Inspirations Magazine called me “the queen of white thread” in a Facebook post the other day, which was very nice of them!
I love whitework for many reasons. Why do you love whitework?
Please note, if you receive this as an email, if you simply reply to the email, *I* will see your response. However, it is much nicer to be part of the whole conversation by sharing your answer with everyone on my blog, which is where this post really lives. Because of that, I’d love it if you replied here instead of just replying to the email. Thanks!
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Being the true Taurean I am, I love whitework which is practical and useful, e.g. white table cloths, particularly reticella and Ukrainian whitework, so practical so attractive. Linen is one of my favourite fabrics on which to work. I also love whitework because it can be so textural and requires more than just a glance to see the complexity within. Casalguidi and Mountmellick are good examples of this. Trouble is my embroidery bucket list is getting longer and longer. The more I see the more I want to try and whitework is something which is near the top of my list.
I love the texture which is so obvious when it is all white
Margie, I love linen too. 🙂 And texture is a large part of my love of whitework.
I love texture too, Jo. 🙂
Whitework is sooooo elegant…..There is not enough Elegance in the stitching “Modern” world these days..
White work can have such a vivid contrast even with everything white. Mountmellick astounds me with the look you can get. Love the fresh clean look of it all.
Jan, I totally agree that whitework is elegant. Of course, done badly, it can also be a dog’s breakfast… 😉
Vevia, clean and fresh – great words to describe whitework.
I don’t do much whitework yet but I love the look of it. It’s partly the textures, but it’s also because of the discipline it imposes on design, stitch choices and quality of work. Everything is exposed in whitework. It’s like Mozart – well-executed whitework has exactly the right number of notes.
I’m with the texture lovers: texture is so much more interesting than color.
That’s a lovely analogy, Elaine. Thanks!
I think colour has its place, but texture is great.
When Sister Teresa Margaret McCarthy (of Mountmellick fame) first happened on the old Mountmellick patterns, she started to stitch in colour. Then she learned that Mountmellick was never worked in colour, so she started working it in the (as she now knew) traditional white on white. Mountmellick is an excellent example of an embroidery style that *should* be white. It allows the texture and pattern of all those lovely stitches to come to the fore.
I went to the DAR Museum today in Washington DC (Daughters of the American Revolution) to see an incredible exhibit of antique quilts dating from the late 1700’s to mid 1800’s. Also on display was a coverlet that was done in white on white candle wicking. I took a few pictures. Let me know if you would like to see them and I will send you a copy.
Oh, Eileen, I’d love to! Firstly though, did you have permission to photograph them? Because if not, you’d better not send them to me. 🙂 I wouldn’t want you to be breaking any laws.
When we were in America quite some years ago, I saw a gorgeous exhibition of real candlewicked quilts at the American Folk Art Museum (I think!) in New York. They were not like what is generally known as candlewicking here in Australia (designs made out of lots of little colonial knots). They were different. They were tufted. I’m pretty sure this was one of the ones I saw.
I loved the pattern, the texture and the high relief that they had.
Thanks for thinking of me!
Yvette- yes! Pictures were permitted. I was very surprised. I didn’t bring my camera because I thought fur certain that the quits were so old that no photos would be allowed. Si I used my phone instead. I am going to send the candle wicking photos as a response to your latest blog post which is in my email.
Thanks Eileen! 😀