Crewel Friday

It's started.  It's a lot of fun. 

I would work on it all the time, except I find crewel can be hard on my fingers--I poked a hole in my right middle finger from pushing the needle. Then I remembered I have this great rubbery thimble to use and it helped a lot--not only pushing but pulling recalcitrant needles through. I tend to use a fairly large needle to help ease the thread, and it's quite easy for the first row, but any subsequent rows in close proximity seem to be tough.  Some of this was done in a hoop, some not, depending on how the teacher classified the stitches.

I like working with the very clear outline. I wish I'd done it in a softer color and perhaps a green.  It shows through some of the paler shades of thread I've used. 

My Chinese fortune cookie fortune from a lunch this week said: "good beginnings is half done." The perfect sentiment!

I am excited! Crewel Friday...

A research librarian I consulted downstairs (thanks, Connie!) found this book in our library collection:  "English Crewel Embroidery Motives and Stitchery of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries" by Miriam Sollau McCurdy. It is an unpublished (as far as I can tell) dissertation for a Master's degree from December 1935. It's at home, full of post-it notes, so I don't have a picture of it (not much to look at, it's a plain cover with a bound, typed manuscript.)  One great part of the manuscript is its bibliography.  I'm so excited.

This book is much more visual.

It's one of the eight (yes, eight!) books I found in our library collection that were mentioned in the dissertation bibliography.  I'm in book heaven!

This book is aimed at teaching children in the classroom practical knitting and sewing. It is from 1914; the original edition is from 1897.  It is full of "drills" with very specific instructions and steps for both the teacher and student--how to put on a thimble, thread a needle, pick up and hold the fabric. It's very nicely illustrated with red and black drawings. With it's two-color printing and many illustrations, I'm sure this book was quite cutting edge in its time.

I love this needlework apron.  In the back there's a lovely fold out for making a sewing sampler with tucks, gathers, bands, gussets and tapes.  It includes a scalloped embroidered edging, darning, patching, cross stitch marking and some embroidery. A whole lot of the book is about mending, darning and patching. I think we need to get back to that reuse-it mindset.

My scan of this book came out with the top cut off.  It is "English Decorative Fabrics of the 16th-18th Centuries" by A. F. Kendrick, published in 1934.  It smells like book--not musty, but like, well, book.

I love that smell.

The book is on heavy paper with big type (my eyes are happy). Half is text and half black and white photographs, many from private collections.  I've already found some good material.

Three more books arrived on my desk late today. There is a two volume set, "Patterns in Western Europe: 1180-1900,"  by Joan Evans and published in 1931.  The index shows some promising listings.  For visual reference, I borrowed "Chinese Art: An Introductory Handbook to Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Textiles, Bronzes and Minor Arts" by a whole bunch of people (Fry is the first name) and published in 1935--just in time to be a reference for the thesis. 

I haven't been stitching this week--it's been a busy week so far--I've had two evening guild planning meetings. Two visiting scholars arrived from China  to work with one of our faculty members on translating a book he's writing. They've made my life very interesting--in a good way.  And I'm being dripped on by our over-worked air conditioning system. Hopefully that will be remedied tomorrow by some sealing tape. (I noticed the building engineer didn't say duct tape, but I'm sure that's what it is.)  It's still very hot here.

Crewel Friday--it's done!

The front:This project was a bumpy one from start to finish. I don't know why--this is the third kit I'd done by Lorraine of Capri. The fabric on this project is darker than the others and I didn't like the way it showed through some of the stitching, so I did some ripping and padding. Other than that the kits were all very similar. It's done. The silk cording wouldn't twist properly. My third try is still a bit uneven. I measured twice but the book itself isn't quite square. The felt "pages" wouldn't lay straight so I trimmed them and now they're a bit wobbly, too.

The back. I do like the little blue button I found in my stash.The entire outside. (this photo is distorted by the camera angle--it's not quite square but it's not this far off.)and inside, with nifty pockets for needle packets and wool pages.Last, here's the finished needlebook with it's companion pincushion. I finished the pincushion with no problems at all in January 2010. I'm happy with how the needlebook turned out but I'm still a bit baffled by how difficult it was.(Although I have found over the years that the minute I get cocky about my embroidery, I come across a project like this that makes me realize how much I have yet to learn.)

Crewel Friday

Here's the sampler, damp blocked and looking much nicer. It's ready to go.And last night I finished the first sampler pocket. It needs (desperately) to be damp stretched--the instructions provide very specific instructions for this so I'll tackle that this weekend. I think between the two I've covered the required blanket and long-and-short stitches.I'd love to be able to get this into the mail next week.

