The Snow Queen's Garden "Eau de Parfum" - all Natasha's designs are one offs. And of course, they [...]]]> Last week when I was in Tasmania I wrote that I met Natasha of The Snow Queen’s Garden, and purchased one of her gorgeous handmade, hand-embroidered Russian babushka dolls. I promised pictures, so here they are!

The Snow Queen's Garden "Eau de Parfum" - all Natasha's designs are one offs. And of course, they are all copyright to her!

Even the back is embroidered!

I am so pleased to own one of The Snow Queen’s Garden’s beautiful handmade babushka dolls. I will treasure her!

I will have [...]]]> As you’ve read through my class details for Beating Around the Bush over the last few days, if you were paying close attention to the dates, you may have noticed I will not be teaching on Wednesday 18th April. This is because there will be a Stitchers Village Fair on that day.

I will have a stall at the fair selling my books, and will of course be available to autograph copies of them. I will also have examples of embroideries from my books on display for you to see in person.

At the last BATB, it was a fun day, where I met many lovely stitchers, and was reacquainted with some after meeting them at classes from earlier times. There was an Inspirations magazine launch that day, and I spoke about an article that I had written for the magazine.

Apparently this time there will be book launches and exhibitions as well as needlework vendors like me being there to sell our wares.

The day is free for conference registrants, and there will be a nominal cover charge for the general public.

I look forward to meeting you there!

Alison isn’t normally an embroiderer as such, more [...]]]> When I was at the craft show back in June, I met a lovely lady called Alison. She was quite interested in Mountmellick embroidery and wanted to give it a go. Her project of choice was my “Blackberry Doily” from our book “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature”.

Alison isn’t normally an embroiderer as such, more an embroidery beader. She’s been doing it for years, and her teacher is Karen Torrisi, who is a lovely girl I met a few years back when we shared an apartment as tutors at Beating Around the Bush.

Anyway, Alison embarked on the blackberry doily, but eventually decided she’d feel more comfortable reinterpreting my pattern into bead embroidery. On Sunday she sent me some photos of the finished work. It is magnificent!

Alison has allowed me to share the photos with you. The work is ALL beaded, except for the fringe, which is the traditional Mountmellick knitted fringe. I think you will agree that the work is simply stunning, and a lovely interpretation of a Mountmellick embroidery design. Congratulations Alison!

'Mountmellick Blackberry doily' interpreted into embroidery beading by Alison

slightly closer in

Alison, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful work with us!

This is music to my ears. [...]]]> I heard from the wonderful Barb Suess yesterday that she’d recently been teaching at an EGA seminar and my stitch dictionaries The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion were disappearing very quickly from Ruth Kern Books. (I don’t think she meant that they were being shoplifted, either…)

This is music to my ears.

If you like my books, the nicest thing you can do to encourage me is let other people know how much you like them and why. Putting a review on Amazon, the Nordic Needle website, or submitting one to your favourite needlework shop’s website is something that would make me forever grateful. Putting one on your blog would make me smile all day. If you’re a member of a guild, submitting a review for your newsletter would make me very happy too.

See how easy it is to make me happy? Thanks in anticipation!

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 [...]]]> 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!

One of the [...]]]> Tonight we were reading back through the notebooks we wrote in when our kids were very little; the silly things they said and did, and their latest achievements. We were actually trying to find out when they crawled and walked, for a medical questionnaire. Do you think we recorded that anywhere? Nope!

One of the stories written in one of the books was this:
“Yvette was embroidering at dinner time. [No surprises there!] Youngest child said “Mummy is making an extraordinary noise!” as the needle went into the fabric.”

And that reminds me of when our eldest was quite young and my husband had been in trying to settle her off to sleep. I was working on the first project for our Mountmellick book, which was the large blackberry runner. Previously I had worked mostly with linen, which is not such closely woven fabric as cotton satin jean, and the needle tends to go through the fabric more easily.

So there I was, stitching away, with my fabric stretched nice and taut in my hoop. After settling our eldest, my husband came out and said, “What IS that popping noise?!”

It was the needle going into the fabric!

I’d love to know what you think of the video, and if there are videos of other things that [...]]]> With a lot of experimentation, I have now finished and uploaded my video for how to knit the Mountmellick embroidery fringe. The method that is shown is method 2 from Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature.

I’d love to know what you think of the video, and if there are videos of other things that you’d be interested in seeing.

We’re going to talk about the knitted fringe that traditionally goes around the edge [...]]]> Finally, back to the Mountmellick embroidery stitch along today. I apologise for the very long delay in moving on to the next part of this. It has been weighing heavily on my mind, but I have had several projects with deadlines.

We’re going to talk about the knitted fringe that traditionally goes around the edge of all Mountmellick embroidery. For those of you who have our book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature the fringe we will be using is method 2. If you have one of our balls of knitting cotton, you will also find the pattern on its wrapper too.

