Kasuti Bluebird

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Hannah

This was inspired by a comment from a friend on my post about Kasuti embroidery. The bird is in DMC 3807 blueish purple and the border is in DMC 718. It came out really well! The stitched area is about 3.5 in x 4.5 in (8.9 cm x 11.5 cm). It’s on 28 count evenweave linen. The twisted cord edging is DMC 823 pearl cotton #5.

 I signed up for a class to learn some finishing techniques, and took this along. So now it’s stretched over padded mat board with a nice twisted cord edging, a handle to hang from, and fancy backing fabric. I like the cord – it saves a lot of trouble trying to match up frames to a non-standard size, and it looks great.

It was a bit of a pain though, since the teacher’s approach involved carefully attaching the stitched linen to one padded mat board and the backing fabric to different one, then sewing them together, then sewing on handmade cording to hide the stitching and frame it. I’m pretty sure you can do something similar with only one mat board, and some other tricks to reduce the work. I’ll have to investigate further. There’s got to be a better way.

Here’s a photo of the stitching holding the two boards together, before I finished sewing the cord over it:

If you look very closely at the back, you can see the stitching holding the cord on.

Posted in Blackwork, Finishing techniques, Indian embroidery, My work | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Medieval Middle Eastern counted thread embroidery

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Hannah

I found a fantastic website from Mathilde Eschenbach with charts for medieval Middle Eastern counted thread embroidery (blackwork, pattern darning, cross-stitch) plus photos of the original pieces. Here are a few example thumbnails to inspire you to take a look:

Cats and trees, Egypt, 14th-16th century

Egyptian pattern darning

Cross-stitch, Egypt, Mamluk era

Posted in Blackwork, Cross-stitch, Embroidery around the world, Free resources online, patterns and designs | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Software for Embroidery Design I

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Hannah

Folks, I thought I’d make sure y’all are aware of Inkscape, a graphic design software that’s completely free and useful for embroidery design. If y’all are interested in designing and want your designs in digital form, this is very useful.

I scanned in a black-and-white sketch and used the Trace tool to vectorize it (vectorize – turn a drawing into geometric formulas, so it can scale smoothly to any size), and it worked great with the default settings! Here is a tutorial on the trace tool. You can also scan in photos or color drawings for tracing.

If you want to draw directly in Inkscape and want a basic overview, this tutorial teaches you to draw the two dolls in the picture. There are tons of other tutorials online too!

Posted in Color and design, Free resources online, tutorials | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Drawn thread experiments

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Hannah

I felt like experimenting, and decided to try out drawn thread work.

I worked this from top to bottom, getting increasingly fancy:

The first two rows were incredibly easy. I feel like adding hemstitching to everything now! The third one I accidentally cut some extra threads I shouldn’t have – need to be slightly more careful with the scissors. It turned out fairly well though. Then I was inspired to try a much larger drawn thread section:

This one turned out less well. Getting the tension right so everything is even and neat is trickier with larger areas. Not that I tried very hard. I cut another thread accidentally, snip snip.

In conclusion, the smaller borders are extraordinarily easy and look fantastic. I like them a lot! I’m glad I finally tried hemstitching.

Posted in Drawn thread, My work | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Goldwork Chrysanthemum Petals

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Hannah

I started outlining the petals on the chrysanthemum from the Mary Jane Collection. I photographed it in the sun so y’all can see the shine.

And here’s a photo taken in the shade, so no sparkles:

The gold hanging loose is my mistake – I pulled really hard when plunging the end through the fabric, and yanked one of them right out of the couching and most of the way through to the other side! I tugged it gently back, but I have to re-couch it. Oops. Anyway, here is a closeup of my progress:

So pretty! Especially for my first try at goldwork! I love this kit! I’m going to finish up with a couple photos of the back, which definitely has some issues 🙂 Good thing it doesn’t show! Perhaps by the time I finish this kit I will figure out how to do it better.