Oh, and why all the green? A while back World Embroideries gave me a lovely box of crewel threads and there were many skeins of every shade of one family of green. The abundance led me to choose it for the sampler.

Crewel Thursday

Sorry for the quite posting week. I've been focusing on work so long days and little stitching. A funeral last week and a wake this (family of friends, both). Fiscal year end and graduation are looming. It's not all work--yesterday World Embroideries came down to campus with me. She posted some lovely photos here. I didn't get to play, but we did go out for a nice lunch. My crewel strip sampler is done. I need to block it. I like the way the flower came out.This is the pocket sampler. I made some progress and I can see both improvement and room for more improvement. The foremost mound will be long and short stitches as will the circle on the left--both green. The curved stem will be dark red like the other and the little dot at the end will be bright red. And I'll be done.

I've also been working at gathering the other materials I will need to send with the samplers to the course instructor and I hope to do that very soon.

Crewel Friday--it's back!

Not much progress here--not stitching for a month will do that. The stitches at the opening of the pocket are made with a version of "buttonhole" (as opposed to blanket) stitch. It's also different from "tailor's buttonhole" stitch diagrams I've seen. I found it hard to keep consistent edges. The knot edge is, well, a knot and I gained in consistency as I went along (I stitched the right hand side first, then the left hand side of the opening.) The outer edge is where you come up, and that made it hard, too, to keep a smooth edge. Especially since this particular stitch can't be stab stitched--you go down and come up with the needle and then wrap the thread around the "parked" needle before completing the stitch. (I can't find the book where I got this but when I do, I'll post a photo.)I've outlined a leaf in preparation for some long and short.

As you can tell from my comments above, I was a bit frustrated by the buttonhole stitch I chose for the pocket opening. I reread the instructions about the sampler--which is primarily for blanket stitch--and decided to do more samples and play a bit.So I began the band sampler above. I marked three stitching rows, 1/8", 1/4" and 3/8" and some circles. I just used a Sharpie to mark permanent lines using a ruler. The lines are a bit thick and blobby. I'm working hard to come up exactly on the line and go down exactly on the line.

While I'm striving for even edges, I'm varying the density of the stitches to experiment and see what I like best. The circles were hard to keep a nice even "purl" on the edges of the blanket stitches. The little red dot is a "granitos" stitch--I just got sick of all the green so I added the yellow and red--an experiment in propotion of hue.

In stitching this sampler I learned:

It's very hard to keep straight, vertical stitches when they get further apart. (you can "fake it" when the stitches are closer.)

Stab stitching is much better than sewing.

When coming up I poke the needle up where I think it should be and then move it one thread closer to the previous stitch--I ended up with more vertical stitches that way.

I thought 3/8" was too wide but I actually liked it the best.

Even though I'm experimenting, I find I'm doing a lot of ripping.

When you rip wool, just replace it, don't try to reuse it.

I find it very hard to be consistent when the thread itself isn't--the Appleton wools definitely have thick and thin areas. How do you compensate for that? I haven't figured it out yet.

For the next set of lines I plan to try some blanket stitches with different "leg" lengths, I want to try a row where you space it so you can fill in from the other side with another row of blanket stitches. I'm not sure about the third row.

Then, the new RSN Essential Guide for Crewelwork (here's Needle 'n Thread's review) there's a blanket stitch flower that I like and I may try to replicate that.

Crewel Friday

I felt from the start that wallowing so happily in my books was a bit of an indulgence, and it was one I've totally enjoyed, but now I'm itchin' to be stitchin'. I've been busy this week, getting ready. I sized and refined my two pocket designs. The first sampler is to be buttonhole stitches and long and short stitch. I found a piece of twill that will hold my two designs. I need to get it ironed and transfer the designs. I'm not sure if I'll try to complete all of both designs with those two stitches or if I'll save some areas for stitches yet to come.I dug out my box of wools. This box of color sample cards from Appleton is one of my more useful extravagances. I use it all the time. I pulled out the cards with the color families for the main project design and I compared them with printouts and other things I have on colors in natural dyes and decided they were correct. My inclination is to always want to change something like the color but I couldn't find any justification for it this time (and part of the class is to justify any color changes based on research into natural dyes available in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries).Then I pulled out my stash and pulled the colors I have that are called for in the design. I have a large stash and it's going to get larger--I don't have several of the called-for color families. I do have several skeins of every color of a large family of very bright "Kelly" greens. I've decided to use them for my samplers. They are not period correct but I think they'll be pretty in the samplers. I've teamed them with a couple of bright reds and yellows and also a very pale yellow and ivory for shading.

