White Threads » historical embroidery

Guimarães: European Capital of Culture 2012

yvette — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:38:13 +0000

Guimarães is the town from which the style of embroidery that is featured in my new book Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães comes. It is in the north of Portugal, and if you know where Porto is on the coast, Guimarães is inland from there. It is not a tourist area, though actually all of the parts of Portugal that we went to weren’t overly crowded with tourists. (We didn’t go to the southern coastal areas!)

It is known as the birthplace of Portugal, as in the twelfth century the region was given to the family that created the country, with Afonso I as the first king of the new kingdom. The historic centre of Guimarães is a Unesco World Heritage Listed site (the list is something my husband uses to plan our holidays. I think he has a personal goal to visit as many of them as possible!)

When we visited Guimarães, I wanted to take some photos of the old town. As my parents used to be in a camera club, I know that dawn and dusk are excellent times of the day to take photos. So one morning during our stay, I rose very early, and set out on the short walk to the walled part of the old town. It was very quiet, and hardly anyone was around. As is my custom, I tried to look as little like a tourist as possible, but I probably stuck out like a sore thumb!

It was magical, making my way through the streets of a town waking to a new day. Seeing the sun catching on the facades of the beautiful old buildings in the town square for the first time that day was something I’m not likely to forget in a hurry. It was a lovely experience.

This year, Guimarães has been designated a European Capital of Culture. Throughout the year there will be cultural events in and around Guimarães. What better way to celebrate the rich culture of such a beautiful city, than by learning the exquisite embroidery that originates from Guimarães?

Left-handed Schwalm project

yvette — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:47:49 +0000

Exciting news! I was one of the three readers of Mary Corbet’s Needle’nThread selected to test Luzine Happel‘s left-handed schwalm embroidery instructions. I’m thrilled!

This comes at the perfect time for me, as I am between books, and haven’t got any embroidery projects on the go at the moment.

If you’re one of the other three embroiderers also chosen, please do not feel intimidated by me being one of the other testers. I am just like you – I have never done this style of embroidery either. We will each come up with different feedback for Luzine, and that is exactly the idea – to help her in any way we can with improving and correcting her instructions.

What fun! Thanks Luzine and Mary!

Mary’s Portuguese Whitework review

yvette — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:04:54 +0000

Mary Corbet, from Needle’nThread has done it again – a glowing review of my latest book, Portuguese Whitework! Her reviews are so terribly thorough that probably all your questions will have been answered in one go!

Some excerpts from Mary’s review:
Well, here it is! Yvette Stanton’s new hand embroidery book, Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães is out and available. And golly! It is beautiful!

If you’re familiar with Yvette’s other books on various types of lesser-known, beautiful whitework techniques, you won’t be surprised that this one is superb. I have to say, though, out of all her whitework books, so far, this one is my favorite. Perhaps it’s because her books just keep getting better and better, or maybe it’s because I have an affinity for the combination of drawn thread embroidery and surface embroidery. Guimarães embroidery just does this combination so well!

Some more…

Yvette takes the stitcher through every step of each technique, showing you how to turn the corners, how to secure the threads, where to hold your stitches and what’s going on under your fingers while you’re holding them, where and how to start new threads, and so forth. These are the little details that set her books apart – she really covers everything and she doesn’t leave you wondering.

And more…

I probably don’t have to tell you this is a lovely book – you can see that for yourself! If you love whitework, drawn thread embroidery, or regional embroidery techniques from around the world, put this book on your list! It’s a great project book and a great instructional book.

But don’t take it from me, go and read Mary’s entire review over at Needle’nThread.com!

Thank you to Mary for such a wonderful, comprehensive review. You’ve done a sterling job!

So, for those of you who are itching to get started, make sure you take a look at my post on Portuguese Whitework supplies so that you can collect together everything you need from Vetty Creations to get started on your own exploration of Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães.

