Leaves to Love: Part 2

Hi. I’m Barbara Lee. Ann asked me to write up some notes for the next set of my leaves that she has posted. As a realist painter, I have wondered just how to render realistic images in thread using something other than long and short stitch. As I learned the different stitches and how they could be used, I was thrilled to discover I had lots of stitching options to choose from.

Black Willow uses a variety of chain stitches as well as sorbello. I used perle cotton on hand painted fabric. I drew the leaves on the fabric before stitching. However, due to the open nature of zigzag and feather chain, the penciled center vein shows on these leaves. Word to the wise: be careful where you put your lines on your fabric!

Sugar Maple combines fabric and stitch. The leaf itself was cut from hand painted fabric, ironed on with a 2-sided interfacing, and outlined with a running stitch. The wing portion of the maple seed is buttonhole stitch; the seed portion itself is padded satin stitch; and the two sides of the seed are joined with split stitch. Split stitch is also used in the branches and border.

Leaf Collection is made up of a variety of different leaves stitched in various leaf and trellis stitches on hand painted fabric. Stitches include: laid work, fern stitch, fishbone, Roumanian couching, stem stitch, and trellis. The Battlement couching (the multi-coloured trellis leaf) was a lot of fun.

And, last but not least, my just completed piece, Chain Oak. I had a lot of fun with this piece. It’s plain chain stitch but I used a variety of different threads: DMC floss and perle cotton, crochet cotton, Persian yarn, Merino wool, and other wools in both solid and variegated colours. The different weights of the threads made for a very textural piece.

I had a lot of fun with this class. And I have many, many more leaves (and flowers and fish and…) that I would like to stitch using the different techniques I learned this past winter.

Thanks for a wonderful class, Ann!

Leaves to Love: Part 1

Barbara Lee Johnson was a participant in the Creative Use of Stitches class in Guelph, Canada. She chose to use the stitches to portray many different kinds of leaves. Mostly, she stitched green on green. We all know how difficult it is to stitch the same colour fabric and thread. They can result in a camouflage effect but not here. She has already completed eight different samples and has plans for many more. She is as yet undecided on how to present them as a congruent whole. Barbara Lee has a background in art and art history. She does a lot of beading and I was surprised that she did not included beading in this project.

This first one is of Walnut Leaves using Running Stitch and variations with French Knots. The fabric is Quilting Cotton hand painted with Colour Vie pigments. The threads are DMC Floss and Perle Cotton.

The background of this piece is 11 Count Aida Cloth with Running Stitch using variagated Merino Wool leaving the sturdy Oak Leaves as open and negative spaces. The outlines of the leaves are done with Whipped Running Stitch.

Weeping Willow Leaves are portrayed with variations of Stem Stitch and Cross Stitch on painted fabric. The downward flow of a willow branch is most effectively displayed here. These samplers are as yet unpressed and unmounted and this accounts for the wrinkling in the background.

The Maple Leaf is stitched with Buttonhole edging while the body of the leaf is Cretan Stitch. This picture is a photo rather than a scan which is why it has not reproduced so well.

Creative Use of Stitches: Part 4, completed

Here is the completed sampler. It is stretched onto a wooden frame and backed with white felt. A pocket for provenance papers is stitched onto the backing. The completed sampler is large, 31" x 19 ", and that is big. Although I do not think it is beautiful, it does what was intended; it is a sampler of the basic stitches of embroidery and their variations. I will put it away for six months and my eyes will then see it fresh and objectivity becomes possible.
The background details were fun to conceive and stitch. They were essential to bring cohesion to these wildly different siblings.

Here is a Whipped Spider Wheel. The spokes were lengthened with Straight Stitches which also held the cording in place. Then add some beads.

Cabled Stem Stitch: I like it better than Cable Chain.

A Lovers' Knot!

Single Coral Stitch and Chain Stitch, both with two threads in the needle. Coral Stitch is used to couch a circle of sampler fabric and then add some really large French Knots. That used up all of that wool or else I would have used it again elsewhere. It is also included in the Running Stitch sample.

Whenever we are being creative, our imagination and ability take a step forward on the road to creativity. It is a road without end but, for all of us, it does have a sharply defined beginning. For a student working on a project such as this, all will create differently even though the stitches are the same. Their experience comes together with their taste, colour choice and available materials. The world of textile creation is a wonderful one with unending space for creation and with room for everyone no matter where they are on their journey. The next time I teach this project, it is inevitable that all the students, myself included, will produce a totally different creation than anything produced now.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting this project. Next, I will post samplers from my students.

And that, said Pooh, is that.

Creative Use of Stitches: Part 3

After Cross Stitch we moved on to Chain Stitch, another rigid example. I find that stitchers do not like stitching Squared Chain Stitch finding it difficult to manage the sequencing. I was determined to include it so they would have an example of it in their sample books.

The next two small samples are of Trellis Work. A favourite in Jacobean stitching, it is fun to stitch and dramatic in its impact. I had designed and drafted the first one but had never tried it out in thread. It was a nuisance but interesting to stitch. The density of the darker threads made it look heavy but the scattering of beads lightened it up. I will certainly use this variation again.

The second Trellis Work was also an experiment. I added a thread of glitter to the framework lines and purposely used Detached Chain Stitch as I had not used it elsewhere. Notice that the diamonds and Chain Stitches become smaller towards the outside of the circle.

All the stitchers had a work book. I asked them to bring a print of each of their samples for everyone in the class. On the reverse side of the print the relevant information was printed including the featured stitch, fabric, threads and the stitcher's name and contact information. The simplest way to produce prints is to place the sampler face down on a scanner as you would to copy text. Place a medium heavy book on the wrong side of the fabric. Having obtained one satisfactory image, use it to print as many copies as you wish. In this way, all participants have a rich variety of ideas in their workbooks.

