White Threads

What are you afraid of?

I was having a conversation with a friend on Facebook yesterday about fabrics. She said that some people are scared of stitching on linen. This is something I have never heard of before. I am not sure why someone might be afraid of stitching on linen. Perhaps it is regarded as too expensive to make mistakes on. Her suggestions for reasons were that it is “too fine” and “only for experts”. She didn’t know where these ideas originated, and neither do I!

But then I got to thinking, “Am I afraid of anything to do with needlework?”

Earlier this year there was a stitch that I was hesitating to do because it scared me. I thought that it would be too easy to make mistakes, and then by the time you’d made them you’d be past the point where they could be fixed easily. But then I just launched in and did it because it had to be done, and learned that there was no reason I should have been scared of it!

I am scared of the way in Lefkara lace they cut the threads first before overcasting the edges. I think I’m scared of it simply because in Hardanger, with which I am more familiar, you overcast and then cut. The one with which I am more familiar feels more comfortable to me. I’ve never actually tried doing it the Lefkara way (unless you count the times I’ve undone people’s kloster blocks in class that have been accidentally cut, and therefore need replacing), but maybe I’d find that it wasn’t quite so dreadful either.

I don’t *like* using rayon threads, but that’s not because I’m scared of them. I just find them annoying because they’re so springy!

When I was making my red and gold jacket some time back, I was rather scared of cutting that fabric. I loved the fabric so much and I was afraid that if I made a mistake with cutting, that there wouldn’t be enough left over to finish it. However, eventually I did cut. It did work out. It was all fine. And if I hadn’t done it, I never would have had the jacket to enjoy wearing.

So, going back to stitching on linen fabric. I love working on linen fabric. It looks beautiful. It irons up beautifully. It is lovely to wear. But the main thing I love about working with linen fabric is that when I pull it to do pulled or drawn thread work, it stays where I’ve put it. Fabric with some synthetic in it goes back to where it wants to go. Cotton fibres don’t usually crease in the same way that linen does, so cotton fabric doesn’t behave *quite* as I want it to. But linen, when I’ve pulled the threads to where I want them, and pinched and pulled my stitch, it stays just so.

I’ve only learned this over time, from using it and other types of fabrics. I’ve realised that I like working with linen best (for counted thread work).

Sometimes, we just have to take the plunge and overcome our fears. Perhaps we’ll find that there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of.

What are you afraid of with your needlework? Is there a particular stitch, technique, fabric or thread that you’re not willing to try? Can we help to cheer you on?

Sardinian Knotted Embroidery pendant

I changed the main photo on the Vetty Creations Facebook page on Saturday. Then I thought, “Why should they get all the pretty pictures?” so I’m sharing it here as well.

This is the pendant project from “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery” featuring Punt ‘e Nù embroidery from Teulada in Sardinia. It is the smallest project in the book, and therefore one of the most achievable! (The pendant is one inch square.) Whenever I wear mine, it gets lots of comments.

Each year at Christmas I make a gift for each of my husband’s staff. Usually they get embroidered ornaments for their Christmas tree, but last year I made each of them one of these. I really wasn’t sure how they’d be received because there is one lady particularly who loves receiving her yearly Christmas decoration. However, they loved them!

We sell the silver-plated bezel and chain for the pendant on the Vetty Creations website. And of course we also sell Sardinian Knotted Embroidery in which you’ll find all the instructions for making the pendant.

Portuguese and Sardinian books

I received an email from Elizabeth in NY this week:

“I came across your work on Mary Corbet’s NeedlenThread, when she reviewed your books on first Portuguese and then Sardinian embroidery. They had been tempting me for a long time, and I finally purchased them. I am so glad I did! You are marvelous at explaining techniques and at anticipating questions and problems. You write wonderfully. I’ll treasure both books.”

Thank you for your very kind comments, Elizabeth. I’m so glad you enjoy the books and find them so helpful.

Progress report on my next book

I thought you might like to hear about the progress on the next book, despite the fact that you still don’t know what it is about! If you’ve been reading carefully, you may have gathered by now that it is an historical, counted, whitework embroidery from Europe. Nothing you wouldn’t expect from me. 🙂

I’ve been chipping away, getting bits done. I have many partially completed projects for the book. Only one is actually complete! All the rest still need their finishing done. I don’t particularly feel like doing that at the moment, so I’ll wait until the moment strikes me! There are others that I have designed but not stitched, and others still that haven’t even been conceived yet.

