New Year's Resolutions

As I sit on this bitter cold dreary January day, I find myself pondering many things.  Unemployment has provided me the opportunity to catch up on things, not the least of which are my Embroidery projects.  One of those projects -- though not strictly Embroidery -- is this blog.  I have so many things I meant to share last year, and now I can!

The first thing to share is an announcement -- I have successfully completed the Embroiderer's Guild of America Master Craftsman Program in Crewel!!   I am an official Master Craftsman.   I'm often asked "what does that get you?" and other than sore fingers from five years of stitching six different projects, I can honestly say PRIDE.  Pride in accomplishing a long and difficult goal, pride in knowing that my embroidery is judged to be excellent by people who are trained to know, and pride in knowing that I learned well from my Mother. I only wish she could have loved long enough to know that I made it.

My final piece sits on the blocking board (for the third time -- ugh!!) 

Later this week I'll lace it onto Acid Free Foam Board in preparation for framing, and then go select a frame for it.   Steps 4 and 5 also await framing, but this piece is going to Woodlawn this year to see how it fares in that competition, so it needs something worthy.   Once framed, I'll post a final photo.

While waiting for my final notification on the Master Craftsman Program, I tried my hand at a slightly different technique -- Needle Painting.  This technique is done using a single strand of DMC floss on muslin fabric (VERY different than what I'm used to!) in mostly long and sort soft shading.   The result is intricate life-like detail of animals, birds, and flowers, such as my little bluebird below:

Luckily, this design is only about 3.5 inches across!  I needed stronger glasses to work this, but I really enjoyed doing it, and plan on doing another next month as part of an online class with the deisgner, Tanja Berlin (http://www.berlinembroidery.com/onlineclasses.htm)   It's a Red Fox and I think it will be fun, especially as I have at least one friend who is doing the class as well, so we can share our progress!

Anyone else want to join us???

My plans for posts coming soon are ...

Instructions for washing and blocking your crewel work (this for my EGA Chapter friends!)

Recaps of the first several steps of the Master Craftsman Program

An overview of the Jacobean Program I designed for my chapter

Progress reports on my new projects (Red Fox Needlepainting, Goldwork, and of course, more crewel!)

If there is something you would like me to write about, or a question you may have, please let me know!  And if you have any friends who would be interested in this blog, feel free to share and pass it along!

Happy New Year!!

And The Winner Is ...

One of the things I love the most about Crewel is that I can put any stitch anywhere I want on my piece.  Even when I am stitching a commercial design, I can pick my colors and my stitches.  Some people prefer to have a chart or a specific map of where everything goes, but not me....   except for that darned butterfly on my Master Craftsman Step #6 piece!   

As I said before, I have never had a single motif give me more trouble.  My original intent was to have a monarch butterfly, orange and black.   Early on, I decided that there was too much detail to fit into the small butterfly I had for all the intricacies of the monarch pattern, but I could use the colors.  So this is what I stitched:

I was a little concerned that it was too bright, and the judges agreed with that.  I tried looking for the same color family but just a bit softer hues, but I didn't have anything (and I have almost every color of Appleton Crewel wool made!)   I looked for totally different colors -- a blue, perhaps?  Nope.  Peacock?  Nope.  Scarlet?  Ick!!  After hours of pulling colors out of my cabinet and laying them on the piece in various light conditions, I finally reverted back to the same colors in the surrounding design, the yellows, pinks and purples.  

With that decision made, Next was a question of what stitch to use.  For some reason, I moved away from the bands of Satin Stitch and tried my old standby Long and Short (right side in the photo below.)   I liked it, but it just looked a little too much like a flower petal and not a butterfly wing!  So I tried the Satin Stitch bands (left side below) which I liked, but I couldn't get the edges as crisp as I wanted, and I was worried that there was not enough contrast between the yellow and the linen.  

That's when I tried adding the outline stitch, both in the Bright Mauve below, and then in the Bright Rose Pink further below.  Neither of those was quite the effect I wanted. 

