Embroidery Tools

This post is LONG overdue and is dedicated to Jules of Adventures in Thread who requested it quite some time ago when I mentioned that I'd cleaned and reorganised this section and then offered to explain what some of the things were.  So, without further ado..... (Sorry about some of the photos - too bright light!)

First we have a thimble (which I use on occasion), a pack of expensive Japanese pins from a quilting shop in Taipei, Taiwan, some Thread Heaven, which came as part of a cross stitch group exchange game and which I don't use much, a needle threader, which I never use and have only keep 'just in case' and the ubiquitous seam ripper.

Next is the scissors/cutters section and you can see here from top left a pair of goldwork scissors, a small pair of embroidery scissors I keep as a spare, petit point scissors used for cutwork in hardanger and drawn thread pieces, some more embroidery scissors which are a bit wrecked, a Clover cutter pendant for air travel and the general pair I use for most thread cutting work (and which aren't as dirty as they look - the white spots are actually the bright light reflecting on the 'textured' surface of the black plastic!)

This stuff is mostly measuring, marking and cleaning: 3 dressmakers' pencils, an ordinary 6"/15cm ruler, a ruler which you can use to measure angles with (that I got 4 years ago in Taiwan thinking it was nifty and that I would use it a lot - but never have!!), a toothbrush for brushing away fluff and carbon/chalk marks, tweezers which are more for bending things than picking things up and, finally, an old clothes price tag which is just the right size for making tassels around.  No, I don't wear XL.  This seems to have been something for Sir!!

Here are my stumpwork wires.  There are 4 coils from a set I bought - probably meant to be jewellery wire (as is the small reel, I think, which came from an art shop in Taipei), but will be just fine for most wired stumpwork elements and is also much easier to find than florists' and cake decorators' wire.  The front 2 packs are from a sugarcraft store and are paper covered.

Here we have some more stumpwork etc tools:  A hedebo stick, which is used for making circular elements around before attaching them to the main fabric, a set of 3 half cone sticks in various sizes, a stiletto for puncturing fabric (for Broderie Anglaise etc), and a stuffing tool for pushing toy stuffing into smaller spaces.

And that, apart from the pair of thread snips that got overlooked whilst doing the scissors photo, is it!  What's in yours?

I can't believe how long it's been since I actually did any proper stitching!  I've done a bit of finishing up this month (as you saw last post), but the only embroidery I did was to finish off the cupcake card.  Things are hanging around the living room waiting for me look:

This is one of what we call our 'intelligent bags' (an Oxford University Press bookshop tote - the other is from Cambridge!!) and it's good for housing the stuff I need for the projects on hand.  You can see various patterns, materials and so on in here - mostly upside down!!

And here are my poor, neglected work frames, which have only been touched to move them out of the way and back again recently!

I've been trying to clear the decks of things like finishing up, mending and so on of late, or else have been mad busy with something else and/or stuck with my nose in a language textbook.  Having said that, I feel quite impatient to get back on now with these two, the things that are in the bag (about 4 more - a camera case to make up, the rabbit, TAST stuff and an old C&G sample I mean to finish up as my last UFO to clear) and some baby knitting that I'm just waiting for the yarn for.  A Chinese friend here is having a little girl in November after 2 boys and so I thought I'd do her a couple of pretty things - with which idea she's thrilled.

Oh, speaking of being thrilled, Georgina the disabled girl loves her scatter cushion cover and has already had a cushion pad bought for it.=)

Other than that, what news?  I added a 'forthcoming' page to my blog, so you can easily see what's planned for the near future (where possible) and something which will disappoint some: I won't be doing the C&G after all - health's still too poor and I have really too many demands on my energies as it is.  However, I plan on developing a fair few ideas and new skills, so I hope there'll be enough to keep everyone's interest.

'Til next time, tinkety-tonk!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Cushions and Cards

I may not have posted much of late, but I have been busy!  First of all I finished up the Ring of Roses scatter cushion cover by putting the zip in.  Here it is being modelled by one of our own cushions.

Then I moved on to the giraffe cushion cover.  The patchwork went relatively well, but is still a bit uneven.  This was the front when initially put together - showing off some wonders in uneven patching!!

Frankly, I prefer the back and wouldn't be at all surprised (or upset) if the recipient decided to display it this way around!

In the end I managed to find a way to improve the look of the front - put some trim around the main picture and extend it a little so as to cover over the worst of the bad joins.  It's come out OK, but it isn't exactly a masterpiece.  Mercifully, the disabled girl I'm giving it to has rotten eyesight, so she won't see it's many imperfections!!!

