Fanciful Story, Chapter Two, The Right Tools

They say a bad worker always blames their tools. It is meant as a rebuke for someone who does not take ownership of their shoddy work but when it comes to poor quality tools or the wrong tools for the job, the worker may have a point! Take the humble needle. It is usually the least expensive tool in an embroiderers’ workbox but arguably the most important. I have a vast selection of needles, but I did not always appreciate the importance of using the right needle for the job and I certainly did not know which to use when.

I say, “usually the least expensive”, my favourite needles, Japanese handmade needles, are not inexpensive but I think they ae a good investment. I bought my first set of needles 18 years ago. I have since acquired more, but I am still using my original set and cannot distinguish between those and newer needles. Stored and maintained correctly, I expect these to last my lifetime.

Japanese handmade needles are made of steel, have a strong core but are exceptionally smooth and flexible. The needles are polished length ways, resulting in near invisible fine lines running the length of the needle. This minimizes friction allowing the needle to pass through the fabric smoothly. The point of the needle is also designed to pass through the fabric smoothly. The eye of the needle is round, and hand finished to remove any burrs that might snag or abrade the thread. The eye end of the needle is flattened making it narrower than the shaft, so the thread is the same width as the shaft and passes through the fabric more smoothly. This design is particularly beneficial when stitching with flat silk, but it is also very gentle on metallic and fragile threads. These are my go-to needles for certain types of gold work.

The ribbons on Fanciful Story are worked in wrapped Ceylon Stitch in gold passing thread. The thread consists of a fine gold wire wrapped around a silk core. The gold is delicate and snaps easily. It requires delicate handling, so my immediate thought was to use one of my Japanese handmade needles. Now I would say that two of my strengths are patience and perseverance. These come in handy for some of the more challenging embroidery projects I favour. Ceylon stitch and its wrapper variations seriously tested my patience when I first encountered them on the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass. I barely remembered the lessons I had learnt from that experience, but I did recall that it was crucial to not apply too much tension to the Ceylon stitch ladder.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

I had little time for stitching the past two weeks but even so, my progress on the ribbons was painfully slow. I was really struggling to find any rhythm or flow with the stitch. I was doing reasonably well with the ladder foundation but wrapping the rungs was proving extremely difficult and this was the part that ought to have been easiest. It took some time for me to realise that the problem was my needle, specifically its sharp point! When I switched to a needle with a rounded tip the process went much more smoothly although the gold wire snapped more readily than with the Japanese needle. I do have a Japanese needle that I have ground away the point for working these types of stitches but that is currently employed in another project. There is no reason that I could not use it on both except I have some crazy and restrictive stitching rules that I cannot dismiss. That is a whole different post!

I would not say that I am flying along now, it is still a tricky and frustrating technique, but I am managing much better now that I am using the right tools.

Happy Stitching