This tern at Tresillian we are making a gold work Four leaf clover.
My fabric is a deep-purple silk (it is looking blue in the photo). My passing thread is not the best, but I enjoyed the chipping.
I have the stalk still do and then a few decorative bits around the outside – sequins, beads, etc.
The centre will be hidden by some kind of bling.
It is a lovely project and I think it will be finished in term time (rather than dragging on like most of the projects).
Filed under Bedazzle, Embroidery, Goldwork, Inspiration
I am enjoying paper embroidery – I have all sorts of plans. The above is a quote by Jane Austen.
I used a paper stitch font from Flourishing Fibers, DMC cotton (colour 666) on water colour paper.
I am using my new Golden Forge scissors to hold the page down. I love these scissors, by using these to trim the ends of threads I can thread any needle (including size 12s)
Filed under Cardstock, Embroidery, Inspiration, Paper, Purchases
I finished my pulled thread work trees!
I used AI to remove the reflections in the glass, so it might not look exactly like my piece, but it is pretty close.
I used a range of different fibres – cotton floss, pearl cotton, silk, wool, silk ribbon, organza ribbon, and weird thread I bought from the Thread Studio.
The back ground is a silk hemp fabric, which I painted using inktense pencils.
I am quite pleased with how this project turned out.
Filed under Bedazzle, Embroidery, Inspiration, Pulled Thread, Yarn Stash
I finished the February poem of Tender Whispers from the Heart Year 1.
I love this poem – this is the one I am planning on sending to the exhibition. Now I just have the rest of the year to finish! Not to mention this year.
Filed under Embroidery, Inspiration, Poetry
I follow Kate on Instagram so, obviously, I had to read this – and then it was given to me as a gift. Perfect!
Here’s the blurb …
A unique portrait of Victorian life, hidden figures and Empire, told through one woman’s textile scrapbook.
In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments – some her own, others donated by family and friends – she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of their lives. Her name was Mrs Anne Sykes.
Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Using her expertise, Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album’s pages.
Her findings are remarkable. Piece by piece, she charts Anne’s journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years. Fragments of cloth become windows into Victorian life: Pirates in Borneo, the complicated etiquette of mourning, poisonous dyes, the British Empire in full swing, rioting over working conditions and the terrible human cost of Britain’s cotton industry.
This is life writing that celebrates ordinary people: not the grandees of traditional written histories, but the hidden figures, the participants in everyday life. Through the evidence of waistcoats, ball gowns and mourning outfits, Strasdin lays bare the whole of human experience in the most intimate of mediums: the clothes we choose to wear.
I was amazed that Anne (and her husband Adam) lived in Singapore for several years and Shanghai (in China). How intrepid. A huge amount of research went into this book – trying to find information about Anne and her acquaintances; letters, census records, passenger manifests, etc. Along with that, there is information about textiles; producing cotton, printing cotton, social history; mourning conventions, laundering methods; the advent of aniline dyes (and the terrible deaths from arsenic poisoning).
I found it thoroughly fascinating. Anyone with an interest in history, textiles, women’s history will enjoy this book.
Filed under Book Review, Inspiration
I have started working on the roots – a mixture of french knots and drizzle stitch. I thought I would try a cast on stitch for some fungi as well.
Filed under Bedazzle, Embroidery, Inspiration, Pulled Thread
I am enjoying this project. I am using different fibres and colours. I bought some fibres from the Thread Studio and Temu plus I am using some of my (substantial) yarn stash.
I am just tidying up the loose threads at the moment. Then I will work on the roots.
Filed under Embroidery, Inspiration, Pulled Thread, Yarn Stash
I have been experimenting with my Cricut to make perforated card for stitching. I found the svg file at Wild Olive.
Here I am doing a bit of stitching on it.
I was thinking, you’re not limited to cross stitch, I could put the holes anywhere.
Filed under Bedazzle, Cardstock, Cricut, Cross Stitch, Inspiration
This term at Tresillian we are making pulled thread trees.
The background fabric is linen. We removed a section of the weft threads, and we’re using the warp threads to make the trees.
I have added macrame cord and twine to thicken the trunks.
My trees are going to be flowering – cherry, apple, almond, etc. I have bought different fibres in shades of pink, white, yellow, green and brown.
Filed under Embroidery, Inspiration
I am heading to Hobart next May for Mrs Parkman’s Academy of Needlework, and we have been given homework.
The fabric is 32 count. I bought it at one of EGWA’s Market Days – there is another one soon.
The threads are from Aliexpress (I think they use (rip off) the same numbers as DMC).
I have started because I think it will take me quite a while to finish and I want to have it done by the event.
Filed under Canvas Work, Cross Stitch, Cross Stitch, Embroidery, Inspiration, Market Stall
