Gold n' Stitches

Floral Glove - your questions answered!

Thank you all for your comments.  I will attempt to answer your questions.

Firstly - Hints for Satin Stitch

When stitching satin stitch on the leaves the first stitch is made along the centre vein of the leaf.  It is stitched from the base to the tip and the tip should be 'hyper-extended' - ie made one needle width longer than the traced outline on the tip.  This adds to the illusion of length and gives a pleasing shape to the leaf.  The following stitches are stitched following the traced outlined.

 In the stitch guide, the principal "less is more"is recommended.  This means that when stitching leaves and petals you should avoid the temptation to create shorter and shorter stitches as you move from the centre to the outside curve of the leaf.  Too many short stitches on the outside edges tends to make the leaf look short and squat rather than long and slender.

Another tip I like to use, which is not contained in the notes for the floral glove, is the technique of polishingthe threads once the area has been stitched.  Although this technique is usually applied to padded satin stitch, I found it  worked quite well with the Soie Paris silk threads.

Susan O'Çonnor provides a very good description of this technique in her book Monograms The Art of Embroidered Letterspublished by Country Bumpkin.

Polishing consists of rubbing the threads with a large tapestry needle in the direction that the stitches lie. The stitches are flattened and packed together to create a smooth lustrous finish.

Secondly - How long is a piece of string???

I'm not sure how to answer the question  relating to how long it has taken to stitch the glove.

I am not a fast stitcher.  I tend to get lost in the moment and relish the time spent stitching.  I also tend to be a bit of a perfectionist - so "reverse stitching" (unpicking) often takes up precious stitching time. I am still struggling with the pre-traced design - I am finding the inconsistency in the tracing of the design elements hard to overlook.  While some of it can be fixed by reshaping the elements when the backstitch is applied around the outside edge before filling with long and short or satin stitch, in some areas this has not been possible.

Also I am easily distracted when it comes to embroidery and am prone to working on multiple projects at any given time, and while I am working on them I am thinking about the other half dozen I would like to do! 

Having said that I haven't found the project a burden as far as time is concerned.  (Even though Lesson 2 has arrived and I haven't completed Lesson 1).  The foundation work always seems to take a fair amount of time and I like to complete all of the backstitch around the outlines of my deign first so that I can get into a rhythm with the long and short stitch and satin stitch.

I am still keen to go ahead with the Masterclass even though there will be an overlap with the projects.

 

Floral Glove Needlecase – On Line Project Begins

You all must have thought I had fallen of the planet- but no just,  really hectic with life.

I have managed to do some stitching.  I am working on a new design as well as sewing samples for the store for  the upcoming craft craft show in March.  I will post some pictures of these soon. 

Today, I’m  all excited about starting my Floral Glove Needlecase.

Thanks to Tricia Wilson Nguyen and the Thistle Threads team for the opportunity to re-create a little piece of history.

At last all of my goodies have arrived.  After receiving my notes and instructions for the first month, I just couldn’t wait for my threads and goodies to arrive.  You know what they say – through rain,  hail and snow – and with the horrendous weather conditions in the States, it was literally through SNOW!  But they arrived safe and sound and I couldn’t wait to get started.

With my email instructions arriving in the previous week, I had plenty of time to read through the instructions.  I found the instructions and diagrams for long and short stitch comprehensive and informative and gleaned a few little tips for improving my satin stitch.   I loved the close ups of the stitched examples provided.  I have referred to them regularly while stitching and it is the next best thing to having the teacher with you – in fact it tops that!  I can refer to the samples whenever I need to – got to love that!

 

The design was already traced onto the linen fabric.  As with most linen fabrics, the surface of the fabric is slightly uneven due to the slubs in the threads and this has caused the traced lines to a bit "wobbly".  However as you will see once the area has been stitched, this is not an issue.

I haven’t used the Au Ver a Soie Soie Paris before.  It is so smooth and lustrous. It blends together beautifully when doing long and short stitch and glides through the previous stitches with ease.

 

 
I think my long and short stitch is less structured than the examples provided in our notes however I am reasonably pleased with the end result.

The next area to be stitched this month is the small leaves under the carnations and some small blue flowers.

So I had better get to work as I also have to complete the right hand side before next months instructions arrive.

 

 

  

Floral Glove Needlecase

I have enrolled in the Thistle Threads Online University course for the Floral Glove Needlecase.  I am so excited, I just can't wait for my goodies to arrive.

I had previously purchased a Silk Covered Purl Variety Packfrom Thistle threads thanks to a tip of from Mary Corbett at Needle n'Threads.  The sample pack contained 1 yard of multicoloured silk covered purls.  These new threads are copper wire wrapped with filament silk and then coiled over a mandrel into a purl.

I haven't used them yet but just had to have some for future use, especially when I found out they were a limited production line.  I notice that one of the colours has already sold out!

While I was ordering the purls, I browsed the Thistle Threads site and signed up for their newsletter and when the newsletter about the online classes came through I just had to sign up.

Three things appealed to me about the classes.

1. It is on-line!  I have been searching for on-line goldwork classes for ages, having emailed the UK embroiderers guild, who referred me onto Tracy Franklin but with no luck.
2. The project uses a number of threads I haven't used - lizardine and gilt bullion, threads which are rarely used in contemporary embroidery. The emphasis in the project is on the use of the gold threads and wires rather than the surface embroidery.
3. The project was inspired by 17th century professionally worked gloves of the Stuart era. I can't wait to absorb myself in this piece of history and experience the techniques used in this era.

And just in case I thought I might have missed out on anything in this project, I have also enrolled in the Tudor and Stuart Gold Master Class which incorporates 28 metal thread stitches in three projects.  This project starts in April and looks very challenging. Take a look - there is a 3 1/2 minute video which showcases the projects and gives an example of the animated stitch library.

I am really looking forward to sharing my "adventures" with you as I progress through these projects.