

David’s Hares

David Singmaster, elderly, white bearded, and me, barely up to his shoulder, against a wall of shelves in his library.

Last year, The Australian’s world of mathematics and recreational mathematics lost one of its titans: David Singmaster, mathematician, metagrobologist, and discoverer of the wreck of a Punic warship (as you do!). David had a fine mind, contributing hugely to pure mathematics over the years, but his intense curiosity about, well, everything, lead to him writing the first book about solving Rubik’s Cube, and being involved in a fabulous book detailing the spread of the Three Hares pattern along the Silk Route. He was also a really lovely man, who enjoyed sharing puzzles with all and sundry. He was always seen with a drawstring bag embellished with those Three Hares, from which an assortment of physical puzzles and embodiments of mathematical principles would be taken for the bafflement of anyone within range.

Three hares pattern drawn on tissue paper, stitched through to transfer the pattern

It follows that when the British Society for the History of Mathematics invited The Australian to speak at a one day conference in David’s memory, I decided to sit quietly at the back, stitching a new version of the Three Hares. It’s a lovely woollen fabric, and I’ve chosen some wool I rather like to stitch it with, and started by transferring the design using running stitch through tracing paper.

I got it to this stage in the hotel the night before, and then got rid of the tissue paper in short order.

The three hares against a yellow background, with all outlines in place and the hares light tummies and bibs done as well.

It was a wonderful day, many old friends, some lovely tributes to David, and some fascinating expositions of his work. And all through the day, I sat quietly stitching away at the Hares, for some of the time beside David’s widow, Deborah, who made the original bag that gave me the idea.

I’m quite pleased with how it’s going so far, especially as I was using my new Sketching Glasses (aka bifocals), so that I would be able to see the slides as well!

Parterre – no, these are the final stages!

Finished Surrey Stitch, ready to be trimmed

So you may recall that, when last seen, I was working the Surrey Stitch boss for the centre of the Parterre. This is something else that uses a lot of thread, so I had a nervous time wondering whether I would run out of the wool I wanted to use before I finished it. And because the stitches were pushed down for quite a while as I was working it, I tied some thread around the finished stitches for a few days to help them stand up to be trimmed.

Surrey Stitch now trimmed

Then I realised that some of those stitches were still loops and might not be standing up to where they should.

So the semi-final trim took a bit longer than I perhaps hoped, and is maybe not quite as short and trim as it should be. That’s because I don’t have enough wool to do it again, and I am absolutely terrified of trimming it too short!

However, any further trim can wait – it’s something that can be done off the frame, and I wanted to see how the whole Parterre had turned out.

Finished Parterre canvaswork ready for blocking

Pretty well, I think. It is squarer than it looks, I just need to block it a bit to take the frame-kinks out of the canvas!

An Experiment For Aethelflaed

A display of Anglo Saxon sword mounts and fittings found at the museum in Stoke On Trent

I’m beginning to realise that if I take into account at the beginning of a project the final destination of it or the way it’s going to be displayed, life might be a bit easier.

I think the Medieval Movers and Shakers may end up displayed on banners, but while the clerics Rahere and Dame Julian should probably be on a simple vertical drop, like a pulpit fall, I think William and Aethelflaed might want somethiing more ornate.

Outline of one of the fittings in the previous photo stitched in split stitch on gauze

With that in mind, one idea I had for Aethelflaed was to ornament her banner with reproductions of Anglo Saxon jewels in trapunto quilting. Easier said than done, and I don’t imagine I’ll get it right first time, so I hope that this will give me some thoughts!

Trapunto involves creating channels and cells that can then be filled with coloured yarns or wool. This experiment is done using leftover gauze from the Amarna overlays, and the design was quite roughly hand-drawn to make a first approximation, but in due course I had all the lines done in split stitch.

The narrow channels filled with golden yellow tapestry wool

Then it was time to fill in the channels and cells. Mindful of my recent experience with the Golden Accessories, when I found there was definitely a Right Order in which to fill in the strapwork, I did (believe it or not!) pause for thought before just barrelling in. I think I made the right choice – the channels are quite narrow, and it was definitely easier to fill them in first. I’ve used tapestry wool, and I’m not sure that’s necessarily the best choice, but it’s the right sort of colour, and with the narrow channels, it’s easier than fleece. Especially as I don’t have any to hand!

Dark red wool has been added to teh cells of the design, creating a reconstruction of an Anglo Saxon jewel in trapunto

The final stage was to fill in the cells – this time with Paternayan. I think I would prefer to use fleece for cells, to avoid having shadow lines between the “stitches”, but as a first attempt, I think it’s worked well.

Two layers of gauze are a bit much, though, I think it would be easier to manage if the backing were in calico. So next time I have a moment for this sort of experimentation, I might start with that, and maybe a different shade of gauze.

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