Up to now I have been placing lace or vintage trim in the seams of my veil piece as I join newly hand embroidered sections. In this image, where three pieces meet I have added beading instead. I had a need for the repetitive. I'm so glad I did.
(Alchemy girls, your first critique videos are now live on the class blog)
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I had a little trip down memory lane this morning, a little break from Alchmey things, a little 'keep in touch with lace cloth' five minutes.
This four minute video popped up from 2017, memories of Spain, (I had just come back from holiday), memories of this piece which I now must find to see how it turned out.....yes really, I can't remember.
These images show some of the stages I go through when creating my lace 'veil' like pieces.
First of all I create the lace cloth, in this instance with snippets of silk velvet too.
Those little silk velevt 'islands' are then edged with buttonhole lace before sequins are added.
I will occasionally cut holes in the lace cloth too and edge those with buttonhole lace. That results in an even lighter piece of cloth.
Once I have several pieces embellished I then join them. Sometimes I place lace in the seams or a vintage trim, sometimes self made cords.
As you have probably noticed I'm also partial to stitching shiny things into notebooks too!
I swear I'm building a library here. That's OK, I love a library.
My son asked me yesterday, 'mum, how many of those books you sew have you got'?
Not enough was my reply.
When you last saw this piece here it was 'raw', unstitched, unadorned. It's now ready to be added to a page in my little notebook. After that I will finish the page wrap which is partially stitched and add that too.
I think that makes four notebooks in progress at the moment in terms of adornment, four notebooks already crammed with stitch which will have more embroidery added over the coming weeks.
If you are registered for 'artist book explorations' you should have received sign in details, passwords etc earlier today for our private class blog. Invitations to our private Flickr group have also been issued. If you haven't received any of these can you please let me know.
This little book is getting so full, so full it's hard to work on the pages now. Impossible is what will stop me though and for now we're not there. The little green 'donut' like bead which I added yesterday has been living here for a few years. I have several of those just waiting for their perfect place. They are supposed to slot onto a tubuar bracelet, jewellery, build your own collection of these kind of things to adorn your wrist in the manner of a charm bracelet. I prefer to adorn a page.
Embroidery school is two weeks 0ld now. Up to now we have made buttons, these buttons and these buttons.......it's not too late to join in. You can read more here.
A glimpse inside this book
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These pieces aren't new but it feels to me as if they are as they are seeing the light of day for the first time since I moved house. These and several other pieces have been at my mums for safe keeping during the move, the rewire, the knocking down of walls, the dirt and dust. I retrieved them yesterday. (I think mum got used to having them around but sadly for her I claimed them back)
If you look at the piece in the fourth image, the piece with blue and white beads and lace cloth, there is stitched paper in that one. (it is visible in the other images too but perhaps not as clearly) It's also not finished. At the moment it consists of three squares of embroidery on vintage hankies, lace and paper. It needs one more square.
The other piece is finished, it's a little coverlet, throw, whatever you want to call it. The reverse of that one is also embroidered, you can see the strips from that reverse in the first image.
I am going to enjoy having these around again, close by.
The cloth I pieced in this video is now partially embellished. There will be more beads, more toggles and there are still a few seams which require a little attention. This one here will be joined to this in order to progress the wrap for my artist book.
I suspect the joining of these two pieces will happen before either of them is finished in terms of surface embroidery. It won't matter, it's possible to join them and continue with embellishemnt on each of them. It's just I get impatient to see how they will look together and I get excited about the seam where they meet, how I might adorn that area.
Yesterday I spoke about adding applique to this piece.....I changed my mind, a woman's prerogative. Cutwork won over applique, cutwork with inserts of silk and trim and little clusters of French knots and beads.
I hope I don't shock you now but I'm bored....bored with this. I like it, I will finish it but for some reason I need a new challenge today. I haven't a clue what, I'm completely blank on that but I will pull some stuff out and play around for a while and see if that sparks something.
Next week I am going on holiday. I'm going here and here. You may remember I taught at the Nantes show two years ago. This time I'm going as a visitor, I can browse, I can shop, I can wander round aimlessly, I can be a tourist, I can be a fabric and thread addict, I can be inspired and in awe.....
The shop will close on Monday so if you wish to sign up for the new class or the 12 month 'artist book blog' bear that in mind.
Wish me luck with my afternoon of play, of searching for inspiration.
Adornments part one and two can be seen here and here....this is part three and why I chose to use all white is a very good question as these were sooooo difficult to photograph on this gloomy day in Lancashire.
You can see two stages of creating these little embroidered beads here. The first three images are of before...'pre stuffing'. The last two images are 'post stuffing'. I will use these as a finishing touch on something as yet unknown, for an edge or a seam.
It's been hectic here today. I have taken tons of photos of a finished cloth book, of machine made cloth for embroidery, paper pieces, hexagons. I'm juggling. I have made a final video for 'embroidery school', (miss you already) they will get that video some time today hopefully. I have made a video for 'artist book class', they will also hopefully get that later today and I have had a flurry of late sign ups for my new class which starts tomorrow. (thank you..insert heart emoji)
Next on my list is 'clean the bathroom'.....no needles and thread required.
And if you are one of the only two people who haven't yet listened...below is a podcast recorded for ''stitchery stories'' where I chat about my creative life.