Out it all came AGAIN.  By now, I was beginning to worry a bit about the linen fabric getting a bit frayed from so many attempts and having to rip them all out, and resorted to my Doodle Cloth!  (I'm not sure why it took me so long, especially since that's the name of my blog.)  I stitched a Satin outside band, with two lines of outline in the Bright Rose Pink, and the center is Satin in Bright Mauve.   It's hard to tell from the photos, but the wing below is on oyster linen (almost white) and the actual piece is on a darker background.  I really liked this combination, as long as it would have enough contrast! 

I can't tell you how many hours this one butterfly has cost me.  The original orange one not withstanding, this new version -- between thinking and pondering and planning and trying and ripping out and trying again -- probably took ten or twelve hours.  I like the results (close-up below, in context further down.)   

Do you?

.  

I have now made all of the requested changes to the piece, washed it, and it's now blocked and drying.  Sometime in mid-September, it will be on it's way for final judging, and hopefully a successful outcome. 

Now, on to the small piece I have designed as a program for my Local EGA Chapter (Bucks County).  I'm really excited about this project, and there are 10 people signed up for it already!  It's a small design (the linen is 9" x 9", the design about 4 1/2 - 5") that incorporates motifs from Jacobean Crewel, with a nice variety of stitches.  I'm going to put a complete kit together, and I'm writing a nice instruction booklet complete with photos of me working each stitch.  Stay tuned, and I'll write more about it in my next post!

Happy 4th of July!! 

The Final Phase of Master Crafstman

I apologize to my legions of followers (all 8 of you -- ha ha!) for not staying active in my blogging!  I don't know how good bloggers do it, and wish I could!   I had every intention of doing step by step updates of this final phase of my Master Craftsman journey, with photos as I went, but I really wanted to finished it in time for the April 1st judging deadline, and that meant head down concentration and no time for anything else in my life for several months.  

It is now finished.  I think.  The problem with original designs is you always want to tweak and add things!  I have added several things in the last week to help balance the colors and the density to white space ratio.  Unless someone points out something glaring, I declare it finished.  There are a few things I am not 100% pleased with (and I won't say what!) so it will be very interesting to see if the judges point any of those out.

Here it is, the whole piece, and some close-ups of each section.  

 

I am pretty happy with it. 

One thing it has taught me is that I enjoy desgning original pieces!  I have loved stitching designs I have obtained over the years, but there are so many other versions of the same design out there.  Doing an original raises it to more of an art, in my mind.  I sometimes wonder if there would be any market for original works of "needleart", like original paintings?  I might have to give it a try!

So now it's on to the washing and blocking phase, then all the paperwork (I need to create a stitch diagram, where I indicate on a copy of the design every stitch along with thread samples and every color used.  That takes forever!) for submission.  It must be in the judges hands by April 1st which is not a problem at this point -- I'm usually doing all of that in the last 3 days and then paying for priority shipping!  Hopefully, I'll be announcing a "Passed" decision soon!

I did take a small bit of time out a month or so ago, and shipped two completed pieces off to the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibit in Alexandria, Virginia.  This is one of the largest exhibits in the country, and is actually a competition.  I have no idea if I have won anything, despite the judging being complete, because the group that does it is apparently not very good about posting results or advertising!  Personally, I think that's deplorable in this day and age -- how hard could it be to scribe the results and post them online?  I plan on driving down to see the exhibit the weekend of March 16/17, and will report back any news. I'm not sure photography is allowed (the exhibit is in a Historical Home) but I'll see what I can do.  Stay tuned!

Here are the two pieces:

An old Elsa Williams Jacobean Design, one in a set of six. 

A Deerfield Early American Design

My next blogging goal is to go back and share the Master Craftsman Certification experience from the beginning!  I'm also designing a small project to be taught at my local EGA Chapter later this year that I'm really looking forward to.  I'll share that as well.

Enjoy!

Step #5 Provisionally Passed

My goodness, I can't believe I have not posted anything since mailing in my pieces for judging back in April. Where has the time gone?  I do apologize, and on this sweltering hot July day, will try to make amends by bringing things up to date while sitting in the air conditioning.