Then it was onto the next project - a cross stitched wedding card for a couple who are marrying on 31st of this month.  They're having tea and cakes as a simple reception afterwards, so I thought this display of colourful cupcakes was in keeping with the occasion.  It may be a simple and fairly small design, but just look at all the colours I needed!

This shows the cross stitching itself finished and the colours out for the outlining.  I decided not to use the prescribed dark grey for it, but to chose a darker shade of each colour family used for the icing (I tried to make every single cake a different colour and almost succeeded too!) and a brown shade for the cake bottoms.  The Kreinik is for the cake stand.

I think it turned out quite well, don't you?

Here are two books I borrowed from the library last week.  The hardanger one is mostly stuff I already know, but there are one or two ideas in there that I haven't come across before, including using beads in filling stitches.

Also, how about these for hardanger cards?  Creative, or what!  It made me feel that there was a great deal more to be done with a simple piece of hardanger than just to mount it in an aperture card.  I got some white card blanks yesterday to try painting up as three of these seem to have been.

I was also inspired by the cross stitch cards book.  Again, I've discovered that there's so much more that you can do with a small cross stitch than just bung it in an aperture card, so inspired by some of the designs in the book and using the technique explained there (putting bondaweb on the back of the Aida to 'stabilise' it, but not needing to bond the second side of it to anything - just cut out the shape, peel off the backing and then attach to your card), I made this with the 'cat in a basket' design I finished off a few months ago.

The cross stitched piece was attached using those glue pads you get for decoupage types of crafts and thus gives a bit of a raised look.  Of course, you can do it flat as well.

It feels good to have got a few projects finally completed and also to have some new and innovative ideas for fairly simple techniques.  I can develop quite a bit just with these counted thread pieces and am even considering trying to sell some of the hardanger ones, once I get something impressive stitched up.

What's next?  Finishing up the other WIPs, I hope!  I'm having a really good deck clear at the moment, trying to get long neglected tasks done and free my mind of all that clutter.  Next sewing machine job will be making some alterations and then I can get down to my camera case that I've been planning for over 3 years now....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

No photos today, but a couple of other updates

Thanks to all who left comments on the last post showing the almost complete scatter cushion cover.  I've got the right sized zip for it now and just need to get it inserted.

To answer the questions asked in the comments:

No, I didn't design the hardanger embroidery myself, it's from Mary Hickmott's 'Flowers with Hardanger' booklet and I used the 'Ring of Roses' table centre design, but just missed out the outer buttonhole edging (which I hate doing!) and turned the rest of the pattern into a scatter cushion cover instead.

I was also asked about the threads used (linhas = threads), and they were Anchor #5, #8 and a little #12 pearl cottons.  The surface parts are all worked in #5 pearl cotton.

And Faith, hardanger is really very simple, it just looks complex.  When I first saw it, the catalogue said 'only you will know how simple it is' and it's true.  You just need a good, step-by-step set of instructions.

Yes, I should be doing the C&G locally in Sheffield (as long as it goes ahead OK - nothing 100% yet) and, yes, of course I will keep you all posted on what we do!  Would I keep that from you??

I've set some more e-bay auctions going.  There are some cross stitch, hardanger and other counted thread designs going as well as the design, instructions and most of the threads for the goldwork string instrument.  There are also one or two dress patterns, watercolour paints and other bits and bobs.  All should have international visibility.

The last thing is just a small reminder as, following my stumpwork ladybird tutorial, I came across one or two referring sites using my photos:
Please note that ALL photos (and text) here are copyright and may not be used without permission on any other site, including pinboard services.  Prenez note s'il vous plaît, que toutes les photos (et texte) ici sont protégées par copyright et ne peuvent être utilisés sans autorisation sur n'importe quel autre site, y compris les services Pinterest etc.  If you want to use something of mine, you only have to ask and I will very likely give permission (except for pinboard services, pinning to Pinterest already being disallowed as copyright cannot be controlled on those sites).  You can ask in any language - je comprends français - and I will get to you just as soon as I can.  Make sure you include contact details.  More information is available on the Copyright page.  Thanks! Merci!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Almost finished up now...

I can't believe it's almost two weeks since the last post.  Tempus fugit, no?  (That's 'time flies' for anyone with even less Latin than me!!)  Anyway, although I decided to give myself a bit more time to complete the hardanger cushion cover, it's not got stalled over much and is still coming along well.

