Karen Ruane

titivation selection

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.

Miss you already.

 

the reverse of my happy cloth

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)

Related articles

Embroidery School....stitch along - Karen Ruane

Embroidered pockets, human cloth. (doodle, embellish, wrap)

blue and white, paper and cloth

seams and bullion knots

My embroidery time, my sewing hours, my focus......this cloth. I started to count how many bullion knots were on here and gave up. I didn't give up in desperation, I just thought there will be more bullion loops added to this before you know it so that little task would be best left until this cloth is completely finished.

Today? A video for you, a brief show and tell and a little bit of embroidery.....

 

Related articles

the beginning

folds, points, stitch, - Karen Ruane

a new pocket taking shape

surface pockets

It's like a pocket factory here. Well who doesn't love a pocket? This is the surface of my ''happy cloth'' which I should maybe rename my ''pocket cloth''. The first image is the newest pocket, edged with prairie points. I thought you might want to see the other pockets on this surface....there's quite a few. Little hand made ''gimp'' puffs have been placed into each of them. 

There are several more little pockets not shown here which are similar in shape and size to the one in the last image. This cloth is growing rapidly now. When it is backed and final titivation's have been added more pockets may well appear........actually......more pockets will definitely appear.

I made a mosiac.....just because....

Related articles

lace and mirrors...

knots, cloth and drawing.....pages

scraps of white, stitch and toggles

This little page was put together over in class, in the ''sample portfolio'' segment of our stitching marathon. Every so often we work a little on paper, a distraction, a change of method, a change of surface. 

This one has the tiniest amount of cloth, a very small off cut from some lace cloth. The rest is comprised of torn and stitched papers, a few French knots, a few green glass beads and a little pin pricking. The little toggles were fiddly and then some but very much worth the effort. They have dangly bits, dangly beads......just because I could.

Related articles

lace cloth and glass beads....

French knots and a little bit of gimp

gimp and lace

a surface pocket for the happy cloth

My ''happy cloth'' from class now has a surface pocket which is embroidered and titivated and which is also crammed with Suffolk puffs.....Suffolk puffs which are securely attached to the lining. I am at the stage now with this where it's all coming together, almost finished in terms of embellishment for the surface. At the moment there are a few panels which need to be attached to the main piece. The loose panels are mostly held together with tacking/basting...waiting for me to join them to the main piece with fancy seams, bullion loops and little tiny stab stitches. 

Over the next couple of days I am hoping to make progress with those seams, that joining process. All that will remain after that will be the finishing of embellishment on the backing cloth, the damp stretching of the backing cloth and sharing the backing cloth with you for the first time.

Related articles

an edge of embroidered Suffolk puffs

Thirteen

work on a pocket and complimentary buttons

You last saw this pocket here, minimally embellished with embroidery although the Prairie points were in situ and it was waiting to be embellished, adorned. Since then a large, pleated applique motif has been added as has a smaller applique pocket, a tiny little circular  shape with a double layer of patterned cloth.

The buttons are new, created in class this week. These will most likely live on the reverse of my ''happy cloth'', added as a final titivation when the embroidery, edges, joining, finishing is complete. You haven't seen the back of my cloth yet have you? I have only completed a minimal amount of that up to now and I need to damp stretch it so it may take a few days but I will show you soon, promise.

Related articles

Tiny pockets, adding cloth, extending a surface.

continuing....

soft,

pockets and toggles

I'm early today. That's because I am required to leave the house soon....twice. I will leave once then come back before having to leave again. Not good....I prefer to be incarcerated. So.....toggles and pockets all in the name of my ''happy cloth'' from ''wrapped and bound in stitch''.

The toggles will live on a seam I think. I need to make more. The pockets, the cutwork....that's a new panel. My ''happy cloth'' is now growing rapidly. Very soon I will speak about the reverse.....not the kind of reverse I normally use. There will be no throwing down of plain silk for this one. I have a plan which is coming together in class. 

You will be pleased to know I found my buttons ( I spoke about them yesterday).....and my design sheets....such a relief.

Related articles

lace and mirrors...

knots, cloth and drawing.....pages

a little pocket secured in a seam

The latest addition to my ''happy cloth''....a tiny pocket secured in a seam with a very tactile bumpy bit on the inside. Embroidery is happening as often as I can fit it in, I also want to paint more, to make more sheets and pages however I am in the middle of emptying two rooms ready for the decorator. The upheaval and accumulated piles of things I  ''just can't throw away''  is more than enough reason to never consider anything more disruptive than decorating such as moving house. If moving house is happening in your life at the moment you have my utmost sympathy.

a new panel and new titivations

More of my happy cloth today. I did warn you that you would be seeing this a lot from now on. This is another finished panel which will be added to the others using a decoratively stitched seam, most likely comprising bullion knots and French knots. The beads here, the puffs,, the adornments....they will be added at the very end of the making process, after the whole piece is embroidered, backed and edged with stitch.

I still have a long way to go before I get to that point which gives me lots of time to make more of these, lots more.

Related articles

paper and circular beads

composition

buttons and puffs.....titvations

five lemon French knots