Booking classes

yvette — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:46:27 +0000

Just a note to those who are likely to want me to come and teach for their shop, community or guild group next year. I am taking a lot of bookings – it seems people really want to learn Portuguese Whitework! – so if you’re interested, get in quick.

I do limit my quantity of teaching as I have a young family, and taking me away from them increases the load on my husband and extended family.

While classes on Portuguese Whitework seem to be the flavour of the month at the moment, I also teach Hardanger, Mountmellick, Merezhka Poltavska, left-handed embroidery, and stitch exploration classes.

If you’re interested, please email me with details of your requirements. I look forward to hearing from you!

Portuguese Whitework book cover

yvette — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:27:34 +0000

Well, I really wasn’t planning on putting this up on the blog just yet. After all, its still way more than six months until the book will be released. But just yesterday I found a black and white picture of it on someone else’s blog. I can’t say I was pleased. However, I can’t withhold the picture of it from you if others aren’t. Sigh.

So, without further ado, here’s the first COLOUR version of the cover of “Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães” by Yvette Stanton (me!) that you will see anywhere on the internet!

'Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães' by Yvette Stanton, due for release in early 2012.

If you’re interested in going on my special email list just for this book, to receive updates about its progress, you can still sign up. Just let me know in the comments section, or through the contact page on the website.

I might just take this opportunity to remind people of copyright laws. You *can’t* just rip a picture off someone else’s blog, website, book, etc and reproduce it on/in your blog, website, book etc. That is breaking the law. If there is a picture that you want to use, you need to ask and gain permission to do so. Otherwise you are breaching copyright laws.

If you have nicked some of my pictures from my (or anyone else’s) website, blog, books etc, you need to have permission to reproduce them. You have two options: either take them down and just have the text, or ask for my permission. Sorry to come down like a ton of bricks, but it is the law and it exists to protect copyright holders’ rights.

If you are one of those who has asked my permission, thank you for your upholding of the law. Usually I do grant permission.

Mountmellick: knitting with four strands

yvette — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:02:18 +0000

This is a technique that was discovered by one of my students up at Maitland recently.

For the traditional Mountmellick embroidery knitted fringe, we generally use four balls of knitting cotton together to provide a very full fringe. Rather than dividing a single ball into four, the student wondered if she could use two balls, and take the ends from the outside as well as the inside of the ball, thereby knitting with four strands.

So she got herself two balls, and went home that night to try it out. By squashing the balls and folding up the cardboard tube inside the balls, she was able to make it small enough to pull the tube out from the centre of the ball.

She was then able to successfully knit with the outside ends and the inside ends of the two balls, thereby easily using four strands. An ingenious method!

We have knitting cotton that is perfect for Mountmellick work, available from Vetty Creations’ online shop. It is completely matt, is not fluffy, and has a good twist. By purchasing two balls, you can try out this fabulous technique!

Each ball comes with two patterns for making the Mountmellick knitted fringe. Our book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature by Yvette Stanton and Prue Scott, also features a third method which is the most traditional method of producing the fringe (NB: only the edition with the cover shown has this third method – the first edition does not). It has step-by-step instructions, with words and diagrams for each step.

Thanks to Judy for working out this great technique!

drawn thread work done!

yvette — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:45:08 +0000

I did it! Last night I finished the drawn thread work for the tablecloth for my Portuguese whitework book. What a feeling of accomplishment! One only slightly dampened by the fact that I now have about a million and one bullion knots ahead of me…

The drawn thread work base just by itself looks gorgeous – really elegant. However, I know that with the bullion embroidery and eyelets on the drawn thread work squares, it will look even more gorgeous.

The fabric I am using for this project is 20L linen from Portugal, sent to me by a lovely Portuguese friend. All pressed and ironed, it looks so good! It irons up really well (no stubborn creases), and makes a very pleasing result.

My *aim* (and that means it may not happen!) is to have a corner of the surface embroidery on the tablecloth completed in time for the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair from 22nd-26th June. I’ll be exhibiting on stand K39, and will have a range of embroidery on display to inspire you, including some of the Portuguese whitework. Of course, I’ll also have my books, kits and embroidery supplies for sale!

