mini embroidery tute, and oh my gawdz i used a hoop!

PHOTOS PINNED WITHOUT PERMISSION–see the sidebar over there–NO PIN stated TWICE—you don’t ask???Then you don’t pin! MY work, mine.

Idly watched a Martha Pullen sewing show while stitching today. The hand embroidery they demo’d didn’t work for me so i dug through my ancient needlecraft book, looking for something new and thought i’d try the raised buttonhole stitch. Sometimes looking at the drawings is confusing, and the result looks a little less than interesting! This time though, i’m rejoicing in a new dimensional stitch to add to my repertoire.

raised buttonhole instructions that i dont think are very clear!

Here are photos of the way i did the one on the left. A. Draw a shape if you’re not comfortable eyeballing it. B. Choose your direction: (i could as easily have gone with bars up and down the length) and evenly place stitches across–i also alternated each side for more interest, though i’m not sure it really makes a difference when using variegated thread this way. This was one time i found it handy to hoop, something i rarely do even on a blue moon. The tautness will give more control for evenness, tension and ease of working (and later for the needle weaving should you choose to add that too.) Frankenstitch will have its place here, but not everywhere

keep making a buttonhole stitch over each bar, going UP (or down or sideways depending on how you turn and work in your comfortable direction!)

a ridge is being created along the edge: this will happen with each row, giving some lovely texture

go back down into the fabric at the end of each row and back up and out again to begin next row

because of the curve in this shape, some rows will not be worked to end: look for the spot where bars are still visible and go from there (almost halfway down here in the blur–sorry, glasses fell off)

the completed rows, worked UP and DOWN not sideways like needle lace

I decided to do needleweaving on the other half–i think this lay would not show any division if done the same both halves and i do want some variance visible:

raised buttonhole and needle weaving done

And to give you an idea of the actual dimension, here’s the shadow cast when i move the orientation in the sun (OMFG WE HAVE SUN TODAY… ahem..)

Clear as mud? Just remember you are buttonholing up and down the bars, not going sideways as usual with this stitch. Lemme see yours now
AND IF YOU HAVE ARRIVED HERE DUE TO A “PIN”–PLEASE, leave a comment, a credit, something–it would be nice to be acknowledged for the work and sharing that went into this!!!!!

 

Holy Ecoprint Patches, Batgirls!

Two kinds coming to the shop this weekend!

These dainty patches are ecoprinted cottons enhanced in my stoodio* with machine made threadwork lace or on tulle edgings. Sizes will range from 4-7″ square. Perfect as is to stitch to other projects. Add more embellishment with hand stitch embroidery, beading and charms, or stitch them together. Some patches have metallic threads, others are more earthy. No two will ever be alike. Some distortion and uneven-ness  adds to the one of a kind quality and feel. Not recommended for washables, though they have been rinsed to remove all stabilizers.

Please appreciate the fact that the prices reflect the labour intensity of creating these Holy Ecoprint Patches; first they are ecoprinted, then stitched, each taking up to an hour or more to add the lace effects.

A preview of the first kind:

As an added bonus, the hole will be included!

*Yes i know how to spell STUDIO

 

Moody Mary Packages in the shop

A little bit of everything for you to try, and to entice you further, my prices will always include the postage to anywhere in the world, no further cost to you, Discerning Shopper.

I try to make these packages cover at least 19-20 square inches (with some occasionally a bit larger), so the package is a cool dealio price wise, and you don’t have to do the messing around with dyepots, fabric types, stinky plant sludges and angsty praying that it will work again

Moody Mary package 2

Moody Mary package 3

I apologize too that most entries these days are about (shudder) Commerce, but having lost my job a week before Christmas means i have to make hay while the sun shines! I think after the season passes, i will go to a biweekly schedule posting new items, and am thinking i may “upgrade” so i can list more. You are always welcome to email me privately though if you see something you desireth muchly, and i can invoice you. If there’s something you’d like to see too, just ask and i’ll do my darndestly.