The final blog on this project will be about the stitches that connect and integrate these samplers.

Creative Use of Stitches: Part 2

This lesson featured Cretan Stitch and Buttonhole Stitch. For me, these two stitches did not blend well together and, next time, I will combine Cretan with the other leaf stitches.

Cretan is one of my all time favourite stitches. It can be so fluid and adaptable. Try listening to or singing the waltz 'Die Fledermaus' by Strauss to get the flowing and moving inspiration started. I have renamed this way of stitching it, the Cretan Waltz. The pink and mauve areas are silk rovings needle felted in position while the more solid mauve/purple areas are dyed dryer sheet. The bits of gold and copper are chocolate wrap.

Buttonhole Stitch is much more rigid. It can flow and move though I have not done that on this sampler. It does adapt well for couching. The coiled metallic cord is held in place with straight stitches.

The third sampler in this edition is Cross Stitch with added beads. I used beads in small amounts here and there to add interest and some sparkle. The light mauve velvet background absorbed colour and did not give contrasts in texture or colour their due respect.

The next entry will feature Chain Stitch and Trellis Work.

Creative Use of Stitches: Part 1

I have just finished teaching a class on the Creative Use of Stitches and I promised to share the results with you. The students are all good and enthusiastic textile artists using mostly machine stitching. They wished to know basic hand embroidery stitches and their variations. They did wonderfully well and produced a wide diversity of creative results. I will be featuring their work, with their permission, but will share my own first.

Six classes each featured one or more stitches. I chose to use them for individual samples which meant that, at the conclusion, I had eight samples of totally different size and expression though the colour range was congruent. What to do with them? Some light mauve velvet seemed to be a unifying possibility.

This is the trial layout. Completed size is 31" x 19". And that is large! I had to mount it on my standing frame for assembly and stitching the final stages.

Our first lesson was Running Stitch and its many variations (bottom left). I included French Knots to give the students a nonlinear stitch to include. The Laid Work was added later and is shaded. The fabric for the samplers is dressmakers weight linen backed with an open weave fabric of undetermined fibre.

Threads are mostly DMC Perle 5, DMC Floss and various oddments of thread and wool. Better fabrics such as linen are not easily available in this area and backing fabric such as factory cotton has suddenly become scarce. DMC Floss is available as well as a limited range of DMC Perle. I had to supplement the colour range by ordering from the USA. Rejoice, all you fortunate stitchers who are able to access other and more interesting threads.

Next was Stem Stitch and its variations. There are fewer variations though this stitch does create beautiful curves and adapts well for closely packed areas. We included Sorbello Stitch which is great for adding texture and interest. The bright turquoise metallic cord is a crafting item useful in this piece because of its colour and its brightness. Couching was one of the included stitches. Much of the time, I pierced the cord with a fine needle and stitched with a cotton dressmaking thread that matched the background. It adapted nicely to curves and loops. In some places, I did more interesting stitches which you will see in following blogs.

The next few blogs will continue the analysis of this project and will feature work done my students.

An Antique Standing Frame and Protecting Your Embroidery

In the 1940s, I inherited an antique embroidery frame. Probably made in the late 1700s, the roller bars are 36" long and the vertical posts are 32" high. The frame will pivot on the hinge at the top of the vertical posts allowing the frame to be tilted to a comfortable angle for stitching. The fabric to be embroidered is stitched to the edge of the tape on the roller bars and then lashed to the side bars with string in the same manner as setting up a slate frame. Although I have not used it very much, it has been used extensively in the past. This is evident as this is the third tape replacement. It was used to stitch English Country Garden and, currently, to assemble Creative use of Stitches.

When embroidering on fabric mounted on a standing frame, a slate frame on trestles or using a stretcher bar frame supported by the edge of table, the following procedure is recommended to keep your embroidery both clean and undamaged during stitching. This is how the professionals do it.

First, place clean white cotton fabric on the surface of your fabric for embroidery and roll both of them together around the roller bars. If your piece of embroidery is too wide for you to be able to reach the centre comfortably while stitching, this is how it is narrowed enough for it to be functional. You will have deduced that an unstitched section is rolled onto the rollers initially and that later, the completed part is rolled onto the other roller exposing the unstitched section. The completed portion in particular needs this protection.

While actually stitching on embroidery mounted on a standing frame, a slate frame or a stretcher bar frame, I always protect both fabric and completed stitching in the following manner. Place one or more pieces of clean white or pastel coloured cotton or pillow cases over the fabric on the frame. 

And here are the reasons:

Protection from you
1) Protects your completed area of your embroidery
2) Prevents any wear from your arm resting on the embroidery
3) Prevents thread snags from buttons, a watch strap, rings or bracelets
4) Prevents any grease or oil from your skin getting onto the embroidery

Convenience for you
5) Provides a convenient place upon which to keep threads and stitching equipment
6) Helps to locate needed items which tend to get lost on the stitched surface
7) Ability to lift the cover with threads and tools off easily thus keeping them together
8) Covers completed work allowing you to focus on the section you are working on
9) The cotton surface feels cool and comfortable under your forearm

Protection from others
10) Keeps pets off your work
11) Prevents others from touching unless you are there showing it to them

When not stitching
12) Cover the whole setup with a large piece of clean cloth or a towel
13) When you return, nothing will have been disturbed
14) If you are away from your work for a period of time, it is a dust excluder
15) Habit

The frame is light and I can hook my foot under the base bar and move it right or left thus repositioning the stitching for easy access.  Or, when necessary, I can sit at the end of the frame.  I use a height adjustable office chair with good back support.

There is a delay in researching and writing about the student experience at RSN. RSN is trying to find for me some specific 1951 press photos and this may take some time. The story will continue as soon as possible.