I received my package back from the Master Craftsman judges, to find that my Step #4 (the parrot/peacock that I needed to fix stitch direction on the tail feathers) was passed on re-submission (Yeah!!) so they moved on to judge Step #5.  This was the Elizabethan original design.  I was relatively confident that it would pass, and must say was a bit disappointed to get only a "Provisional" pass.   I sometimes feel like they believe they can't pass people on the first try!

I went through the comments carefully to see what they wanted changed, and was thinking to myself "really??"   Then I got to the end of the comments, and even the judges admitted that the changes were "nit-picky".   I knew they wouldn't take long to fix, and put it aside to begin thinking about my design for the final piece (they send the instructions for the next piece as long as you have a provisional pass.)  I think that's what threw me off course -- I hit design block!  More on that later.  For now, I'll concentrate on Step #5, what they wanted changed, and how it looks now that I've changed it. 

The things they wanted changed were:

• The Coral Knot tendrils at the top that had the knots too far apart
• Some small areas of Satin Stitch that seemed bulky and rough
• The color on the big Tulip (this was a suggestion only, not a requirement)

First, the Coral Knots.  Here is a photo of what they looked like originally.

I have placed arrows to show the knots, and how far apart they are.  I have not read anything in any of my books that says you should only have space between them for one knot, and I liked the look of them spaced out like this, but the judges said I needed to change them to be closer together.  I have done so, and the picture below shows the result.

                           

It's a different look than what I wanted, but okay.

The next issue they pointed out was the uneven Satin Stitch at the mouth of my little bell flowers.  To be honest, I was not totally happy with those myself, and it didn't surprise me that the judges pointed that out.  I have a vision of what those flowers should look like, and could never quite realize that vision, although the new version is closer.  

Here is the before...

And here is the after:

 Finally, they didn't like the satin stitch stem of my purple tulip.  They also suggested that I replace the inside of the tulip petals with yellow to provide better color distribution.  Again, I was careful to balance my color distribution, and didn't think it was really necessary.   Here is the original, and you can see the thick stem and the all purple tulip.  I have arrows pointing to the petals they suggested I change.

I replaced the stem with a line of chain flanked by rows of outline, and it is a much smoother look.  I was trying to replicate the stem of a tulip flower which is thick and round, but I can see how it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the design.   As for the color suggestion, I opted to compromise.  Since their commentary was a "suggestion" it meant I was not required to make the change.  I decided to add some yellow instead of replacing the purple entirely with yellow.  Again, not sure it was necessary, but at this point in the process I've learned (to a certain extent) to just give the judges what they want!  

Luckily, all of these changes took me less than 2 days to accomplish, and the piece is now finished.  All I need to do now is re-wash and block it and send it in for the October 1st judging deadline.  I sure hope I don't wait until the last possible day and end up having to pay extra for Priority Mail like I normally do!  

That will be the only thing I send in for October.   I made a huge amount of progress yesterday and today on my design, and finally have one I am happy with (my next blog post will be about that design.)  It's a  very ambitious project at dimensions of 13" by 27".  I still have a few things to tweak on the design, then get it onto linen (can you believe I have a piece of linen exactly the right size!!??) then select my color scheme, and THEN I can start stitching.   This is a bad time of year for me to concentrate on stitching, because so much of my time is spent training our horses and going to competitions over the summer.  So at this point, I am not even going to put pressure on myself.  I'll be happy to finish it over the winter, and send it in for next April. 

Let me know what YOU think of the changes the judges asked for.  Do you like the results?  Would you have left it the way it was?      

Evolution of Design

Until recently, all of my projects have used designs someone else created. Part of the Master Craftsman Certification, however, is to create your own designs (3 of the 6 steps!) so this has been a new experience. I'm amazed at how long it can take to create something to incorporates all of the requirements (e.g., historical period accuracy, certain shapes, overall size) and presents a pleasing, balanced "whole".

