I have collected a number of kits by Amy Mitten. Amy was first brought to my attention through an online course that I was doing called “The Cabinet of Curiosities” . During that time, there was a competition called a “Mirror to My Art”. Amy’s winning entry, a Mermaid Mirror consisted not only of a mirror but and entire etui! The design is reminiscent of the C17 Stuart caskets and mirrored panels that I was learning about on the course and won not only the competition but also the hearts of everyone who saw it. Shortly after this Amy started to release a series of embroidery kits called Caskets Keepsakes based on the toys and keepsakes sometimes found in the embroidered caskets. The first in the series, but not the first that I stitched, was Winter, a set of two needlework accessories fashioned into miniature bellows.
We are blessed with a number of extremely talented needlework designers who are creating some inspired, well thought out, creative embroidery kits. Amy is one of them. Each kits contains all the materials you need (in generous amounts) starting with the design printed onto the fabric when appropriate and very detailed instructions. In Amy’s case the instructions are online but come with a PDFs that you can print out, if required.
For Winter, there is a minimal amount of preparatory work: pressing the muslin backing fabric and the preprinted silk fabric; reinforcing the eyelets with fusible fabric; basting the silk and backing fabric around each of the six design areas; cutting them apart and mounting the first piece into an embroidery ring. There is a similar amount of preparation for the silk fabric that will form the “pouch” on one pair of bellows.
One pair of bellow is pin/needle keep; the front is embellished with a fire that is stitched with a selection of Amy’s hand dyed threads and antique metallics with the flames outlined in silk wrapped purl.
© Amy Mitten/Carol-Anne Conway
The other side of this ornament is embellished with a flaming heart. The heart is padded with wool felt then embroidered with layers of stitching beginning with a satin stitched foundation. The next layer of stitches form horizontal bars over which detached buttonhole stitches are worked in gold metallic thread. The flames and rays of light surrounding the heart are also worked in gold metallic.
© Amy Mitten/Carol-Anne Conway
Both the front and back are finished with an edging of looped gold metallic.
The second pair of bellows are a winder keeper. The front is decorated with a radiating circular design that is worked on a paper template covered with sticky backed plastic. The circles are stitched in detached buttonhole over a gold metallic bar, the gold metallic is first stitched around the perimeter of the circle in small loops. The working thread changes every few rows to create the radiating effect. When complete, the disc of embroidery is removed from the template and appliqued onto the prepared silk front.
© Amy Mitten/Carol-Anne Conway
The other side of this piece is decorated with a spoked circle. The spiraling bar of gold metallic is couched directly onto the prepared silk ground with long diagonal couching stitches. Again, the couching thread changes every few rounds to create a radiating effect. The outer edge of the circle is finished with the same looped metallic thread used on the pin keeper.
© Amy Mitten/Carol-Anne Conway
Half the fun of these keepsakes is finishing them and the instructions for how to do this are as detailed as the embroidery instructions. The nozzle for the winder keeper is made from a silk covered straw. The silk pouch is gathered and secured to the nozzle and the two finished sides of the bellows which are then joined at the base with lacing stitches either side of the nozzle. The pouch is closed with two handmade finger looped braids threaded through the eyelets of the pouch and front and back of the bellows. Most of the Casket Keepsakes feature finger loop braiding but that deserves a post all of its own!
The vial within the needle/pin keep is also made from a straw that is inserted into the bellows that are made from foam core and is sandwiched between the embellished front and back made earlier. The two pieces are laced together using button hole stitches that are covered with a silk ribbon. A second layer of button hole stitches are then worked over the ribbon. The finishing touches are a few pearl head pins inserted through the ribbon edge into the foam core and a supplied wooden spindle to close the needle vial.
Happy stitching.
1 comment:
They're enchanting, and they do look like a lot of fun!
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