White Threads

Great Gatsby handkerchief spotting

In July 2011, I received a phone call out of the blue from someone in a movie props department. She needed some handkerchiefs embroidered as props for a major movie that was being produced. Would I be able to help them?

Um, sure! I conscripted my sister to help me, and together we embroidered two handkerchiefs for an un-named “I’m sorry I can’t tell you what movie it is” movie. The designs were supplied to us, and we just did what we were asked. I did the flowers on both, and my sister Prue did the leaves.

On finishing the second handkerchief, I took a photo of the one I had in my possession. I’m hoping that Prue took a photo of the other one, which was a different design.

Gatsby Daisy Buchanan Carey Mulligan handkerchief

Daisy Buchanan’s handkerchief for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

In time, we figured out that the movie was Baz Luhrmann’s production of The Great Gatsby. With the release of the movie already in America, and the impending release elsewhere, I decided now was a good time to finally show you the handkerchief.

We deduced that because it features daisies, and because one of the main characters in The Great Gatsby is Daisy Buchanan, that it is a prop for Daisy (played by Carey Mulligan). We have no idea if the handkerchiefs ended up being used in the movie. We do hope so!

If you see the movie, and if you see the handkerchief, I’d really like to hear that it made it in. Let’s do a bit of Great Gatsby handkerchief spotting! It could be my only ever starring movie role!

Added later: This is the second of the two handkerchiefs, with a different design.

Award-winning Hardanger review

A long, long time ago, way back in 2000, I entered a hardanger I had designed and stitched in the Nordic Needle Hardanger Design Contest. At the time, I was working as a book designer for an international publishing company.

I sent off a photo of my embroidery and was delighted when it was selected to be shortlisted. That meant that I had to send the actual embroidery to the US for judging. With great trepidation, I sent my embroidery off by courier to America. I really hoped that it would get there safely, and then get back again safely too!

The risk paid off, because my design was one of the six winners chosen that year. I was thrilled! In time, the design was published in the annual Nordic Needle publication showcasing the winners. (Mine is the one shown top right on the cover.)

Because I won that competition, I sent out press releases to local publishers of needlework books, informing them of my win. I thought that I might be able to contribute a project to a book they were working on. They had other ideas, suggestion that I might write a book for them on Hardanger embroidery. And so began my publishing career!

Yesterday I received an email from Antonia, one of my long time readers, letting me know that she had found a review of that Hardanger design on a French website. I had not seen this review before, so was very pleased that she let me know about it.

Thank you to Antonia for alerting me to the review, and thank you to Yolande, the author of the review. You have both been very kind!

more stitching

I must say I have been particularly indulgent this week. I have stitched for most of the week, and it does mean that I have gotten an awful lot done! I put aside the large project I was working on yesterday to work on a small one for a specific purpose.

The small project is going very well, and today I am looking forward to constructing it and then working a needlelace edge around it, which will be a new technique for me. I’m really looking forward to nutting it out!

I also have a project for Inspirations magazine on the go at the moment, and that will need to be finished in the coming weeks. So much sewing to do. So much fun!

A day of stitching

Yesterday I had a lovely day of stitching, working on my latest whitework project. It is progressing really well, and I am enjoying seeing it grow and change as it nears completion. I think that I might even have the embroidery finished by the end of the week. Then I’ll need to design the next one and get stuck into it, which will be fun too!

I was thinking that when this one is done, I’ll have two projects where the embroidery is already completed for my book. (The construction still needs to be done.) However, it occurred to me late last night that I have already completed another project, finishing and all.

It is lovely to accidentally find that you are further along than you thought!

I have also been working on the step-by-step instructions for the book, as with this project I have been thinking very much in terms of “how do I explain this technique?” as I have been stitching. Knowing what to put in and what can be left out (usually very little, in my case!) is an important thing to sort out.

When I have figured out what needs to go in, then it needs to be decided the best way and order in which to present the information. All this lovely problem solving to do. I love my work! 🙂

Medical stitching technique

ALERT: If you are squeamish, you may like to skip this post!