This current project is a design from the Elizabethan period of English Crewel. I started by reading several texts to learn about the period of time, and the stitching that was being done then, both in professional workshops and in the home. These included Crewel Embroidery in England by Joan Edwards, The Royal School of Needlework Book of Needlework and Embroidery and Antique Needlework by Lanto Synge, and English Crewel Designs by Mary Eirwen Jones. I downloaded a 16th century "Herbal"(The Herball and Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard, 1597) -- a book containing woodcuts of plants and flowers common at the time, which provided inspiration to stitchers -- to see what was available at the time.

And then I used my favorite design tool -- Vellum! I traced the woodcuts of several flowers,

plants, and vines common in the period, cut them out, and started playing around with placement

until I had something I liked. No, this technique was probably not available to the embroiderer in the 16th century, but that wasn't part of the requirements of the project!

From this stage, I had to get a clean copy, so I got a clean piece of

Vellum and traced the entire design. It looks a bit more finished here, but still a long way from being ready to stitch!

The components of the design include honeysuckle flowers and vines (top), a Tudor Rose, tulip flowers, Foxglove flowers along the lower vine, and two opposing carnations at the bottom. My challenge will be to get the flower definition (all the little lines that bring shape and dimension to each flower) with the stitches that were commonly used at the time.

From this stage, I needed to get the design transferred to my linen. There are many ways to do this. The one I've used many times is simply to get a piece of graphite paper, place this on the linen, place the design sheet over that, and with a blunt pen (a ballpoint pen that has run out of ink is a good tool!) trace the design. I have never been really satisfied with this method, though, probably because I lack something. I always ended up with graphite smudges on the cloth, or lines slightly offset if the design shifted. This can be very frustrating and I tried many ways to keep it from happening, none of which worked all of the time.

I could use the historically accurate method of "prick and pounce" where a sharp object is used to prick holes in the design, and then loose chalk or "pounce" is dusted over the design on linen. The pounce goes through the holes and creates the design. The dots can then be connected using pencil or some other method (some people even paint the lines!) This method sounds far too complicated to me, and I would probably smudge things ever more!

I have opted recently to use my own version of a light box. I find a sunny window in my house, and tape the design to the window:

Then I tape the linen over the design (use fabric tape, or I am using painter's tape here -- sticky enough to hold, but not so sticky that it can't be removed.)

Then I simply trace the design using a hard pencil. For the record, this photo shows the second time I worked through this process with this design. The first time, I had not left the required fabric outside the design! So I have another whole version of this design. I hate when I make mistakes like this, especially using linen twill that costs upwards of $80 per yard! Will I stitch it twice? Probably!!

The finished product -- time to start stitching!

A Fiber Fiend's New Discovery

As a second generation crewel stitcher, I have always taken my mother's lead in all that I do. She was after all my instructor and mentor. So, I have always used Appleton Crewel for my thread. Always. I have boxes and boxes of almost every color, in small skeins and large hanks.

While doing my research into Elizabethan Crewel for my next piece, however, I found a new wool thread that I am very excited about (new to me, I'm sure others are well aware of it and would say "well, duh, you didn't know about THAT?") It is Renaissance Dyeing in France, specializing in 100% merino lambs-wool hand dyed using historically accurate recipes. They have a line called "Elizabethan Range: 16th Century Recipes" The instructions for my project state that color selection should be "historically appropriate to the period" (or something like that) so of course I had to order it!

My package arrived the other day. Here they are!

Now, I realize that a package containing 25 or so skeins of wool of various colors is probably not very exciting to most people, but I am thrilled. The colors are so warm and soft and perfectly complimenting each other. The fiber is soft and delicate. I have a feeling it will take me some time to get used to it as it's much more refined than Appleton, but I'm looking forward to that challenge. I feel like I'm striking off on a journey of independence.

Is anyone else fascinated with fiber? I love going to yarn shops just to see and feel all the different fibers available. Am I weird, or are there others out there who share my fascination with the ancient art of spinning something useful out of the natural coats of animals?

I sure hope I'm not just weird!