easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Jul 28th, 2010
Another embroidery for a another friend’s daughter - born just two weeks ago.
This one’s very simple - a nice flowing chain stitch, on silk.
I found it harder to embroider on silk than cotton, because the fabric’s not as stable. Even if you try very hard to keep an even tension, the fabric still likes to [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Mar 22nd, 2010
Slightly larger than actual size (they’re about an inch across), here are three Dorset Buttons that I made at the weekend. I was too tired to make the waistcoat that these will eventually be sewn onto, so I figured that making the buttons was at least a start.
I followed a tutorial in a 1935 sewing [...]
Posted in FAQ, embroidery, sewing on Sep 16th, 2009
Just a quick reminder that this weekend is my smocking workshop at the Museum of English Rural Life.
Today is the very last day that you can sign up - in fact you’ve got about an hour and a half left if you want to secure a place!
The course runs from 2:15-4:15 on both Saturday and [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Sep 1st, 2009
This is my latest embroidery, for Catherine Elizabeth May who was born just less than two weeks ago.
The font is Bickham Script Pro, and one of the things I liked about it (along with most of the fonts that I buy) is that it has proper ligatures. A ligature replaces a sequence of single characters [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Jul 6th, 2009
This is what I’ve been up to all weekend - working panels of smocking on the front, back and sleeves of one of my tunic dresses.
From top to bottom, the stitches are Trellis, Wave, Honeycomb, Chevron and Van Dyke.
I’m really, really pleased with how the smocking’s worked out.
Unfortunately, I over-estimated how much fabric the smocking [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Jun 19th, 2009
Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour in the Reading Room at the Museum of English Rural Life, having a look at a couple of books about smocking that had been put to one side for me.
The books were Smocking: A Practical Beginner’s Guide, by Audrey Vincente Dean, and Smocking: Traditional and Modern Approaches by Oenone Cave [...]
Posted in bags, embroidery, sewing, wedding on Jun 8th, 2009
I don’t like showing other people’s wedding things in their entirety before the wedding, so this is just a little snapshot of Laura’s beaded wedding bag.
The ivory silk dupion was already beaded and embroidered. I removed some of the clear beads, and replaced them with red ones. You can also see the pretty flower shaped iridescent button, [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing, shopping on May 19th, 2009
This is what’s been keeping me out of trouble in the evenings - embroidering ampersands. And a little flower made from a vintage button, just for good measure.
The larger ones measure 6 inches across, and the smaller ones are four inches.
In order to prevent my house from becoming completely over run by embroidered typography, all [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on May 5th, 2009
When typography and crafts collide… I couldn’t be happier!
I’d intended this ampersand to be like a traditional embroidered monogram, and was originally planning on filling in the design with satin stitch. Instead I spent several days looking at the outline, and eventually decided that I like it just the way it is.
Being something of a [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Apr 20th, 2009
Oscar Edward arrived on Easter Sunday! Which was the 12th. Not the 13th, as I originally embroidered. Oops!
Thankfully I realised my mistake before the piece was mounted and framed. Now to pop it in the post, along with a little hat.