If I have room in the suitcase, I may pack the sampler and a stitch book to take with me next week. If not, I have my paper-piecing project all packed and ready to travel.

I have a post and a giveaway scheduled for next week. I don't know yet exactly what my plans are (beyond London) or what my Internet access will be. I hope to be able to pop in with some pix.

Crewel Friday

Hmmm, well, I haven't done much at all this past week. My only stitching has been to make (yet another) chemo cap for a friend. I gave it to her yesterday before getting a picture (it's blue like the last one).

Last weekend was more about continuing the clean up from the avalanche. I ironed the clothes that has been waiting, sorted through some of the old pamphlets and magazines, and did some cooking and cleaning that needed doing. I also brought work home to do and I did that.

Work is in the pre-vacation frenzy stage (complicated by annual budget deadlines). It's interesting here--students are frazzled to, studying for end-of-quarter exams. Lots of grim faces.

Inspired a bit by spring, I tried my hand a a couple of other pocket designs. I kept thinking about all of the leaves in crewel, especially those with turned-over ends. So I thought, what if I made a pocket in a leafy shape? And what if it had a turn-over at the top? These are really rough sketches. The one at the top has an embroidered turnover. Below, the leaf turnover is actually a flap on the pocket. I think I like that better (I can choose to embroider it or not!).I think I like my abstract design for the sampler stitches, but I wanted to check out some more traditional patterns. This is adapted from something I saw in my books. Strawberries and some other odd berry shaped thing and small leaves.

I keep coming back to the mounds--I like those mounds and I think I'm going to focus my paper on them.

I didn't read much this week, either, just an hour or so with Edwards's Crewel Embroidery in England. It's a very readable book, perfect for early Saturday morning.

Yesterday was a break--we had a girls' day. A quiet one. My sister's a peach to keep hosting us. Yesterday's "occasion" was our sister-in-law's birthday from February. My sister made shortbread, we ate it hot out of the oven. For lunch we went to a new place in St. Charles, IL, called the Rx Cafe. It's an American tapas place and we had a great selection of little bites. They're on sale Thursdays, so we took advantage. Then we visited a local yarn shop that recently moved from Geneva, IL to St. Charles, IL (just up the road a piece), Wool & Company. Mostly we talked, and talked and talked, shared our projects, asked for advice. It was wonderful.

Still in the 17th Century...

I do believe I'll be talking a lot about my Jacobean Crewel course. Simply because I'm at the obsession stage and it's just about all I'm thinking about.Right now I'm reading English Domestic Needlework: 1660-1860 by Therle Hughes. It's not dated and a quick search didn't turn one up but suspect early to mid 20th Century. The author has some interesting biases, but unlike most of the books in my collection this is not a book for stitchers but a book for admirers and collectors. And, unlike most of the books for stitchers, it has references and sources. The author read wills, inventories, and other historical documents to determine what embroideries were considered important enough to inventory, what things cost, and, in some cases, who was doing the actual embroidery (the lady of the house, servants, or professionals). I'm learning a lot and finding a lot to think about. I'm also finding it interesting that I know I set this book aside many years ago as far to boring to read. Then I think I was more into "how"--now I'm thinking a bit more about why perhaps.

Still in the same period, I took a break from reading and stitched this lovely little Glittering Snail from Thistle Threads. The design is free on her site, but proceeds from the sale of the materials kit benefit the Fashion Museum in Bath's endeavor to house all of their gloves collection in archival boxes.
The kit had some really interesting silk wrapped wire threads, along with silks, check silver--even the silk backing fabric and floss for the twisted cord trim. I really enjoyed making this project.

We're gearing up for a big blizzard that's scheduled to hit tomorrow. The NeedleArtisans of Northwest Indiana meeting has been cancelled. Wish us luck!

Abundance!

A while back, before Christmas, in fact, I received a rather overwhelming gift. It actually sat in it's box after I'd first opened it while I figured out what to do! World Embroideries gave me an abundance of Appleton Crewel Wools. What she didn't know was that I had just signed up to take EGA's Individual Correspondence course in Jacobean Crewel Embroidery.I finally had a day to sit and play and I dumped the whole box out into my lap, just for the sheer joy of it. Wooly goodness, indeed! I've always kept my few skeins of Appleton wool in a zippered project case. I took all of the threads, inventoried them, sorted and played. I stuffed my case until it is bulging and then...put the rest back in their box until I can decide how I want to store it all going forward. I certainly have plenty for my samplers for the course. Thank you!