The Lacemaker

Well it's the Durham time of the year!  I didn't manage to complete my blackwork piece over the winter - too many other projects plus work of course!  I probably won't get much more done now before I'm in Durham at the beginning of June.  My plan is to seek Tracy's opinion and advice, spend one day on The Lacemaker and finish at home.  This year I will start my advanced silk shading.

Katherine Parr - finished

Katherine is now finished and mounted ready for Claire and Tony to frame.  I have also mounted the other 6 embroideries that Tony's wife embroidered.  I decided it was good practice for my RSN work!  They are quite large - 17" x 11".

Katherine Parr

My current project is finishing a set of blackwork figures for a neighbour.  His wife died before they were finished.  The set is in blackwork and features Henry VIII and his 6 wives.  I am embroidering Henry's last Queen Katherine Parr.

I will then mount them all ready for Tony to frame.

Shoes

Little shoes I made for Charlie

Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilts

George's Quilt

Charlie's Quilt

Millie's Quilt

Embroidered detail

Back of Millie's Quilt showing all the food the caterpillar ate his way through

Detail of embroidered caterpillar in chain and stem stitch

 Over the summer I made three cot quilts for two friends' babies and for my niece's baby. The quilts were accompanied by the picture book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

Royal School of Needlework - Diploma in Hand Embroidery

Summer Intensive 2013 I have started on the first module in the diploma course.  I have chosen to begin with blackwork.  My subject is the blackwork coif and head of the young girl in the painting "The Lacemaker" by Caspar Netscher.

 On a sample piece of 32 count linen I stitched a background of lines to represent a twill linen of the cap.  Then traced the image onto tissue paper, tacked it onto the sample and stitched running stitches around the shape.



More samples of patterns.  All traced from original pieces

I looked at the shapes on the cap and then studied as many historical pieces as I could to try to determine what the shapes were.  This is my interpretation, which I aim to reproduce on my embroidery.

DAY 6

Slow progress on her face, but looked at how to 'break out' the pattern for minimal shading.  Also started to discuss with Tracy how to approach the cap.

DAY 5

Couldn't quite get the shading right on her neck, so there were a few unpickings today, plus some help from Tracy!

MONDAY

Doesn't look like much progress but I worked all day!  I must be very slow.

 SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Didn't quite finish shading her dress before bedtime! Stitch is 'waffle stitch'.  Darkest is done in coton a broder and blending to 2 strands of stranded cotton

Starting to lighten the background now.

Need to work on the edges at some point.

Close up of 'waffle stitch.

DAY 4

Not a lot of progress today.  Couldn't get the hang of the shading on her neck so had to unpick!

DAY 3

More of the long & short zig zag stitch for the background.  The gaps are where I am going to put thinner thread for the shading.

Pattern under the chin is a diamond and is achieved with a 45 /3& 50/3 Mulberry silk. The diamond is filled with a cross.  The pattern & the thick thread create the dark effect.  The slightly lighter area under the chin will be done by not putting a complete cross.

 DAY 2 - STARTING THE BACKGROUND

Spent some time practising some samples and then started the background with a zig zag type pattern.

           DAY 1 -  SETTING UP

This means preparing the fabric & frame and tracing the basic outline onto tissue. The tracing is then basted to the fabric to hold it in place. The tracing is then stitched with running stitches, larger on the top than the bottom, so that when the tissue is removed we can still see the outline - I hope!!

Felt Mittens

Had a lovely day yesterday with Caroline Merrell of Felt in the factory, Ross-on-Wye.  She showed me how to make these mittens.  The felt is needle felt, which is hand-dyed by Caroline, and the flower is needle felted onto the cut out mitten shape first.  The two halves of the mittens are then stitched together before beginning the felting process and 'shrinking' the mittens to fit.  Thank you Caroline.