Yesterday, unfortunately I had cause to observe someone else’s stitching technique. While The Reader and I were off at our pattern-drafting class, The Husband and The Gymnast were enjoying the sunshine at a local park. The Gymnast came off her bike, split her chin open (for the third time, no less!) and chipped a tooth.

My husband raced her off to the hospital emergency department, and there texted me to let me know. He was happy for us to stay at the class until the end, but then The Gymnast decided she really wanted me there.

Oh, the poor thing. She had a small but deep hole in the front of her chin, requiring only one stitch this time. It was in a different spot to both of the previous times, which was good, because one day there won’t be enough skin there to stitch back together. She also had grazes all over.

It took quite a bit of persuading to get her to allow the doctor to stitch her chin. I knew she would be interested in the process, so we got the doctor to show her the needle (a tiny little curved needle about 7mm long) and thread (blue nylon?) and to explain what she would do. They wanted to cover her head with a sheet (with a hole in it) so that she could not see what was happening, however the idea of covering her head really made her scared. We agreed that she could go without the covering if she shut her eyes. The doctor told her that she would not start until The Gymnast told her she was ready. Well, she was not ready…

The Gymnast had lots of questions, but she was very very scared. She’s had needles and stitches before, so she was anticipating the pain. The only way I could get her to allow the doctor to put the stitch in was to offer to pray for her. It was amazing: as soon as I started praying out loud she immediately calmed down, and shut her eyes ready for the doctor to start work.

I continued praying as the doctor slipped the needle through the skin (no flinching, so obviously the local anaesthetic was working!), but then it became all a little too interesting, so I stopped praying and started telling The Gymnast what the doctor was doing: she’s done half a knot, now it’s a double knot, now it’s a triple knot, and now it is a quadruple knot.

It was actually really interesting. When the doctor had finished, she turned to me and said, “You didn’t finish your prayer.” So I quickly added, “Amen!”

The Gymnast is quite stiff and sore today, but there’s no sign of infection. Hopefully it will stay that way, and heal well and quickly. It will be a rather medical week as we’ll have to deal with the chipped tooth and then get the stitch out later in the week. That’s not going to be fun…

The doctor did suggest that if we didn’t want to go to our GP to have the stitch taken out, that I could do it myself. She said that her mum took all her stitches out. I don’t think that would do anything positive for the parent/child relationship in this case!

For those who are further interested in medical stitching techniques, check out this link to a surgical stitch sampler. I had a feeling that I might have had the sampler on White Threads previously, and sure enough, it was mentioned in the comments section from my post when The Gymnast previously split her chin open!

Hungarian embroidery

The Reader has a trumpet exam coming up and last week had a rehearsal with her accompanist whom we had not previously met. My husband took her to the rehearsal while I did some work.

They came home and said, “You should have gone!” The accompanist is Hungarian and apparently had embroidery all over the walls of the room where they had the rehearsal.

The Reader had another rehearsal today, and so this time I took her. Oh, the embroidery!

The lady was only too pleased to get me a whitework cushion for me to study while they rehearsed. It was beautiful!

It was Transylvanian, in white thread on unbleached homewoven linen. It was nearly all stitched in square chain stitch as you would expect of that style embroidery. The most unusual aspect of the embroidery was the large heart motif worked in detached buttonhole stitch.

I commented that I didn’t realise that stitch was part of that style. My host said that actually it was not at all typical. In fact, it was extremely unusual. However, the embroidery was authentic, but just a bit different than the regular traditional examples.

Once the rehearsal had finished she took me upstairs to another room where they had some other embroideries on the walls. Her grandmother was the first costume designer for the Hungarian opera so she has some lovely textiles that have been in the family for a long time.

She showed me two cross stitch pieces. I explained to her that they weren’t just everyday cross stitch, but were done in long-legged (or long-armed) cross stitch. I have seen this style of cross stitch worked in folk embroideries before.

