Floral Glove, finished

I have finally finished my Floral Glove Scissor Case. I feel like this project has taken me a very long time. Indeed, it has been my evening project since April and, although I have not worked on it solidly, it has taken a great many (uncounted) hours of work.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I seriously underestimated how much work this would be, especially the finishing. I am not complaining at the amount of time invested. The project was part of an online course offered by Thistle Threads that extended over six months. The embroidery materials were sent at the beginning of the course and a further pack of finishing supplies was sent later. The instructions were released for down load in monthly instalments together with a history section. The cost of the course, at $35 per month, was not trivial but I think I’ve had good value for money. The materials are all of the finest quality. The instructions are comprehensive with both written directions and lots of step-by-step photographs. The history section is equally comprehensive with each month taking a detailed look at the materials and techniques used to create the exquisite Stuart period gauntlets that inspired this project.

Thistle Threads listed this course under their On-line University so I think that it is reasonable for the project itself to be substantial and challenging. It was naive of me to imagine I could complete it in 3 or 4 weeks! In fairness, I have dragged my feet over the finishing part. This is my least favourite part of any project. I’ve pushed myself to do it (by banning myself from starting my next project until it was done) and I am very glad that I did. Not only do I love the finished article but I have learned some useful finishing methods along the way.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Tricia of Thistle Threads has said that she will offer this course again if there is sufficient interest. If you are remotely interested in taking this course, contact Tricia. I’ve learnt a lot from the course and highly recommend it.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Japanese Bead Embroidery, Phase IV

Several months ago I had a lesson to get started on Phase IV of the Japanese bead embroidery. There are two distinctly different and equally fabulous designs to choose from at Phase IV. My friend Sue is doing the Peacock Decorative Mat and it is already looking spectacular (one for my wish list). I chose to do the Floral Melody Purse. I fell in love with this design when I first saw it on the cover of the Bead Embroidery Book by Ms. Reiko Matsukawa (sadly, now out of print). When I received the kit and saw the selection of beads, I fell even more in love. I wanted to get started straight away but decided to wait until I had finished Poppy Pouch. Once I had made a start in the lesson, the temptation to work on it was even greater but I stuck by my decision.

A couple of things helped. The main reason was that the frame I had started Floral Melody on is less substantial than my other frames (I have four Japanese embroidery frames). The purse (handbag) is quite large and heavily beaded on both sides. I thought that the frame may not be able to withstand the weight of so many beads. Once I had finished the beading on Poppy Pouch, I transferred Floral Melody to the frame that had occupied.

The first thing I did then was remove all the work I had done during the class. I wasn’t particularly unhappy with what I had done but I felt that my ability had developed since then and I thought that I might be able to do a little bit better now. But the biggest factor in removing what I had done was the thread. I began stitching with white thread but decided to switch to one that more closely matches the colour of the fabric. White thread does not alter the colour of the beads greatly so is a good choice in that respect but it really stands out, even on this pale background.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The cream thread doesn’t alter the colour of the beads too much either but, in my opinion it blends with the fabric much better.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Removing all of the beads is relatively simple. A few snips on the front, taking care not to cut the fabric, then remove the beads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Flip the frame over and pull out the threads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Voila! A clean slate to start afresh.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Ribbons and Lace

Nearly every project I choose to do is because I want to do the embroidery rather than actually wanting the finished item. Once the embroidery is complete, my attention is drawn to the next project. I have a lot of UFO’s. For the most part, I am completely content with this. There are a few items that I occasionally think "I must get around to finishing that someday" but it is highly unlikely that I ever will. There are too many things to be embroidered and too many techniques to be learnt.

Given the time and effort I put into my Japanese Embroideries, I do finish those and recently I have taken part in a few swaps, so I am compelled to finish those. When I started Floral Glove, I resolved that I would 'finish' it but as soon as the embroidery was done, my interest wavered and I have found it very difficult to find the motivation to do the finishing work. As an incentive (more a stick than a carrot) I have banned myself from starting anything new until it is done. This has succeeded mainly in preventing me from doing any stitching and that makes me miserable!

Another sticking point for me is that the directions call for many of the component parts to be glued. Even though finishing Japanese embroidery involves pasting the back of the embroidery with glue made from wheat powder, I am still very adverse to gluing textiles. Once I had resolved to stitch, rather than glue, where possible, I felt more inclined to get on with it.

Before beginning the actual construction of the scissor case, there were a couple of trims to add to the embroidered linen. Gold lace is used to outline the gauntlet.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

The bottom of the gauntlet is trimmed with a bright red, double faced satin ribbon. Elizabethan twist is first stitched to one edge together with spangles stitched at intervals along the same edge. The ribbon is then gathered along the opposite edge and slip-stitched in place.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I attached both the lace and ribbon before removing the linen from the frame.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

The kit comes with many of the finishing materials already die cut. Some of these pieces have to be cut in half or trimmed to a smaller size but having the basic shape pre-cut is a big bonus point in my view. The embroidered linen is applied to one of the pieces of die cut mount board with a layer of wadding between them. The instructions said to glue the wadding to the board and then fold the edges of the linen over the board and glue down on the back. I could see no alternative to gluing the wadding to the board but I laced the linen on the reverse of the board instead of gluing it.

Silk brocade is supplied for the inside of the scissor case. One piece is used to cover a die-cut piece of skirting. Again the instructions said attach the silk by folding the edges over and gluing them to the back; again I stitched the two layers together but this time with tacking stitches that I later removed. A needle felt is attached to the lining with a small stitch in each corner; I used some of the remaining spangles rather than plain stitches. The embroidered front and silk lining are then joined, wrong sides together, with ladder stitch.

Happy Stitching

Ouch!

Did you know that there is a higher concentration of nerve endings in the cornea than in any other part of the body making it highly susceptible to pain? Did you also know that the cornea is the fastest healing tissue in the body? How do I know this? Last weekend I had a close encounter with this plant.


I stabbed my right eye on one of the leaves causing a 4mm scratch on the cornea.


The nice doctor at the eye hospital provided not only these salient facts above but also some very effective pain relieve and much needed reassurance. Since then I have been diligently applying cream to prevent infection and drops to keep the eye lubricated. As he had assured me it would, the swelling and pain had greatly subsided after a few days and now the scratch has all but gone.

This time last week, I could barely see a needle, let alone stitch but I am very pleased to report that I am stitching again for short spells. My schedule of 1 hour beading per day took a serious hit but I hope to resume that regime this week. Before this incident I had been making good progress and I really like how this piece is developing but at the moment I am keeping my computer time to a minimum (especially as I have now returned to work and spend most of the day staring at the screen).

Happy Stitching

Progress Report - August

The decorating is finally finished (all bar a couple of small jobs the electrician has to come back to do). It still took the first to weekends in July to finish everything. The following weekend we gave the kitchen a thorough spring clean. The next Saturday I spent at Art in Action and Sunday was generally tidying up in preparation for visitors. J’s sister and brother-in-law were over from Amsterdam for the last week of July and, of course, we wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. You’ve guessed it; I’ve not had much time for embroidery!

With little time and little motivation it has been slow going doing the finishing on Floral Glove, but I am getting there and if I knuckle down to it, this should be finished in time for September’s report.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I’ve started the beading on Floral Melody, hoorah! I have been doing a little bit before work each day for the past week. I estimate that this will take me approximately 130 hours and I want to complete it by Christmas. There are only 144 days until Christmas so I have to aim to average about an hour a day, every day. Eek!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I completed one more Travelling Page this month. These have been such fun to do and this one was a theme particularly close to my heart. I have three more TP’s to do in this series and another in a different vein.

Happy Stitching