To knit the fringe, you’ll need four balls of 4 ply knitting cotton, which we have available for purchase. If you are working on a small project, you can sometimes get away with one or two balls divided into 4 equal groups. The easiest way to divide a ball is to note that one ball weighs 50 grams net. If you want half of this in a ball, wind off 25grams worth (use your kitchen scales). This should give you a new ball of 25 grams, and the remainder of the original ball at about 25grams. If you want to divide one ball into 4, you’ll need about 12 grams in each part ball.

The knitting cotton that we supply has been specially chosen for its appearance. It is completely matt – it has no shine. It is reasonably finely twisted, and is not fluffy. There are lots of white knitting cottons out there, but this is the best one that we have found available to us. And so we are pleased to make it available to you!

We need four balls of knitting cotton because we knit with four strands all at once. This gives the fringe a much more full effect.

Knitting needles: You will need to use metal knitting needles. You can’t use bamboo or plastic as they will break. Cotton thread has pretty much no “give” – its not stretchy – and four strands of cotton used together will break plastic or bamboo needles. Ask me how I know…!

What size knitting needle? No 10, 11, or 12 (UK), No 2 or 3 (US), or 3.25, 3, or 2.75 mm (metric) knitting needles are usually used to knit the Mountmellick knitted fringe. Larger needle size will produce larger scale fringe, with relatively longer loops, while smaller needle size will produce a more compact result.

I spent yesterday experimenting with making a video of how to knit the fringe, so hopefully I’ll figure out how to upload it today or tomorrow. So get your supplies together, and get ready to knit! (The video does assume some prior knowledge of how to knit, so hopefully you can…!)

Because Mountmellick embroidery is a traditional style of embroidery, by studying historical examples, we can come to an understanding of what it [...]]]> Sometimes, people who have never seen Mountmellick embroidery before have some trouble understanding what makes Mountmellick embroidery distinctively its own style. I know I did, when I first started learning about it!

Because Mountmellick embroidery is a traditional style of embroidery, by studying historical examples, we can come to an understanding of what it really is. You can learn about what Mountmellick IS from the Mountmellick page on the Vetty Creations website and from our book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature. To be a little different, however, let’s talk a bit about what Mountmellick embroidery is not!

Mountmellick is not called Montmellick, Mt Mellick, Mt Melleck, Mountmellic, Montmellic, or any other variation other than Mountmellick embroidery. The name comes from the name of the town where the style of embroidery developed. It is in County Laois in Ireland. If you’re looking at a map of Ireland, find Dublin on the east coast, then head westward to about the middle of the country. Around there you will find the town of Mountmellick. Its not a large town by any means, and certainly not on the tourist route. So if its not on your map, that may be why.

Mountmellick embroidery is not coloured. When Sister Teresa Margaret McCarthy of the Presentation Convent in Mountmellick, Ireland – who is seen as the mother of Mountmellick embroidery’s revival – started investigating the embroidery, all she had were some line drawing patterns, with no indication of how they should be stitched. She assumed (as most of us probably would) that they would be worked in colour. When people heard of her interest and started bringing her examples from their linen cupboards, she learned that it is always whitework – white thread on white fabric. Its not even cream on cream, although an old piece before it is washed can look like that.

Mountmellick embroidery does not use shiny thread – the thread is completely matt. I’ll say it in another way: the thread has no shine. None. Nothing. Zip. Is that clear enough? That means that perle/pearl cotton is too shiny. Somewhat surprisingly, it also means that even coton a broder/broder cotton, is too shiny. So is cotton floche. Mountmellick thread has no shine.

Mountmellick embroidery does not use silk, wool, linen, rayon or any other type of thread other than cotton. In times past, thread manufacturers wanted to promote their products in different ways, sometimes even producing booklets about various styles of embroidery utilising their range of threads. Because of this you can find booklets on Mountmellick embroidery which specify silk threads. However, traditional Mountmellick embroidery only ever used cotton thread. This is because the town of Mountmellick was in a cotton growing area. Mountmellick was even known as the Manchester of Ireland, because of its strength in the cotton industry. They grew cotton, milled it and spun it locally, therefore its what was used for their local style of embroidery.

Mountmellick embroidery is not small and dainty. It does not have tiny, sweet, little flowers and plants. It is big and bold. The plants are lifesize or even larger. Taking a design and making it smaller (because, for example, it will fit better on your tablecloth or cushion) means its not really Mountmellick embroidery anymore.