I’ve set myself the goal of having all the stitch instructions and their diagrams finished by the end of November. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it’s good to have a goal to work towards.

I’ve sourced the right threads to use for the projects. Being an historical embroidery, there’s not really much point in doing it with the wrong threads. If you do, you won’t get the feel for how it is meant to be, and you won’t get the right look either. Fortunately, there appear to be sources for the correct threads across the world, so that’s a really encouraging start. I have a shipment on their way to me at the moment, so of course Vetty Creations will also sell them.

The plan is to have the book available mid 2015, but as always, because I self-publish, there are no set deadlines, and I will fit it into my life and around the life of my family as is possible.

Book review: Sardinian Knotted Embroidery

On Sunday I received a lovely review of my latest book, Sardinian Knotted Embroidery, from Julie in Melbourne.

“I received your latest book for my birthday! Instead of just drooling over the pictures as I have done with the Portuguese one, I decided to MAKE A START!!

Well, doing the edging first before the embroidery is such a great thing to do. I do have quite a few nearly finished pieces of embroidery…… which languish nearly finished for years…

I am really enjoying the antique hemstitch and started the second circuit of 4-sided stitch today. It is SO meditative, I’m feeling quite relaxed after a stressful week.

I am rapt that I have mastered mitred corners, yours is the best explanation of how to do this. The book was worth getting just for that!

I also really like how you always describe how to add new threads, I don’t remember many books where they help you with this.

Re the erratum, I did it the corrected way, but looking at the picture in the book, I don’t really see why it wouldn’t work that way. Never mind, the result is what matters.

Anyway, thank you for all your hard work, it’s so much appreciated.”

Thank you Julie, for your very kind words. I’m glad you’re enjoying the book so much.

From the archives: embroidered collar

In July 2005, we took a little trip down the south coast of NSW. While there, we visited Meroogal, a house in Nowra that is administered by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. The house was built around 1885. The women of the family who lived there, the Thorburns, were accomplished embroiderers. One of the embroidered pieces that caught my eye that day was this collar.

I think the colour is a bit off in this photo, but from memory it was a champagne sort of colour.

The things that really attracted me to this piece were the texture and swirling motifs. Much of the stitching appears to be a padded square chain stitch. The stitching is probably worked in silk (though *may* be rayon) on silk satin fabric. The collar remains in remarkably good condition.

Meroogal is preserved for people to view as a museum. The house was passed down through the Thorburn family, until it was sold in the early 1980s. The final owner of the house generously donated the entire contents of the house to the Historic Houses Trust, who bought the house.

You can read more about Meroogal and the people who lived there at the Sydney Living Museums website.

Embroiderers Guild NSW exhibition

On Friday I went to the opening of the exhibition of the NSW Embroiderers Guild. It was an excellent exhibition, with an extremely wide range of embroideries on display.

The exhibition was opened by Claudia Chan Shaw, author of “Collectomania” and previous presenter on ABC’s “Collectors” TV show. Claudia was an excellent choice for speaker as she was interesting and engaging. She told us how when her grandparents left Shanghai many many years ago, her grandfather tied a silk cord around his waist, and then tied the other end around her grandmother’s waist. This was so that in the rush to depart with so many others, they would not be separated. They took just two things with them as they left: Claudia’s mother (very young) and a precious embroidery.

Claudia admitted that her own embroidery attempts are not something that could ever be on display at an exhibition, but as she toured the exhibition, you could see that she was genuinely interested in what was on display. She was drawn in by the embroidery, even if she was not able to do it herself!

Claudia Chan Shaw opening the Embroiderers Guild NSW exhibition.

Also at the opening, The Embroiderers’ Guild NSW 2015 Calendar was launched. This is the calendar which I have been working on this year. You can call the guild (02 9743 2501) to purchase copies which can be posted to you. The calendar was well received, with everyone saying that it was priced way too low ($13 plus postage). Calendars of similar quality sell for more than double that. So you’re getting a bargain, and the funds received support the guild’s building fund which is a very worthwhile cause!