It was so lovely to enjoy the embroideries she had on display, and I think she and her husband were pleased to have a guest who appreciated them so thoroughly! Thank you to my host for your generosity in sharing your precious embroideries with me!

the ideal scissors for cutwork

When I teach Hardanger and Portuguese Whitework I take my embroidery scissors around the class with me as I teach and demonstrate. Often students will discover that their embroidery scissors are just not up to the job of careful cutting threads next to stitching. They may be too big and chunky, or they may be too blunt. I am happy to let them use mine in class, and they discover the difference between good embroidery scissors and less-than-good ones.

The question is often asked of me, “What scissors do you recommend?” Good tools can make all the difference between frustration or an easy experience, and a bad or a good result. I have a few pairs of embroidery scissors, all of which I love to use, but they’re just not available anymore. So I set about to find the perfect scissors for any sort of counted cutwork, including Hardanger, drawn thread work, merezhka, Portuguese whitework, and Schwalm embroidery.

What am I looking for?

Scissors with metal handles. Why? Because over the years I have had embroidery scissors with plastic handles, and sometimes these handles break. All it takes is a few drops on the floor. They rarely break right off, but they can get a little crack, right through. This means that every time you put your fingers into the holes, the crack opens up, then closes around your skin, pinching it. Ouch! Such a break doesn’t always happen, but I’ve had it happen enough to know that I want to avoid purchasing plastic handled embroidery scissors. Embroidery scissors with metal handles never have this problem.
Sharp scissors. I would think that all scissors start off sharp, otherwise, what is the point? (Ooh, sorry, that’s not meant to be a pun!) Perhaps some blunt more quickly than others, perhaps it is all in the way they are treated. Treat your embroidery scissors nicely! They are not for cutting paper. They are not for cutting finger nails. They are not for cutting out large fabric shapes or pattern pieces. They are for cutting embroidery threads, and snipping fabric threads. Treat your embroidery scissors well, and they will stay sharp.
Fine points. One of the main things we want to do with embroidery scissors when working cutwork is to slide the bottom blade under the required number of threads and then bring it back to the surface after that specific number of threads. This means if you slide it under two threads, you know you’re only cutting two threads. You cannot accidentally cut too far when you bring the blade back to the top of the fabric before cutting.However, to take the blade under threads AND bring it back to the front, those blades need to be as narrow as possible, to fit between the fabric threads. They need to have a small angle, AND they need to be thin.
Let me show you what I mean. Blade width. These scissors are being held in my hand over a ruler. I am holding them in the manner I would use them to cut fabric threads. We are measuring the width of the two blades side by side. At a point about 8mm along the length of the blades, you can see that these blades measure approximately 2mm in width. That’s very good! I’d love to show you some really chunky embroidery scissor blades in comparison, but I don’t own any!
Blade angle. You can use a protractor to measure the angle of the blade points. The blades on these scissors have a lovely fine angle of 10 degrees. This means they are very tapered, which is exactly what we want.
Blade point. The point of the blade itself is worth considering also. Is it very pointy? Is it blunt, which will make it harder to initially penetrate between the fabric threads? The pointier the blade point, the better.
I do also have a few other criteria, such as that the price for the scissors should be reasonable for the quality. If I am going to invest in a quality pair of embroidery scissors to last me for all time, then I expect to pay a reasonable amount for them. I would also like them to be good quality steel, so they are less likely to rust.
The ideal embroidery scissors for cutwork embroidery So, given that these are my criteria for the ideal pair of embroidery scissors for snipping fabric threads in cutwork embroidery, which scissors do I recommend?I have three recommendations.
My first choice of embroidery scissors Dovo Hardanger scissors 3.5inch/9cm Made from hot-forged stainless steel in Germany. Dovo Hardanger scissors are recommended by Hardanger stitchers around the world. Ask on any Hardanger forum, and these are the scissors that are consistently recommended. These sharp embroidery scissors have have a blade point angle of approximately 10 degrees, measure 2mm width across both blades 8mm up the length of the blade, and have very pointy blade points. The Dovo Hardanger scissors are specifically designed for cutwork such as Hardanger embroidery. They have sharp, narrow, fine-pointed blades. These high quality embroidery scissors are available from Vetty Creations.
My second choice of embroidery scissors Premax Embroidery scissors 2.75inch/7cm Edit: 2017 – I no longer recommend these scissors. The ones I have had most recently from the manufacturer were not as sharp, and the points weren’t as pointy. This feedback was passed on to the manufacturer, and they said that they would take it into consideration, but the subsequently manufactured ones were just as bad. If they improve, I will reinstate this recommendation, but for now, I will not recommend or sell them. If you cannot afford the Dovo Hardanger scissors, then these are my next recommendation. Made from precision hardened and tempered steel in Italy, these scissors are very petite. They have petite blades in pretty much every way (which fulfils my criteria very nicely!). If you have petite hands, then these are the perfect scissors for you. However, if you do not have petite hands, then these are not likely to fit your fingers. The finger holes measure 19 x 14mm (0.75 x 0.5in) at the widest points internally. If this is too small for your fingers, then I recommend the other scissors listed here. These sharp embroidery scissors have have a blade point angle of approximately 10 degrees, measure a smidgen more than 2mm width across both blades 8mm up the length of the blade, and have pointy blade points. The Premax 2.75inch embroidery scissors are guaranteed for life, by the manufacturer, against any failure arising from defective material or workmanship. These quality embroidery scissors are available from Vetty Creations.
My third choice of embroidery scissors Premax Stork Embroidery scissors 3.5inch/9cm Made from precision hardened and tempered steel in Italy. These scissors are the traditional stork design. They have fine, narrow blades, a sharp point, and are lovely to work with. These sharp embroidery scissors have have a blade point angle of approximately 10 degrees, measure a smidgen more than 2mm width across both blades 8mm up the length of the blade, and have pointy blade points. The Premax 3.5inch stork embroidery scissors are guaranteed for life, by the manufacturer, against any failure arising from defective material or workmanship. These quality embroidery scissors are available from Vetty Creations.

