Well here it is – the Plas Teg Bellpull from the Mary Jane Collection, worked in embroidery floss with some color/stitch modifications. I’m sure it’s gorgeous in wool too. It’s 24 inches by 6 inches (60 cm by 15 cm). Wowza! I can’t believe I finished it! Anyway, they have several more bellpull designs plus a number of much smaller options, including some of the flower clusters from this bellpull separately, if any of y’all are feeling inspired.
Folks, I finished the last of the bellpull and it is winging its way to Virginia for the 50th Annual Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition (so excited!!!!!!!). It’ll be on display at the Woodlawn estate (originally part of Mount Vernon! For non-Americans, that involves George Washington, our first president) throughout all of March. At least, as long as nothing goes wrong in the next week. So here are the last two flowers! Some advice from recent experience: if there is a spider web surrounded by more stitching, do the spider web first. It’s a lot easier without any stitches nearby to catch the needle. Next week: photos of the whole thing!
Y’all, I just realized yesterday that the deadline for the 50th Annual Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition (in Alexandria, Virginia) is very, very soon! On the other hand, the bellpull is almost almost done! THEREFORE, I am frantically finishing the last few flowers and express mailing it tomorrow to my amazingly wonderful brother in the area, who has offered to take it to get it framed and entered in the show. Walk in entries are due Feb 9 and 10!
SOOOOO, are any of y’all in Virginia? Anybody know where I might be able to get a bell pull framed real real quick next week (much easier to mail with no frame)? It’ll be on display March 1 – 31st, so if you wanted to see it in person (along with a ton of other embroidery) that will be your chance. I might even visit!
Update: Contact has been made! Hurray for blogging!
These purple things supposedly represent berries, though I think they look like flowers. They’re in a variant of spider-web stitch, which can make some really interesting textures. I finished off the blue flower in the corner too. At this point the bell pull has only three flower clusters (two of them already started) and the mound at the base left before I’m finally done! Here is a closer look at the berries – I think you can see my stitching improving on each berry.
A quick update today: I started work on a kingfisher!
Birds are a lot easier than I thought they would be. As long as the stitches are in generally the right direction, they look great.
Today I have a wishlist of needlework accessories I’d like to see more often. There are lots of patterns for biscornus and needlecases and boxes and table runners. But I’d like to see more of these:
What would you add to this list? Got any suggestions for how to make a coffee table book with embroidered pages?
This is an example from Dr. Shirazi’s collection. I am not sure where in India this is from. Perhaps some of my readers might know? Somebody tell me about it!
This is just spectacular. Below you can see one of the motifs and the lower border.
If you look even closer, you can see that the stitches are very simple. What makes the work spectacular (besides the sheer size!) is the bold color and geometric design. And the mirrors of course!
Here is a better view of the upper part of the design.
I will just finish the post with a number of photos.
This is one of a special series of posts based on the embroidery collection of Dr. Faegheh Shirazi, from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research is on “textiles, dress, gender identity discourse, and material culture in the Middle East; the meanings of veiling; rituals and rites of passage as they relate to material culture.” Over the years she has collected a number of examples of embroidery from around the world, and has very kindly allowed me to photograph them for my blog.
I put the finishing touches on to my Thai dancer. See the ribbon in her hair? Also added: some beads to her crown and grass to dance on.
I am delighted. She’s gorgeous. I need to recenter her in the frame, though. I think she’s crooked.
I restarted work on my crewel bellpull and finished the last two long-and-short stitch petals for this flower. I like its dramatic color scheme.
This is a very positive review of “The Anchor Book of Crewelwork Embroidery Stitches” by Eve Harlow. David & Charles, 1997. ISBN 0-7153-0632-4
It’s a really great little book! It has 48 different stitches, each illustrated with a small crewel embroidery design that incorporates the stitch. The designs are beautiful and creative, and the author chose some great color schemes. Tracing outlines for 30 of the designs are provided in the book. Each is about the size of the example below. They feature a variety of motifs. I recommend this book either for a series of small projects or for inspiration.
embroidery for ducks 