White Threads

Tiny, tiny, tiny embroidery

When I was in Adelaide, I visited the Silk Legacy exhibition, featuring beautiful Chinese embroidery by Margaret Lee, and embroidery worked in the Chinese style under the tutelage of Margaret Lee. There were also a number of antique pieces from guild collections around Australia.

One of the pieces I was particularly struck by (there were several!) was an antique embroidery with beading on it. The beads were the size of ant’s eggs. They were tiny – less than 1mm diameter!

I was absolutely transfixed by the embroidery. I stood there and marvelled at it. It was so small, so dainty, so delicate, so beautiful!

And the next thing I thought was, “And people complain about working on 32 count linen!”

I know that I am fortunate to still have good eyesight. I know that I won’t always have it. However, while I do, I will continue to work on fine counts of fabric. In my completely inexpert opinion, I think that if you work on fine counts of linen, your eyes become used to it. It would be interesting to hear from an optometrist or ophthalmologist to know if your eye muscles are just like other muscles and can be trained to see finer and finer detail.

Soprarizzo velvet in Venice

Luigi Bevilacqua soprarizzo velvet If you haven’t yet seen it, I have an article in the current issue of Inspirations magazine (Issue 83) entitled “The Velvet Weavers of Venice”. Quite a number of people have told me they really enjoyed the article.

As a follow up, for those who would like to see a bit more, I’ve just found a blog post about the velvet they weave, called soprarizzo velvet, on Bevilacqua’s webpage. There is also a video, posted below, but which also can be found at the link provided, for those who read this blog as an email.

http://www.luigi-bevilacqua.com/news/2014/02/velvet-behind-scenes/?lang=en

The video is in Italian, which I don’t understand and maybe you don’t either. However, they do show aspects of the weaving process and for visuals, we don’t need to understand the language! The video may help you to make sense of the process that is used to weave soprarizzo velvet.

The long gold rods at the front edge of the weaving, underneath the red silk threads create the patterns of cut and uncut pile in the fabric. Near the end of the video (2:40) the weaver picks up the blue knife and cuts along a groove in one of the rods. This creates the cut pile for that row. She then slides out another rod towards the left. This is for the row of uncut pile.

At 1:24 in the video, they look up above the loom, and you can see all the punched cards that tell the loom the pattern to use.

At 1:56, at the left of the screen, you can see the spools of silk thread sitting under the loom. This is the silk which forms the cut and uncut pile.

The article that I wrote was a spur of the moment thing which only suggested itself when we arrived in Venice. Before our arrival, I knew nothing about soprarizzo velvet at all. I was doing an internet search for likely places to find fabric in Venice, when it came up. I decided it was something I wanted to learn more about, and something that the readers of Inspirations would probably be interested in as well. From there followed a flurry of emails to Inspirations (“would you be interested in an article on…?”) and to the business that makes the velvet, Luigi Bevilacqua. Fortunately, there were a few staff members who spoke/wrote English, and I was able to arrange a visit to them during our short stay in Venice. Sometimes things are very serendipitous!

Errata notice – Sardinian Knotted Embroidery

It has come to my attention that there are some further errors in the Peahole Hemstitch instructions in “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery”. (See previous errata notice)

The mistakes are found in the beginning sections of both the left-handed (page57) and right-handed (page60) instructions.

The corrections for Steps 1 to 6 shown below.

I sincerely apologise for the confusion the mistakes may have caused.

Obviously there are more steps needed to complete Peahole hemstitch than are shown here. They can be found in the book itself.

The ideal scissors for cutwork, revisited

Yesterday I found myself wanting to reread my post about the ideal scissors for cutwork. It was great to read it again and remind myself of all the things I look for in a good pair of scissors for working cutwork embroidery such as Hardanger, Portuguese Whitework, merezhka, Schwalm etc.

I found that the wider width that I gave my blog some time back had played havoc with how the images were sitting, relative to the words. It was time to clean it up, by using a table to set everything out more neatly.

Once I’d cleaned it up, I decided to post a link to it on my Facebook page so that people could again access the information and be reminded of it. Since then it has been shared quite a number of times, with over 2000 people seeing the post.

And because so many others have seen it, I thought I should probably share it with you again too. So here’s the link:
The Ideal Scissors for Cutwork.

If you have any questions about my criteria for good scissors, or any additional criteria that you use for choosing your embroidery scissors, please let me know.

Extensive interview with Yvette Stanton

Some years ago at the Sydney craft show, I met a delightful young French woman called Flore, and her cute little daughter. She was very interested in my work, and we talked at great length. I had remembered her ever since, because it is not every day that I meet young women with gorgeous French accents who are interested in my embroidery!

I met up with Flore again this year in one of my Mountmellick embroidery classes (as soon as I saw her name on the list of participants, I knew it had to be her!) and was completely surprised to learn that her daughter isn’t little anymore – time has marched on since the first time – much more than I realised!

