Blog Archives

Professional Embroidery Course: progress

26/4/2015

Today I'll show you a bit of eye-candy from my students attending the professional embroidery course. Note: I no longer offer this course.

Christiane's has finished her crewel embroidery piece and is now in the process of mounting. I love the bold colour combinations inspired by Anna Scott's work.

Luise's pink anemone is nearly finished. Just a few more French knots and pistil stitches to go in to form the heart. Silk shading with silk threads is truly exquisite!

Annette's crewel piece is also nearly finished. I am pretty sure it will be the first one featuring a dear little blue sheep with pink legs!

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Millie Marotta's Fox embroidered

20/4/2015

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I've fallen in love. Head over heels. With a, uhm, fox... A certain famous embroidery blog lady from America introduced us. Alas, what can you do? It was love at first sight. All other projects simply will have to wait. Thanks Mary Corbet, you're the best excuse for procrastinating a silk shading hollyhock, a Schwalm angel and a pair of Bavarian braces!

Isn't it fascinating how you can sometimes see an illustration or image and instantly a picture forms in your mind of the corresponding embroidery? Such things can really keep me awake. I practically start to stitch the piece at night in my head. That's silly, I know. But that's how it goes, isn't it? Luckily, my copy of Millia Marotta's colouring book for grown-ups arrived at the bookstore last week.

During the night, my brain seems to be at its absolute best. Not only did I stitch several versions of the fox already, I also figured out thread and fabric choices. Very cool this grey matter.

Several years ago, I bought a piece of a heavy weight pure silk damask. The bright white silk has a pretty paisley design. My stash also includes several yummy skeins of variegated perle #12 by House of Embroidery as well as a skein of Gloriana silk and several spools of metallic threads. My night time stitch adventures did not include the latter. However, whilst discussing the design at the bookstore (!) with three men (!!!) it was put forward. Don't these burnt oranges, corn yellows and copper tones make you think of a fox already?

So, I duly dressed my frame with the very nice silk, hunted for all the threads and waited until it was dark outside. Real stitching at night time? Nope. I've just found that using a light box for tracing the design is so much easier when the room is dark. Normally that is. This oh so nice silk turns out to be a tracer's nightmare. Oh dear. Not only is it hard to see through, on the smooth parts of the paisley's my aqua trick marker runs. No neat tracing lines in sight. This was our first major relationship crisis.

I figured that if ink runs on certain parts of the fabric, there's a good chance that the paint of the prick and pounce transfer method does as well. Apart from that risk, this intricate design requires a very steady hand able to paint very thin lines. Not going to happen when you are going through your first major relationship crisis.

So what did I do? Well, I copied the design onto tissue paper and now I am in the process of tacking all important design parts. It is very, very slow going. But what do they always say: you have to work at your relationship. Well, work it certainly is!

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Artisans in Action

13/4/2015

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The above sounds so much better than Living Workshop, don't you think? The latter is the English translation of 'Lebende Werkstatt' as used on the website of the Oberammergau Museum. Maybe, they should spice things up a little. After all, I am not a Granny sporting needle and thread either!

Anyways. You probably guessed it already, this summer, I am part of the Lebende Werkstatt in the Pilatushaus in Oberammergau. You can see me stitch on a wide variety of projects from Tuesday to Sunday from 13:00h-17:00h each afternoon during weeks 20, 23, 25, 31 and 38. Apart from me, you will be able to see wood carvers, reverse glass painters, potters, lace makers, weavers and the like. Best of all: you can bother us totally free of charge! I vow to drink plenty of chamomile tea so that I won't become impolite when asked the same question again and again :). No, in earnest: I look forward to promote hand embroidery and craftsmanship in general during these weeks. It is so important that we and our craftsmanship are visible. After all, how else can we instill a love for these time-honoured skills in the generations to come?

How about you? Do you like to show off your skills and promote the art of embroidery at fairs and markets? Or do you like to visit such events and see artisans in action? What are your favourite events? Please share your thoughts below. And do drop in at the Pilatushaus!

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Historical Embroidery News...

Professional Embroidery Course: progress

Millie Marotta's Fox embroidered

Artisans in Action

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