Edited and updated to include Dovo Hardanger scissors, February 2017.

class preparation – suzani cushion

Over the last few days I have been working on some class preparation for my suzani cushion class to be run at the Berrima Patchwork Quilting in the Highlands Retreat later this year.

It has been quite enjoyable to do a little stitching and playing with colours. I had completed one of the colour ways some time ago (shown right), but the other one still needed its stitching added and the thread colours worked out. While the stitching isn’t yet finished, I’ve now worked out the thread colours.

The Reader used my sewing machine semi-independently the other day to make a skirt based on a pattern that she drafted in our pattern drafting course. It’s not quite finished yet, but it is looking great. I put the zip in for her, as we were using an invisible zip. I recently bought a foot for doing invisible zips, and as I had never used it before, I didn’t really feel that I could teach her how to use it without having used it myself. That would have been the blind leading the blind!

The Reader has been doing some sewing at school, and as it happens her school has Bernina machines, as do I. I bought mine when I was 15, and deliberately bought a Bernina as it was the same as I had at school too. The Reader says that the machines they are using at school are older than mine, so while we’ve gone to different high schools, I suspect that the ones she’s using are probably the same vintage as the ones I used when I was her age, at school! Using one at school means that she has more confidence in using mine at home. It makes me very happy!

New Ethiopian restaurant in Sydney

One of the most popular posts on this blog has nothing to do with embroidery, but is instead about a visit to an Ethiopian restaurant here in Sydney. The one we previously visited in Bankstown has closed some time back, but there is a new one now open!

Jambo Jambo African Restaurant, like the previous one we visited, masquerades as an African restaurant but is actually specifically Ethiopian. We went there for dinner last night and had a great time, with fabulous food!

We chose to have a selection of dishes including doro alicha (mild chicken dish), goden tibs (grilled beef ribs), alicha wot (lamb stew), and alicha (curried vegetables). When the dishes came to the table, there were five and we had only chosen four. This confused us slightly, but we went with it!