Flore is a force to be reckoned with. She wanted to learn so much from me at the class, and I was happy to comply. She had specific questions about difficulty with certain stitches that she wanted me to help her solve, so together I helped her solve them. She’s a woman on a mission! She has an amazing website with online shop, forum and blog in French for French language readers. While she lives here in Australia, it seems that all her business activities are conducted in France.

Flore asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed for her website, so that her French customers could learn more about me. Um… how do you say no to an opportunity like that?!

She sent me a very long list of questions to answer. Right away I could see these weren’t your stock standard interview questions. She asked extremely insightful questions, with great depth. I so enjoyed answering them all!

This morning I received an email from Flore telling me the interview was up on her blog, so I went to see how it looked. Wow! She has amusingly entitled the blog post, “Yvette Stanton, le super héro qui sauve le monde de la broderie de l’extinction!” or in English, “Yvette Stanton, the super hero who is saving the world’s embroideries from extinction“. Oh dear Flore, I think you credit me for much more than I am due!

With my permission, Flore had photographed some of my embroidery at the class she had taken with me, and interwoven it with the story of meeting me all those years ago. She then followed it with the entire interview translated into French, and then the English version. It is the most extensive write-up someone’s EVER done on me! And I can’t say I’ve ever been called a super hero before! 😉

Thank you Flore, for your interest in my work, and for sharing it with others.

You can read Flore’s interview with me at her blog.

Eastern Silk

Last Tuesday in Adelaide, I had two goals. One was to set up for the Beating Around the Bush market day the next day, and the other was to do it with enough time to spare so as to be able to visit Eastern Silk.

I had heard of the shop, and I knew people who had visited there, and I really wanted to go, myself. Fortunately there was a bus from the bus stop right outside the school where Beating Around the Bush was being held that took me almost to the door of Eastern Silk. It did take me quite some time to make sense of the bus timetable – I think it was an intelligence test, and one that I definitely failed. When I explained that I wasn’t from around there, the bus driver was extremely helpful and let me know when I needed to get off the bus.

From the bus stop it was a short walk to Eastern Silk, at 7 James Congdon Drive, Mile End, just outside the western edge of the Adelaide CBD.

They have a range of goods for sale including soft furnishings, embroidered clothing, jewellery, scarves, bags, antique and vintage embroideries, and rolls of silk fabric.
beautiful things for sale at Eastern Silk

I was actually there for the silk fabric, so I took myself off down the back of the shop to the room where the bolts of fabric live.
bolts of silk fabric

I found myself a beautiful remnant of silk brocade, with gold threads. It was a short length, which could be made into a shortish skirt, a little shorter than I would usually want. However, I figured that a border of one of the colours at the bottom might work. I ummed and aahed about it, and eventually decided that I couldn’t leave it there and therefore it had to come with me. If I can’t decide what to make it into, at least it will make a beautiful background for photographing needlework on.

There were bolts of silk organza, different weights and qualities of dupion silk, printed silk, embroidered silk, and embroidered and beaded borders. It was a beautiful range of beautiful fabrics.

I had a lovely chat with the fellow who runs the shop, all about embroidery. I showed him some of my embroidery that I am currently working on. He was very kind about it, and thought it was very high quality work. He showed me an exquisite tambour embroidered panel, with fine stitching. He also showed me an organza shawl with gold work embroidery on it. It would have been an item of wedding clothing.

I spent an enjoyable time there, and would highly recommend a visit. If you’re looking for a gift or some silk fabric, this is a great place to go. Much of the range for sale is imported direct from India, by the people who own the shop. I had been told they were lovely people, and I found it to be absolutely true!

Eastern Silk is located at 7 James Congdon Drive, Mile End in Adelaide.

Back from BATB

I had a great few days in Adelaide, attending Beating Around the Bush. I arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and set up my stand for the market day. I had shipped across two boxes of books and took a suitcase full of other stock, and samples to display on the wall. It meant that my stand was very much more sparsely populated that at the Sydney craft show, but still, it was not too bad.

After setting up, I took myself on a little excursion to Eastern Silk on the Western edge of the Adelaide CBD. I had heard of the shop and hoped to fit in a visit, but wasn’t sure whether I would have time. Fortunately the stand didn’t take too long to set up. I had a wonderful time at Eastern Silk, which I’ll tell you all about another day.

Wednesday was market day. We planned to launch “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery” during the day. However, as time went on, they were running late with the things on stage, so we put the launch off until later in the day. Later in the day when it seemed like a good time to do the launch, I’d sold all the books except two! So we decided that we’d go without the launch. It had been an excellent day, regardless!