 

Shop Update

I have decided to start selling as a little Nichey market for “raw” materials/supplies, as i know some of you can’t find these things. I will USUALLY be less expensive than the big guys–hey, i’m honest–but occasionally, postage will be the upswing of pricing, sorry. My first special, now in FyberSpace, is 2M of 20″ wide lutrador-ISH material. The special part is that POSTAGE IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE. Though i can only list it as “one item” at a time, there is enough for a few of you to get yer sweaty little hoofies on it. I’ll just keep relisting as i can and as you need

These items will be found by clicking through from here. (Click on that first photo over there )  All entries that are about this will be categorized as FyberSpace, and tagged as FybreSpace The Shop, or “stitchits”. Alternatively, you can bookmark my shop by going directly here.

Thank you for supporting “a starving artist”. I have now lost 32 pounds!

 

stains, and stitches

Greyman at one point was thoroughly disgusted with the results of me doing his laundry: every shirt was spotted and dotted with something, no matter what i did, or how much i protested i knew what i was doing, and he got quite perturbed. He did his own a couple of times and the results were the same, even with his precision measuring and farting around care. One day he came home with a huge coffee spot on his shirt and in a fury threw it in the washing machine, still with his usual precision measuring and farting around care, only to find that when it was done, there was a HUGE spot there–coffee, not just coffee though, but coffee with commercial strength cream apparently makes lovely horrible  wonderful terrible stains.

So, if *Cow Fat can do that, i thought what the hell. A full coffee filter, half a cup of forgotten coffee from my dear man and a pouring of high fat cream—-sounds wasteful, but he never actually drains a cup so not wasteful as in going down the drain.

It sat the morning, damp and repugnant, on the stove, spent the afternoon drying and curdling (ummmm) in the HAWT sun and after a quick shake to remove debris, a heat set in the dryer, a rinse and another dry, it now looks like this:

some real definition created with coffee and cream!

Yeah yeah, walnut ink will do the same, ain’t got none, ain’t gonna buy any.

I’m thinking of hanging a piece of silk and cotton pieced together in the laundry room, in the window that leaks–lovely line of stain that is impossible to remove from the present fruitystripey curtain. I am also ready to don the camo paint and ninja suit to raid the OPEN greenhouse in the backyard of the abandoned house at the end of the block–looks like old sheets and rags in there–someone must save them from the landfill. (Does anyone else hear Mission Impossible?)

Though i’m trying to build a library of stained, ripped, dirtydyed, old looking fabrics, at some point i am going to have to do something with all the new and commercial fabrics i have. A bundle in the washing machine with half a bottle of bleach, a whack of overdyeing and maybe a drag through the alley?

And WOW, the MotherLode of Embroidery Stitches (besides Sharon Boggon’s ultra wonderful Dictionary of Stitches)—-i use buttonhole a lot, often improvising: look at the wonderful things you can do with it!!! Each stitch is alphabetically listed with a quick snapshot and a link to directions. I actually use very few stitches as most of them can be built on: backstitch, running (Kantha), buttonhole, seed (and my seed is really a single backstitch at a time), cross and chain. I weave and circle also with mine: i want the thread to be as interesting as the fabric, and it oftens “builds the character” i’m trying to portray.

Interesting to note too that what we think of as a buttonhole stitch is usually a blanket stitch! Think i’ll try both

I also found this one–i would cruise them all, as some have different variations, names, or methods to create the stitch. And remember, anything that is “for needlepoint” can still be used as an “embroidery” stitch too: styles can cross That’s how you develop your style! I’m going to be perusing a book i bought, from the 70′s, Ella Projansky’s “Sculptured Needlepoint Stitchery”. Try building in some crochet or knitting or lacework too, if you’re able.

*Speaking of Cow Fat, i’ve lost 18 pounds now.