Left to right: doro alicha, alicha wot, injera, alicha, goden tibs, beef tibs

They all came with injera (a sourdough pancake), which is traditionally made with tef flour in Ethiopia, but theirs was made with sorghum and tef. The tef is imported from Ethiopia, so I suppose that adding the sorghum brings the cost down a bit! Injera is made in huge pancakes, about 40cm (16 inches) diameter. They often serve the meat and vegie dishes on it. Extra injera is rolled up and cut into sections, and served as small rolls of pancake.

It was all delicious. While cutlery was supplied, the traditional way to eat Ethiopian food is to take a small piece of injera and place it over the food to pick up the stew/meat/vegies, rather like covering it with a very small blanket. You put it all into your mouth together. The next mouthful uses a new piece of injera. Of course, you’re supposed to do it right-handed, but me being left-handed, I am culturally inappropriate and use my left hand.

Later, we asked our host, Joseph Bekele, which dish was which (to try to find out what the extra one was!). He had also supplied us with beef tibs, which is grilled beef. He said it is usually made with lamb (yes, we’ve had lamb tibs before and loved it!) but he’d run out of lamb, so had done it with beef. Neither the beef or the lamb versions were on the menu, but tibs was a dish we had been looking forward to, so we were pleased he added that to our selection!
Towards the end of our time there, Joseph roasted some Ethiopian coffee beans. Ethiopia is one of a number of places that claims to be the birthplace of coffee, so to them coffee is a very big deal! He came around and showed us the beans roasted in the pan, and I suppose we were supposed to smell them. To me they just smelt burnt (but I am not a tea or coffee drinker, so I am no afficionado!). He then brought out a great big coffee pot to sit on our table. It sits on a heat ring, traditionally made from grasses that have been dyed and twisted into cord. Once the coffee has brewed it is poured into tiny little cups to be drunk.

For readers who are newish to this blog, we spent three months living, working and schooling in Ethiopia about four years ago. This is where our love of Ethiopian food comes from. My family went back there last Easter, but I missed out on the return trip because I was teaching at Beating Around the Bush needlework conference. We really enjoyed our time in Ethiopia.

All the Ethiopian restaurants we have been to in Australia are not cheap. I guess this is because they import some of their ingredients such as tef and some of the spices from Ethiopia as they are not available here. Possibly it is also difficult to get chefs who are used to cooking Ethiopian food. Despite the expense, the restaurant was very busy, even on a Tuesday night – a testament to its great food! And besides, it is much cheaper than a trip to Ethiopia to sample the food there!

If you are wanting to try a new culinary experience, I believe there is a Groupon deal currently available (until about June 2013) for Jambo Jambo that might help you. Jambo Jambo have a website, and a Facebook page.

Jambo Jambo African Restaurant
Shop 16
Crows Nest Plaza
103-11 Willoughby Road
Crows Nest
Ph: 9439 3277

I highly recommend Jambo Jambo, and I’m sure we’ll go there again when we need another “fix” of Ethiopian food. We paid for our own meal, and have no affiliations etc.

school holidays again

Well, it’s school holidays here again, several weeks after it really felt like it should have been holidays (Easter time). This term feels like it went extremely quickly for me, but that’s probably because I’ve been away teaching so much (too much!).

These holidays I will be doing a lot of sewing (dressmaking) with The Reader. She has some things she wants to make, and we have homework to catch up on for our patternmaking course. I also have some more luggage bags to make for our trip later in the year. I “test drove” the bag I have already made when I went to Ballarat last week, and it worked well.

I’ve finished making two new leotards for The Gymnast for the upcoming winter season. One is a complete surprise, and the other we designed together. I think she will like them when she receives them as a gift from me and my husband soon.

My wonderful husband has been plugging away with the data entry for my stitch dictionary app. I find the whole project very soul destroying (it is SO not creative!) so he is giving me a hand with it. 🙂 I also have a new project in the wings for Inspirations magazine, that I need to get done. And I’m trying to get a little bit done on my finishing techniques book every day.

So there’s lots happening here, but I’m sure it will all go a bit slower over the next few weeks, as the kids are home from school.