And then there were three....three little ''kind of faces'' on one piece of silk, one half of a pocket. This particular piece is finished now, no further embroidery needed here. The paper piece? Well, I got to thinking how could I extend both these pieces (individually) (If had time, which I don't) I can however still think....and? Well...what if I put some of the ''kind of faces'' in amongst some of the surfaces on the paper piece? Mixed them up? Took a little bit of one and added it to the other? See where thinking gets you? It gets you something else you want to do but just don't have time for.
( I know I'm late for school today....stand by your computers...I am just waiting for the videos to upload)
I had an idea to look back at 2016, look back at my blog posts, my images. Wow.....I'm a bit of an addict aren't I? This is a a small selection just from January....there were hundreds of images to choose from....you've had a lucky escape!
France was on my mind here, my teaching opportunity in Nantes. You can read about that here, there are a few posts about the prep, the products and the afterwards images.
I can actually remember every stitch from January, every piece of cloth, every hour spent on the sewing machine creating lace cloth for pillows, for workshop packs. It was a joy......January and the Nantes experience. (there will be more about Nantes I am sure if I ever get to April...the actually month it was held)
Don't worry, you aren't going to get 12 of these posts in a row but I will be doing February some time soon.
My happy little friend from here now has a friend of his own. I now have two....I need five....I'm on it. They're not ''peas in a pod'', they're not meant to be. I don't think there will be any more with noses but I do think they will all have the new, fashionable hairstyle otherwise known as the ''curly gimp, French knot and bullion coiffure''.
I'm still playing ''embroidery catch up'' but I have a hankering for paper, ledgers, colour, play. I'm wondering where I can fit that in today. Maybe I won't, maybe it will have to be tomorrow.....I am determined though.
At this time of year people usually look back over the last 12 months....I was going to do that but I got sidetracked, distracted by this piece. I see this every day when I make the bed. It lives there when I'm not sleeping. (I take it off at night) What surprised me was that it's 2 years almost since I made this? Really? Here is the post as it was written then...enjoy.
It started with a box of old hankies.
What do you do when you are given a box filled with old hankies, mostly men's hankies, checks, stripes, spots? You use nine of them to make a hankie cloth and some of the others to make pockets and buttons for extra surface titivation, at least that's what I did. You add a little femininity to the obviously masculine cloth by means of embroidery, knots, applique, snippets of lace, brightly coloured bullion loops, wrapped threads.........
In truth the images don't do it justice. It needs to be held, examined closely. You need to be able to feel the weight of it, appreciate the surface texture, appreciate the areas where the buttons make it heavier and get a sense of how the pockets lift to reveal the embroidered and embellished reverse which each of them has resulting in backs which are equally as lovely as the front.
I feel very lucky in that I will be able to do that every day.
The last time I touched cloth properly, spent a long time sewing......my class last week before I went away. It's not a complaint, ( I had a great break and can highly recommend Berlin) no....it's more an acknowledgement of how much I miss all this when I'm not here and how desperate I am to get back to it again.
Tonight will be my first chance to sew again.....I'm going to create another ''kind of'' face to live with this one. Although this one has it's charm he reminds me too much of Rudolph and that's not a good thing. (shhh....don't tell him. I still love him)
The shop is open again if you want to register for ''embroidery school''which begins after Christmas.
A selection of hand embroidered adornments that I will use to titivate my happy cloth when it is backed. There are a few new pieces here, the puffs, the wrapped buttons and the toggle you have seen before.
Later this afternoon I am going away for a few days.....I shall miss my happy cloth. I shall miss playing with these fiddly little things. Maybe when I am away I will find new and exciting things to play with when I get back.
This place will be quiet until next Wednesday. The shop will open again next Tuesday.
The reverse of my happy cloth, very much still in progress. I promised to show you this, I have promised several times and here it is. My happy cloth will have an embroidered and titivated reverse. There will be A B C and little bumpy bits surrounded by bullion knots. The contrast between the front and back is striking I think and my hope is it will be even more evident when the cloth is finished.
A reversible wrapping cloth, embroidery to the nth degree, silk and titivation's.
(My new class for 2017 is now listed. You can read more here. My shop will be closed for five days from tomorrow morning however, opening again next Tuesday)
Scraps of paper, embroidered fragments, a few buttons, considering what goes where, which pieces compliment, which surfaces enhance ...paper, cloth, embroidery. If you think back to my mini design sheets and this post too...there is a connection and let's not forget the blue and white from earlier this week too.
I am surrounded by inspiration, by starting points, by prompts and nudges to future works. I am fortunate to have all these pieces in my possession. I can take them out and look at them, touch them, move things around, lay one beside another and then add something else.
Materials required.... List sent upon registration.
Embroidery school stitch along.... an online learning programme, hand stitch at it's purest.
Be a fly on my wall for 12 weeks. Observe my creative process, learn from my successes and my mistakes as I sample, as I construct embroidered surfaces from patches of cloth, snippets of hankies and decorative trims along with other found cloth both new and vintage. Witness the development of paper based works for use in design sheets and ledgers, in sketchbooks. Create what I create or embroider your own pieces whilst observing and learning from my creativity.
This online creative experience will take the form of a very relaxed and gentle gathering of cloth and embroiderers, those who have an affinity with handling cloth, working with cloth. We will gather together and embroider, I will discuss my plans, my inspiration, the preparation and creation of embroidered cloth. I will demonstrate technique and process throughout. I can guarantee that there will be embroidery, embellishment and the manipulation of cloth. I will share thoughts along with the more tangible sources which drive me.
Through membership of our private Flickr forum join a very supportive and close knit group of stitchers who are there to encourage and advise, to share resources, process and friendship.
***No prerequisites, suitable for beginners and the more experienced.***
You do not need to have participated in any of my previous online learning programmes to take part in ''Embroidery School, stitch along''.
A new class for the New Year. What will we be doing? Everything....buttons, beads, embroidery, artwork, pages, paper stitching, lace fiddling........you name it, we will be doing it.
Materials required.... List sent upon registration.
Embroidery school stitch along.... an online learning programme, hand stitch at it's purest.
Be a fly on my wall for 12 weeks. Observe my creative process, learn from my successes and my mistakes as I sample, as I construct embroidered surfaces from patches of cloth, snippets of hankies and decorative trims along with other found cloth both new and vintage. Witness the development of paper based works for use in design sheets and ledgers, in sketchbooks. Create what I create or embroider your own pieces whilst observing and learning from my creativity.
This online creative experience will take the form of a very relaxed and gentle gathering of cloth and embroiderers, those who have an affinity with handling cloth, working with cloth. We will gather together and embroider, I will discuss my plans, my inspiration, the preparation and creation of embroidered cloth. I will demonstrate technique and process throughout. I can guarantee that there will be embroidery, embellishment and the manipulation of cloth. I will share thoughts along with the more tangible sources which drive me.
Through membership of our private Flickr forum join a very supportive and close knit group of stitchers who are there to encourage and advise, to share resources, process and friendship.
***No prerequisites, suitable for beginners and the more experienced.***
You do not need to have participated in any of my previous online learning programmes to take part in ''Embroidery School, stitch along''.
This is the last piece I worked on in the re run of ''an embroiderers ledger''. It's not finished, the overlay, the piece with the greyish cloth and partial embroidery. It lives with this spread in my ledger. The colours don't match but that's ok, it was deliberate as I was desperate to use a small scrap of some new Liberty cloth I have bought. Despite the fact it doesn't ''match'' it works...I think it works, it looks like it belongs.
Ninety percent of my time is being spent on my ''happy cloth'',embroidering seams, embroidering buttons and creating pocket after pocket but every so often I can move back to this ledger and add a littler more. That sounds like a good balance to me.
