Threads Across the Web: April 2022

Wednesday 27 April 2022

30 Woven effect (mushiro-nui)

There are a small number of techniques that come under the heading of Novel Effects. They are three distinctly different techniques. The first of these that I learnt is one that I enjoy very much. I first encountered woven effect (Nw) on Phase III, Venerable Friends, and have used it a couple of times since. It is fun to stitch and produces and interesting effect that I have not seen in any other form of embroidery.

The effect is created in several stages. The first step is similar to creating a weft foundation, two stitches are made across the width of the motif in the weft direction, then a space is left, the width of one stitch. This sequence is repeated, stitch two, miss one, until the entire motif is filled.

The second step is to stitch lines perpendicular to the foundation at 5 mm intervals. To prevent these stitches from moving they are couched, at approximately, 1cm intervals, in the open spaces. It is not necessary to couch into every open space but the couching stitches should be staggered so that there will be some couching stitches in each of the open spaces.

The open spaces can then be filled using the same thread as for the first step. Finally, the filling stitches are couched half way between each of the perpendicular stitches made in step two.

The text book suggests that the weft layer stitches should be a fairly thick tight twist thread, e.g., 4->1 but the pine on Kusudama is first time that I have worked this technique in twisted silk. On Venerable Friends flat silk was used to great effect.

Woven effect is used again on Phase IV, Karahana, this time using twisted gold for the weft layer.

On the Flower Circle, I stitched a variation based on something I had seen in an exhibition of Japanese Embroidery. When I stitched the foundation I stitched two and missed two so the “weave” was more even. Instead of laying perpendicular stitches across the first layer, I couched both layers of weft stitches in a brick formation.

Happy Stitching

Sunday 24 April 2022

Cutwork - Berkeley Grape Vine

The second sample we stitched for the Introduction to Tudor Embroidery course was based on a hanging from Berkeley Castle, now held at the V&A museum (T.90-1926). The V&A describe the hanging as “appliqué velvet on wool”, probably English, late 16th century. Appliqué, or cutwork as it was known in Tudor England, can be defined as “Motifs cut from fabric and applied to a ground with embroidery; they might be padded and couched for a three-dimensional effect.” (Tudor Textiles, Eleri Lynn, Glossary, p.165) Cutwork was often used to embellish large textiles such as hangings.

The Berkley Hanging consists of two repeating designs cut from black velvet and applied to red woollen cloth and embellished with couched (gold?) cord embroidery. Our sample, based on the central grape vine, was cut from red velvet, applied to white wool felt and embellished with gold silk cords which we made in two thicknesses from AVAS soie d’alger.

The design was transferred onto the felt using the prick and pounce method. The templates for the cutwork elements were flipped and transferred to the back of the velvet. The cut velvet shapes where then applied to the wool with small stab stitches around the perimeter.

The silk cord was couched first along each edge of the central strip and then a continuous length of cord was stitched along the vine and tendrils, and around the grapes and leaves, doubling up when necessary, e.g. for the tendrils and stems. The finer cord was used to add details to the leaves and grapes and a scattering of French knots.

This was another fun piece to stitch and looks rather striking. It gives a feels for how sumptuous the originally hanging would have been. The wool felt (doeskin) for this project was extremely nice. The velvet was quite light weight (I believe it was not what the designer originally selected but supply issues forced an alternative) but that did not matter once it was attached to the felt. It worked up reasonably quickly and it is a technique I would use again if the right project presented itself.

Happy Stitching

Friday 22 April 2022

3 Vertical layer (tate-nuikiri)

The vertical layer (V) is aligned with the vertical axis of the motif. It is typically worked on smaller motifs, such as the petals of cherry or plum blossom and therefore does not require any form of holding. Stitches are worked from the middle of the motif to the right, then from the first stitch to the left. All stitches are parallel to the centre stitch.

As each petal is orientated in a different direction, so is the direction of stitches. Because of the reflective qualities of flat silk, a mass of blossoms stitched in a single colour can look very effective.

I thought that I had stitched vertical layer many times but when I came to review my progress I was surprised that it is present on only on my first three phase pieces.

When I first wrote about Phase I, Hanayama I said that the design introduces some of the basic techniques of Japanese embroidery, including laying weft and horizontal foundations. In fact it covers each of the layer stitches. Vertical layer is used on both the cherries and plum blossoms. With both flowers, it is important to stitch the petals in the right order, a sequence we refer to as head, hands, feet. One petal is slightly larger or more prominent than the others. This is the head irrespective of orientation of the flower and is always stitched first. The two petals either side of the head are the hands and are stitched next. The two remaining petals are the feet, they are stitched last, if one petal overlaps another, that petal is stitched before the one below.

Cherries and Plums appear again on my Phase II, Suehiro. At the time, I wrote that, comparing them to their counterparts on Hanayama, I could see improvement and I recall that I really enjoyed stitching this piece. I can see, however, that I had far from mastered the technique of one point open space that should leave a small gap between petals or along the vein of the maple leaves.

I can see that I was still struggling with the one point open space when I stitched Venerable Friends at Phase III but also that the stitches of my vertical layer on the plum blossoms are parallel to each other. Small improvement at every phase is what we aim for.