As well as selling many books (and signing all of them), I met with people who have enjoyed my work over the years, read this blog, and who were just really interesting people. Some came from nearby, and some came from afar, including USA, Indonesia, the UK and Ireland.

In the evening, most of the tutors got together for a tutor dinner. I really enjoy these sorts of events, as they’re often the only opportunities I have to “talk shop” with other people who do the same sorts of things as me. I had some great conversations with some of the other tutors.

Thursday and Friday were my Mountmellick class days. I had a small class, but we enjoyed ourselves. Each of the students did an excellent job.

On Thursday night we had the opportunity to attend a viewing of the Silk Legacy Exhibition, as part of the Adelaide Oz Asia Festival. The exhibition featured traditional Chinese embroidery and was put together by Margaret Lee, and included works by her, her students and others. There were also historical examples collected from some of the Australian embroidery guilds.

I hadn’t known what to expect from the exhibition. Chinese embroidery isn’t something I’m ever likely to try, but I thought I’d go because you never know what you’re likely to learn or be inspired by. It was amazing! Margaret Lee is an incredible embroiderer. Her work was head and shoulders above the other examples. I wandered around the exhibition, with my mouth dropping open. The embroidery was astonishing. If you have the chance to see the exhibition, I really suggest you do!

On Friday evening after the conclusion of the classes, we had a gala dinner, where Jenny Adin-Christie from the Royal School of Needlework entertained us with an enjoyable talk on the life of a professional embroiderer. It was another chance to enjoy the company of the other tutors.

During the week, I had the opportunity to talk with Kristian Fleming, the new owner of Inspirations magazine. It was great to see the respect and awe he has for both the magazine, and the people who do the embroidery in its pages – both the creators of the embroidery and the stitchers who make their own versions of the projects. I wish Kristian all the best as he leads his team into the future. The world would be a poorer place without Inspirations magazine, so I really hope that it survives.

As a contributor to the magazine, I picked up a copy of Issue 83, which features, amongst other things, an article by me (“The Velvet Weavers of Venice”) and a project by my twin sister, Prue Scott. It is rather nice to have both of us in the one magazine!

I really enjoyed the privilege of teaching again at Beating Around the Bush. Thank you to Fiona Fagan, Kristian Fleming and the rest of the team for creating such a wonderful embroidery event and for allowing me to be part of it.

Beating Around the Bush

I will be away from tomorrow (Tuesday) until Saturday, at Beating Around the Bush needlework conference in Adelaide. I will not be able to attend to any orders or enquiries during this time. I will get to them on my return. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Launching my book at the previous Beating Around the Bush market day. (Photo courtesy of Country Bumpkin Publications)

This will be my third time attending Beating Around the Bush. I’ll be exhibiting at the market day on Wednesday and launching my book “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery”. Of course I will be very happy to sign all books purchased, and I will have the full range of my books for sale. I will also have supplies of linen and thread, and all the projects from “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery” will be on display. The Village Fair market day is open to the public from 10am to 3pm, at Immanuel College, 32 Morphett Road, Novar Gardens, Adelaide. If you’re in the area, come and say hello!

On Thursday and Friday I will be teaching Mountmellick embroidery. We always have a fun time in Mountmellick classes. I’m looking forward to playing with stitches with the students. (Actually, I’ll get practically no playing with stitches done at all, but THEY will!)

Then on Saturday it will be home to my lovely family again. I do love teaching embroidery, but I always love coming home to my family. 🙂

quiet and busy

I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you. There’s been a lot of sickness here, so I’ve been stuck at home looking after sick people (including myself!) and we’re still getting through that. I’ve been stitching away, and also preparing for Beating Around the Bush needlework conference.

I’ll be at Beating Around the Bush for the Wednesday Market Day, selling my books and also launching “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery”. Yes, I know, it’s been out for a while now, but I haven’t officially launched it, so why not?! I’ll be teaching Mountmellick on the Thursday and Friday, which I’m sure will be fun!

The book is progressing, though a bit slower than normally due to me being sick. But when I’ve been well enough I’ve been stitching. I needed to figure out a stitch from very poorly translated instructions. It was making no sense at all. I had read the instructions many times, and they just didn’t seem to relate to the single, not-very-clear photo provided. I experimented with my needle and thread until BINGO! Finally something clicked and I figured out what they meant! I was happily able to master the stitch. Figuring it out felt like I’d won the lottery – it was such a feeling of accomplishment!

Have you ever had a time when you feel like you’ve conquered a stitch?

photography class

I’ve been asked to consider presenting a class on photographing needlework for tutors at our guild. In time, I think it could also be presented to guild members.

If you were to do a class like this, what would you like it to cover? What never works out for you when you’re photographing and therefore what would you like to improve?

To help me get a feel for the equipment people have, do you have a digital SLR camera, a point and shoot camera, or just a phone? Do you have a tripod?

Thanks for any input you can offer.