First of all, I completed the embroidery by adding in some filling stitches.  Here you can see square filet in most of the filled squares and some spider's webs in the others.  I used #8 pearl cotton for the square filet and #12 for the webs as planned and it looks fine.

Next, all the materials for the backing and finishing came out.  I had most of them in stock already, and had only bought the ribbon trim from an 'end of roll' 50p bargain bucket!  The yellow fabric is too thin to make a backing on its own, so I added in some old, cream cotton stuff as an extra layer there.

And then I laid them together to see how they looked

Finally, I got the machine out (yes, really!), and got on with the assembly.  Here you can see it as it stands just now, only needing the zip inserting.  I would have done this last week as planned, but the 12" (30cm) zip I had in stock was really too long and too awkward to fit in, so I went and bought a 10" (25cm) one yesterday.

Kate asked my how I kept my working fabric straight and taut whilst embroidering.  Well, I use R&R craft frames, sometimes also Q Snaps and, of course, old fashioned wooden hoops at times.  For this project I used the 14" R&R frame.  These are a British made tool and come in 6", 9", 11", 14" and 17", whereas the US made Q-snaps are on sale in 8", 11" and 17" (I think - don't own this last size).  All except the 6" R&R frame come to pieces and can be used to make up rectangles as well as squares.  The two types of product are incompatible though, so, whereas I could create the 11"x17" frame I'm using for my current sampler work from my R&R frames, and have done 8"x11" with my Q-snaps, I can't do a 8"x14" using one of each.  They're usually used for counted thread work, but I've often used them for surface work as well as I find they do hold fabric tight enough for that and sometimes the sizes are just far more convenient than a circle.  Hope that helps.

Good news:  Subject to a final financial 'review' in about 6 weeks, I should be joining back in with a City & Guilds Embroidery class from mid-September!=)  I'll be 'dropping back' to level 2 this time as it's less work and I want to do the Stumpwork syllabus alongside (the teacher has agreed to 'tick the boxes' for me).  Also, it gives me a chance to learn a few new things more slowly and, as it's only a one-year course, if I've had enough by the end of that, I can leave with a full certificate.  So, I'm looking forward to that very much!  I liked the whole style of my old place better, but after a really good chat with the local teacher at her students' exhibition yesterday, I think I can work quite happily in this arrangement.  Nothing's ideal anyway and I had trouble seeing how the old classes satisfied some elements of the syllabus too.  Whilst most of the pieces looked more contemporary than suits my taste at this new place, the teacher said we have freedom to be ourselves, so I hope to be more 'pictorial' in my samples and pieces than most are.  We'll have to see how it develops.

Non-stitching news is that I've also been invited to help out with a new textbook on English-Chinese translation for final year degree students.  I'll be proof-reading the English - which means more than just checking grammar, it's also checking 100% correspondence with the Chinese text and also making comments on the actual content.  I'm really excited about this one.  I'll have my name in a language textbook in the acknowledgements section - yippee!!=)  To be honest, I'd rather do this than make kits....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Nearly Complete!

The 'Ring of Roses' is almost complete now, as far as the actual embroidery is concerned.  In this series of pictures you can see how much of the wrapping of exposed threads I got done per day of work on the project.  Some days I got a lot done, some very little and some none at all!

This is where it is at the moment and is now just waiting for the filling stitches to be inserted.  After that, it's on to the finishing up part.  As I want to have it ready for handover within the week, I need to get going on it as soon as I can.

Ideally I'll like to have this piece completed and ready to hand over at the same time, but I don't really expect it.  I did manage to get the second rose finished.  The problem seems to be, not the wrapping direction (I tried the other way and it looked terrible!), but that the threads don't like being worked for very long compared to cotton based ones.  So, I cut some of the length off and restarted with a better bit and it worked out OK.

I also saw someone else's version of the same kit and was interested to see how 'narrow' her roses had come out compared to the kit photo.  I feel that mine are rather fatter, although I seem to be using the same amount of bullions per rose.  I don't know how the model stitcher managed it, but I won't be able to get the same number of blooms in the space as they have.

I'm horribly behind with TAST and have hardly touched it for weeks on end!  Maybe I'll catch up one day...

Here's something exciting though:

Earlier in the year I added my name to the mailing list for the crafts trade show with a view to getting some kits going at some point.  Well, I'm still working on the idea, but it was really fun to see the first piece of mail (next year's show details) come through addressed to me at The Business!!!  First of many, or less than even a flash in the pan?  Time will tell....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

‘Ring of Roses' coming along beautifully

Well, the idea was to put in a bullion rose on the Brazilian piece each stitching session, but I'm afraid it got forgotten whilst I've been making such good progress on the Ring of Roses design!!