My colleagues (Janie of Janie Hubble Designs and Belinda of Cassis Craft) and I will be demonstrating various craft techniques throughout the day, depending on our specialties. Of course, my demonstrations will be embroidery techniques! I will also be running a Craft Circle each day from 1:30-2:30pm on Basic Embroidery for Left-Handers. Prebooking for the Craft Circle is required at stand K39. The class is free, but $5 payment for kit cost is required when you book in.

Now, hopefully I’ll get the chance to start the surface work on the tablecloth today. In amongst cooking a huge amount of Ethiopian food today (for a special Ethiopian night tonight), maybe I’ll get my hands clean enough and find the time to get on with my whitework! Must remember that turmeric and berbere spice mix don’t go well with white thread and fabric…

beautiful merezhka

yvette — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:40:34 +0000

Merezhka bellpull from Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery by Yvette Stanton. Beautifully stitched by Lisa in Canada.

Lisa from Canada emailed me last week to show off her latest finished project: its the bellpull from my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska. Hasn’t she done a sterling job? You can’t tell the difference between hers and mine… oh, except the black thread ran on my when the steam iron spurted on it… Happily, Lisa’s doesn’t have any such blemishes!

Congratulations Lisa – its beautiful!

If you have photos of any of your finished embroideries that are from my books or my designs, please share them with us! You can email me at yvette at vettycreations dot com dot au, changing the words to symbols, where appropriate.

If you’d like to make one of these bellpulls for yourself, you can find the pattern and full instructions in Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska by Yvette Stanton (me!).

Portuguese love

yvette — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:30:36 +0000

I’ve been steadily working on my next Portuguese embroidery for the book, and I know I say this all the time, but I am just loving it! It is one of the prettiest styles of embroidery that I have ever seen. It is just so appealing!

Everyone that I show the embroideries to, comments on how pretty it is. There is something about the combination of drawn thread work and bullions that works so very well.

I’ll be teaching this style of embroidery at All Threads Embroidery in Brisbane next Friday, and its not too late to join the class. Just contact All Threads. I will be taking my other examples of the embroidery with me to inspire further, and I’ll have lots of photos of the Portuguese town where it originates, from my trip to Portugal a few years back, to give context. We’ll have a great time, with me in my unending enthusiasm for the style!

snail kit

yvette — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:10:39 +0000

Stitch this snail for storage!

Some time back I told you of Trish Nguyen’s project of stitching a reproduction snail from an old pair of embroidered gloves to raise money to house a collection of gloves. I ordered the kit just before Christmas and then promptly forgot about it, in the Christmas busyness.

A few weeks ago, I had a lovely surprise in the mail when it turned up! I pulled the envelope out of the mailbox, noticed the unfamiliar US address, was a little confused, and then a light went on. “Oh yes, I know what this is!”

I thought you might like to see what is in the kit. I bought it to help with the fundraising, but mostly because I wanted to see some of these threads I’d heard of but never seen.

The kit includes:
6″ x 6″ piece of 34 ct Oaten Scone linen from Lakeside Linens
Silk fabric, blue checks
Silk gimp, light blue
Silk wrapped purl, gray blue
DMC stranded cotton, #931
Au Ver a Soie de Paris, 3226 dark gray
Au Ver a Soie Soie Ovale: cream, 2623 rust orange, 4622 pink, 2541 yellow (this one already twisted into cord)
Silver plated No 6 Wire Check, by Benton and Johnson
Tire silk, #86
Beading needle
No 8 embroidery needle
No 22 crewel sinking needle

If you’re interested in purchasing a kit, I’ve just checked Trish’s blog to see if she’s put an update to say that they’re all sold. She hasn’t given any update like that, but so she may still have stock, but maybe not. You can purchase one here (and seeing the link is still up, I assume she must have them still available).