It was lovely to see, in amongst the many exhibits, some of my designs. Audrey B had beautifully worked the Portuguese Whitework sampler from Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães, and Lesley H had done a wonderful job of my Merezhka Daisies Mat. Though not my designs, Clare M had two pieces in the exhibition which were based on and inspired by Mountmellick embroidery. Congratulations to all three ladies on your beautiful work.

My favourite two pieces in the exhibition would have to be Cathy J-C’s “Rainforest” and “Reef” embroideries. They were machine embroidery on black felt, in wonderfully saturated rayon threads. They depicted tendrilly leaves and beautiful undersea corals(?) respectively. I’d happily mind them at my house for Cathy! I would have taken photos to show you, but photography was not allowed. Cathy also had a display of the process for one of the embroideries she is currently working on. It had the partially worked embroidery, and supporting visual material, and notes on the process she uses to create her embroideries. It was very interesting to see and read.

The exhibition ran all weekend, but is now over for another year. The next one will be in 2 years time. However, you can still purchase your copy of the calendar – a grey Christmas or other special occasion gift! Mine is already up on the wall, waiting for the new year to start. I will enjoy having it to look at next year.

Reader’s embroidery

Every time I run a class I always tell the students that I LOVE to see photos of their finished works. You can imagine my delight when someone actually takes me at my word and sends me one! This morning was just one such occasion, when Michele sent me a photo of her beautiful, completed Mountmellick Wildflower Cushion.

Michele took my class at Berrima Patchwork’s Quilting in the Highlands Retreat in July. She’s done a lovely job and already installed it in its new home.

Congratulations on a job well done, Michele, and thanks so much for sharing it with us. 🙂

Embroidery calendar coming soon

Since about May, I’ve been working on a calendar with Carolyn Pearce and others from the Embroiderers’ Guild NSW. It features images of beautiful embroidery from the NSW guild collection.

The calendar will be launched next Friday at the opening of this year’s guild exhibition. Calendars will be on sale at the exhibition (which is on from Friday to Sunday next weekend, at Concord West Masonic Hall in Sydney), and also available for purchase through the guild.

They’ll make a lovely gift for an embroidery lover. With Christmas just around the corner, why not purchase some as gifts for special friends and yourself?

The guild is using the calendar to raise money for the rebuilding fund (the guild rooms are desperately in need of an upgrade), so you’ll be helping a very worthy cause. Thanks very much!

happiest with what count of fabric?

Natural coloured cashel linen, 28 count
Following on from my last blog post, I’m interested in what count of fabric you feel most comfortable with. The count of the fabric refers to how many threads there are over a particular distance. 25 count fabric means that there are 25 threads per inch, across the warp and weft of the fabric. 35 count means 35 threads per inch. Sometimes it is expressed at the number of threads per centimetre.

It isn’t hard to convert between the two – to move from threads per cm to threads per inch, just multiply the quantity by 2.5. To convert in the other direction (per inch to per cm), just divide by 2.5 (might need a calculator for that one!). By doing this, we can work out that 25 threads per inch would be 10 threads per cm. 35 threads per inch would be 14 threads per cm.

On Facebook, we had a bit of a discussion about near- or short-sightedness. One reader said that being near-sighted was a definite advantage. This correlates with what the optician I spoke to the other day said too. As I am short-sighted, he said I have an advantage *for now*!

I’m happy working on 32-38 count, and have even done 45 count. I find that 25 count seems very coarse in comparison. I am short-sighted (see things up close just fine, but far away needs the help of glasses).

I find that many people baulk at anything finer than 25 count. Yet, in other cultures, 30 or 35 count is regularly used, as that is the traditional count for their culture’s embroidery. In those places, people don’t bat an eyelid about the finer count. It’s what is expected, so it is what it used.

Sometimes I wonder whether there needs to be preparatory homework for my classes on finer counts of linen. A little stitching on an ever-finer range of linens over several weeks to get their eyes in the mood for stitching on finer counts by the time they come to my class!

So, what count of fabric do you feel most happy with, and what is the finest you think you would feel comfortable with? Have you ever tried to train your eyes to work up to a finer count? Do you use magnification? If yes, what factor of magnification do you use, and how much finer can you go with it?