Mountmellick embroidery does not have just any plants. The plants are those which grew in the hedgerows, along the River Owenass which flows through Mountmellick, and wild in the gardens of the town of Mountmellick. As time went on, just a few extras such as lilies were added to this, but they didn’t go overboard. You won’t find native Australian plants in Mountmellick embroidery! You won’t find camellias, hollyhocks, lupins, snapdragons, irises, carnations, marigolds… It doesn’t have mushrooms, gnomes, butterflies, bugs, caterpillars or fairies in amongst the flowers. Occasionally, though very rarely, you will find a small bird, shell or even a pineapple, but these are exceptions, rather than the rule.

Mountmellick embroidery is not worked on damask, linen, twill, poplin, calico or any other fabric other than cotton satin jean. The sheen on the satin jean fabric is meant to contrast with the lack of shine on the thread, creating an interesting juxtaposition.

Mountmellick embroidery is not candlewicking. Mountmellick embroidery uses a much larger range of stitches than candlewicking. The stitches are predominantly knotted and padded stitches, and while the candlewicking that we know these days has knots, they are colonial knots, which are not used in Mountmellick embroidery. Mountmellick embroidery is always floral, whereas candlewicking is not always floral.

Mountmellick embroidery does not use just any stitches. There is a range of stitches that are generally accepted as those used in Mountmellick. They are often knotted and padded stitches, providing texture to the embroidery. You will not find long and short stitch, colonial knots, trellis stitch, cross stitch or many others in Mountmellick embroidery. You cannot just choose any old stitch to use in your Mountmellick project. Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature has clear step-by-step instructions for the stitches used in Mountmellick embroidery.

I could probably go on with more, as there are many more things that Mountmellick is not, but perhaps it might just head towards being ridiculous e.g. its not a bike, or a mountain…!

I have ummed and aahed about how to work these leaves. I really want to use a filling that fills without having an edging. All our other shapes so far have an edging around them, so I really would [...]]]> Now we move on to the uppermost pair of leaves, just below the lily flower bud.

I have ummed and aahed about how to work these leaves. I really want to use a filling that fills without having an edging. All our other shapes so far have an edging around them, so I really would prefer not to for this one.

But what?

I’d use long-armed feather stitch, which is always a great way to fill a leaf, but I’ve already used that for another pair of leaves, so I’d rather not use it again. I could use something like cretan stitch (either open or closed) but that doesn’t grab me either. I could fill each side of the leave with bullions, or bullions alternating with straight stitches, but I think you might all not like me very much if I made you work that many bullions! I could use Indian filling stitch, but its not my most favourite stitch to work.

So I’ve settled on a centre vein of cable chain stitch, with the sides of the leaves in slanting, single chain stitches.

First, I work the centre vein in cable chain stitch. This is a lovely stitch, closely related to cable plait, but turning out with a very different look.

Next I begin the chain stitches up the side. The idea is to work a row of chain stitches that sit next to each other, rather than continuing on from one another end to end. Come up at the base of the leaf on one side of the centre vein. Then work a chain stitch out to the side, aligning the stitch so that it sits along the bottom curved edge of the leaf. To finish the chain, bring your needle up in the chain about 2mm from the edge of the leaf (sorry, no idea what that is in inches – not very long!) and then take the needle back down at the edge of the leaf to anchor the chain stitch.

Continue stitching in the same way up the leaf, angling the stitches so that at the top, the last one ends up nearly parallel with the centre vein.

Then work the other side in the same way. I find it useful to start at the base of the leaf again and work to the tip, as it helps me with angling the stitches. You can also draw guide lines under the stitching to help you with angling the stitches if you would like to.

Hmmm… I’m not really sure that I like this. I think that the cable chain stitch gets a bit lost in the middle, and its all a bit of a nothingness. Back to the drawing board.

Leaving that in place (just in case!), I’ve decided to work the other leaf (of the pair) in herringbone stitch, because that can fill the leaf without needing an outline around it.

Hmmm… not sure that I like that very much either. It’d probably work ok in crewel embroidery, but for Mountmellick embroidery, its not very leaf-like.

Back to my book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature I go, looking for inspiration and a leaf treatment that might be suitable. In the revised edition of the book, for those of you that have it, on page 11 there’s a photo of a beautiful nightdress case. Looking at the leaves there, there is one similar to my chain stitch leaf, but instead of a centre vein in cable chain stitch, it looks like it has its centre vein in stem stitch. Stem stitch seems to work much better as it gives a stronger line than my cable chain stitch does.

I’m going to take the cable chain stitch out, and then work stem stitch in the gap that is left. It might mean that there’s a slight gap on either side of the stem stitch, but I don’t think that will be a problem, as it will probably just accentuate the centre vein, which is fine.

I like this much better.

After undoing the herringbone leaf, I restitched it in the new style, first working the stem stitched centre vein, then the chain stitches up the side. Because I didn’t have the width of the cable chain stitch to guide the inside end of my chain stitches, I had to remember to leave a small gap in between the chains and the stem.