As you can see, I didn't get very far the first session, (but I also didn't spend very long on it), so this is where I left it on Wednesday night.

However, I've made up for that since, helped greatly by enjoying a drama series at the same time (a relevant one, of course - I was watching 'The House of Elliot' with all it's lush 1920's designs, beaded embroidery trims and passion for textiles!!).  I can't just sit watching telly with nothing to do - it seems such a dreadful waste of time to me, so I get on with some routine sort of stitching and so I left the piece at the point seen in the photo below when I left it on Thursday.

Last night, I finished off the surface work and even got the drawn threads cut and removed as well.

All that remains now is to wrap the exposed threads and then insert some filling stitches.  I think I'll be using square filet filling on many of the 'holes', but I also want to include a few strategically placed spider's webs for variety and just 'cos they look nice.  As they look better in #12 pearl cotton and now that there is one in shade 002 (antique white, which I often prefer to 001, bright white), I'll give that a trial and see how it looks.

Now I really must do some bullion roses though and I'll try wrapping the thread around the needle in the opposite direction, but the instructions say to wrap clockwise and, as it's an Edmar kit using their own threads, you would think they would know what they were talking about.  However, it's worth a try, isn't it?  I'd like both of these projects to be ready to hand over in two weeks time.  The scatter cushion cover isn't far off complete and I've got the backing fabric, zip and some nice thick ribbon to use as a piping as well.  The other piece isn't very big in total and I can present it in one of those oval shaped snap frames I was given a few years ago.

After a bit of a dry patch recently, I'm really enjoying my needlework again, so that's great!  It's also a good thing to bear in mind - don't force yourself, (unless you have to for a deadline or something) to stitch if you're not feeling interested in it at the moment.  Do something else for a while and the interest will probably return of its own accord later on.  You also don't need to explain or apologise or make excuses for it, just go with it.=)

Oh yes, something I'd like to ask you regular readers for your opinion on.  Rachel came up with, what I think is a great idea the other day.  She suggested that, for as many of the gallery photos as possible, it would be good to provide links to any relevant tutorials and WIP posts and photos.  What do you think about this?  I've already added links to the tutes on the stumpwork and ribbon work pages and to the only project that really had its own label.  I'm thinking of creating a special label that won't appear in the usual sidebar cloud, but will be used to create a link to a whole WIP series for each piece.  I'm already starting with this piece.  What do you think?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

Roses, roses

Glad to see so many enjoyed the tutorial last week and welcome to 15 new subscribers, many of whom are Portuguese speaking - bemvenidos.=)

Today I have updates on the Ring of Roses hardanger design and, coincidentally with so many new Brazilian readers, my first go at a rolled rose in Brazilian threads etc.

First the scatter cushion cover after the third and then the fourth day's stitching.

It's coming along very well and I'm pleased with it, although I had to re-do some of the leaves as I'd got them way out.  I decided that one space out in one direction was OK for the coloured motifs as they won't have threads cut, but one set of leaves was three out in both directions!  One of the roses is slightly out too, but it doesn't show and so I decided to leave it as it is.  I haven't been able to stitch on it since about Saturday as I was working away the other day and only took a small piece with me, so I hope to get chance to do some of the stems today.

Here is said small piece, I finally managed to get some bullions in the Brazilian Rolled Rose piece, which I'd like to get completely finished in the next 2 weeks or so.

This is worked with Edmar rayon thread and it's very tricky.  The texture and how slippy it is I can cope with  OK, but the fact that it twists against itself so much whilst you're doing the wraps for the bullion knots is really hard to deal with.  You get one or two knots worked, and then the thread just goes mad and a knot completely fails.  Also, the rose seems to me to be a good deal bigger than it appears on the kit photo.  I'm wondering if I'm going to manage to get it all as tightly packed together as the style demands.

Anyway, the plan is to try and work a flower or so each day before getting on with the hardanger and see it slowly grow.  I can deal with a few stops and starts each time without getting too upset with it, but more than that would drive me mad.  Not sure I'll be keeping and working the larger Brazilian kit I own....

Oh gosh, yes, and it's blogoversary today, which means I'll be making some changes to the appearance of things.  Last week I expanded the Pages and filled in the missing captions, so there's more to see there now. I split up the 'Counted Thread' page into 'Counted and Drawn Thread', 'Hardanger' and 'Cross Stitch Favourites'.  Later on today I'll be changing a couple of colours and re-doing the header photos, so stay tuned for some small updates.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012