Happy stitching

Tuesday 12 April 2022

Strawberry Cheesecake

Fortnum and Mason have been running a competition to create a Platinum Pudding in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. While we have some very fine bakers among our membership, at Textiles in Oxford we chose to celebrate our silk with a needle by creating stitched cakes and deserts. I, like others, decided to use only ingredients that I had in my store cupboard.

I had a hunt around my sewing room and found both inspiration and the supplies to make my dream dessert. The Epoisses had long since been consumed (and enjoyed) but I had kept the box thinking I’d find a use for it one day and since cheesecake is a firm favourite in this household, that is what I decided to make.

I would have liked to make a strawberry cheesecake but strawberries were not in season when I started so I decided to make a vanilla cheese cake and grow a few strawberries at home to decorate it. My strawberries are heritage varieties, the likes of which Queen Elizabeth I might have enjoyed.

With no recipe, it was a little bit experimental. The vanilla filling curdled slightly but the strawberries are delicious, even if I say so myself.

Happy Stitching

Friday 8 April 2022

Ecclesiastical Flower Motif

In my Golden Compass post, I mentioned that I had taken part in an amazing online class with Cynthia Jackson. It was in fact much more than a class; it was a ten week, in-depth study of Tudor Embroidery with course notes, weekly zoom lectures, and supplies to create a sampler of the embroidery techniques studied. The sampler consists of five panels, each based on extant textiles and/or influences following the development of embroidery during the Tudor period.

In the first lecture we learnt about powdering and saw many, mainly ecclesiastical, examples. Powdering is a medieval term for the scattering of motifs across a cloth or other surface. For ecclesiastical robes and other textiles, the motif might first be stitched on linen then cut out as a slip and applied to the ground fabric. The inspiration for these motifs often came from a pattern book featuring stylized pictures of trees, plants, and animals including fantastical beasts.

The design for our first sample was based on this stylized flower taken from The Tudor Pattern Book in the Bodleian Library. We transferred the design onto the linen using the “prick and pounce” method.

We used Devere 6-fold for the satin stitch and split stitch areas. 6-fold (or suga) is a smooth and lustrous low twist filament silk. We used two strands which is equivalent to one strand of JEC flat silk or a single strand of DMC. Being low twist, it is less unruly than flat silk and is delightful to work with. I especially like using it for split stitch and stem/outline stitch. The satin stitch areas are really shiny, which is what you want from a silk satin stitch but I found the slight twist prevented the silk from spreading the way flat silk does and, therefore, does not give quite as smooth a finish. None-the-less, I think it is a very nice embroidery thread.

I made a couple minor changes; I swapped the suggested blue at the top of the flower for red and selected a different diaper pattern for the couched gold in the central panel. The final step on the linen was to outline everything by couching several strands of the silk around each area.

Before cutting out the completed embroidery, glue was applied to the back of the stitched area and allowed to dry thoroughly. The slip was then applied to the velvet ground with small stab stitches (I laugh at how easy that sounds, knowing how difficult it actually is). A further bundle of silk threads is then couched around the outline before stitch the gold details directly onto the velvet.

This was a fun piece to stitch and I am pleased it, especially the diaper pattern couched gold, but I don’t think it is a technique that I will do often.

Happy Stitching

Tuesday 5 April 2022

Pomegranate and Grapes

Autumn is the last but by no means the least of the Casket Keepsakes. As with each of the kits, there are two elements and each is a needlework accessory: a Pomegranate Thread Winder Keeper and a Bunch of Grapes Scissor Keeper. Both are exquisite!

The supplies for this kit are every bit as lovely and thoughtfully prepared as the previous kits. Very little preparation is required before you can get on with the important stuff – stitching!

Pomegranate Thread Winder Keeper

I have a growing fondness for the Casket Keepsakes that are pouches cunningly disguised as something else. My interest in them began with the Frog Purse in the Ashmolean Museum that I saw on a study day, several years ago, and a yen to reproduce it but little idea of how to go about it. In each of the seasonal kits, one of the accessories is a pouch, each constructed in a slightly different way and I have loved making them all. In the Autumn kit the pouch is disguised as a Pomegranate. The embroidery on this piece is probably the simplest but it is no less charming for that. The front consists of three pieces with the two side pieces folded back to show the mother of pearl sequin and bead pomegranate seeds. The gathered top of the pink silk pouch sticks out above the top of the embroidered front and back and looks absolutely like the top of a pomegranate.

Grape Scissor Keeper

When every piece is gorgeous, it doesn’t seem right to have a favourite but I am just going to say it, this piece is my favourite! Each of the grapes is stitched in a different technique and several different threads are used to create them. They are so much fun! The same techniques are used on the front and back of the scissor case, except that the grapes on the back are stitched flat and those on the front are stitched over felted balls so they are very dimensional! The leaf is made separately and attached over the top of the grapes.

The construction of the scissor case is the simplest of all of the accessories. The front and back are laced together leaving an opening at the top for the scissors. One of the grapes on the front contains a secret something to prevent the scissors falling out.

Although this is the last of the Four Seasons Casket Keepsakes, Amy has released other Casket Keepsakes which I predict will be every bit as fun to stitch and make as these were. I

Happy Stitching

Threads Across the Web