Posted in Goldwork, My work | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Kasuti: Indian cousin to blackwork

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Hannah

Kasuti is a type of embroidery from Karnataka, India. Like blackwork, it is geometric and worked in double running stitch. However, it is traditionally very brightly colored. I found a few books in the library on the subject, and have worked up some examples (I picked the colors, but they’re bright, so I think they are in line with the style!) I thought this would be interesting to folks that do traditional blackwork, since the motifs and designs are different (even if you worked them in black).

Here is a lotus (it’s not done yet):

A set of borders (I love the little deer at the bottom):

This bird is so cool:

And finally, an elephant (also unfinished):

The two books are Ethnic Embroidery of India, by Usha Shrikant, and Kasuti of Karnatak, by Indira Joshi. Both are really fantastic, but I believe Kasuti of Karnatak may have been a source for the other, and has more kasuti designs since its focus is solely on kasuti.

Posted in Blackwork, Indian embroidery, My work | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Blackwork Pattern Book: Ensamplario Atlantio

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Hannah

 String or Nothing has posted a brand new free blackwork pattern book, Ensamplario Atlantio! It’s pretty cool – there are over 200 patterns in there. The patterns range from simple geometric repeats to stag heads and griffins. Anyway, if you have any interest in blackwork, it’s a fantastic resource. The bottom two patterns in the photo of her sampler below are included in the book.

My favorite pattern, though, did not make it into the book – check out Dancing Pirate Octopodes!!!!

Posted in Blackwork, books, Free resources online, patterns and designs | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Restarting work on the goldwork chrysanthemum

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Hannah

I mentioned my goldwork chrysanthemum from the Mary Jane Collection a while ago. I stopped for a while since the gold was giving me trouble, but Megan gave me some advice on plunging the gold through the fabric, so I’m trying again:

I had stopped work partway through the stem. When I picked it back up, though, I realized that I had  decided to couch the stem down in front but wait to tie the gold down in back until I could do it all at once – what a horrific mess! I want a time machine so I can go back in time and slap myself. That was a terrible idea. Tie it down as you go along, folks. The stem looks good from the front though.

And here’s a close-up of the blossom. I couldn’t catch the sparkle in my photos today, but everything in this design really shines. I will also be outlining all the petals in gold. It’ll be gorgeous.

Posted in Goldwork, My work | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Joining the Royal Persian Blossom Stitchalong

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Hannah

So Mary at Needle ‘n’ Thread is planning a stitchalong of the Royal Persian Blossom from Talliaferro Designs. Nobody has started stitching yet, but she has a discussion area for the stitchalong where people are discussing fabric, thread, and color choices (at some shops you can simultaneously order the pattern and the wool). I’m going to jump in too! I’m just brainstorming at the moment though – no stitching for me yet either!

I love the blue/gold/brown color scheme, so I want to keep that. Mine will be in embroidery floss instead of wool, though. I like the shininess, and there will be some different options for adapting the pattern to a new look.

I also really want to learn more about Indian embroidery. I have several good books about it, and there’s many wonderful resources from Indian embroidery bloggers as well. So I’m thinking of trying to do the Royal Persian Blossom interpreted through Indian embroidery. My first idea is to replace those blue circles running across the top with shisha mirrors. I would absolutely love it if y’all would jump in with more ideas! Everybody think Indian embroidery!!! What should I do?

Posted in Crewel, Indian embroidery, My work, Surface embroidery | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Almost there: Mini Bellpull Kit

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Hannah

I mentioned a while ago that I had almost finished the Mini Bellpull from Custom House of Needlearts. Well, I decided I wanted to finally have it finished, so I’ve picked it up again. I fixed a few spots that needed an extra stitch where I was careless about covering up lines. Then I tackled this problem:The stems in the bottom right needed finishing. The chain stitch flower was a victim of the unfortunate incident that taught me what scissors keeps are for, and needed repairs. These are now finished:

The only thing left is to finish this hill. Once I finish the rows I’ve already started I’m declaring it done. So close!

Posted in Crewel, My work | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments