Karen Ruane

a few French knots on paper

Design sheets have been the focus of my attention this morning. There are several of these still to finish, to extend before they can be mounted and added to my ''inspiration'' stash for when I need a prompt, a spark, a suggestion of an idea with which to work on fabric. 

I chose paper today after working mostly with cloth over the past couple of weeks. It's good to remind myself of the possibilities offered by paper for expressing an idea for embroidery and building the resource which accumulates as a result of this ''playing''.

the drawstring pouch

I did it!! The drawstring pouch is finished, hand finished, hours and hours of hand stitch to create the drawstring and attach the upper binding along with the hours of pleasure when embroidering the surface and adding pretty embroidery to the lining. I feel such an sense of accomplishment.

It is now  in the shop. It was always going to go in the shop. I wavered last night with thoughts of keeping it for myself but really....how many bags does one girl need? Too many and some remain unappreciated so the shop it is. (but if there are no takers it won't be a hardship to keep it lol)

More images now

I also took some photographs whilst I was working on piecing it all together yesterday evening....

I hope you like it. The angst was definitely worth it for me.

 

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and so it begins

I did it. I took a deep breath and started to put the hexagon pouch together. The outer surface and the lining have been cut out, the cord for the drawstring has been measured and cut then finished with hand stitch, running stitch to be precise and the channel for the top, to run the cord through is ready to be pinned into place. Phew. So far so good....no fatal errors. This may not be the way you would put one of these together but if it gets me to my end goal I will be happy however it happens.

There is a still a fair way to go. There's lots of tacking to be done, a label to fit in somewhere and it will all be finished with hand stitch before I remove the tacking.  Pins...mustn't forget to pin the edges of the lining before tacking too.

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Last time you saw this I was actually stitching on it, there was a short video. Do you remember? If you missed it it's here. I worked on it a little more last night, embroidering more bullion loops and dropping more sequins than I managed to stitch but it's progress, slow progress but progress all the same. THis piece will also be a drawstring pouch. Yes, I am starting another drawstring pouch whilst as I mentioned yesterday I am anxious and stressed about putting the last one together. What can I say....I'm a glutton for punishment. 

If I make enough of them I may get used to the final construction process which eventually should get easier right? That's the theory I'm working on anyway and besides that, I love them, I want to make them and finish them and titivate them and gaze at them for hours on end.

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