Fanciful Story, Chapter Five, Wot No Knots!

Inspired by early embroidered book covers she had studied, Rachael added rosettes of Elizabethan Louped Fill to the spine. The originals may have been impressive but they do not photograph well and I was not overwhelmed by them. And maybe I have been influenced by the notion that they would be fiddly to stitch!

I considered substituting the rosettes with either a Josephina Knot or one of the Interlacing Stitches that I had learned on the Goldwork Sampler. But in the end, I decided to give the rosettes a go. I was right about them being fiddly but I was way more impressed with my little rosette than I imagined I would be even if my photograph does not do it justice.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

I decided to leave the second rosette until after all the other embroidery is complete and wish that I had done the same for this one because I KNOW that my thread is going to keep catching on those loops!

The spine is embellished by couching gilt rococo along each long edge and adding a few spangles above the letters and numerals.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

This is now ready for the final embellishment!

Happy Stitching

Fanciful Story, Chapter Four, Sumptuous Scarlet Silk Satin Stitches

The border and lettering on the spine of Fanciful Story are stitched in a padded satin stitch.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

When I put this image on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, a friend commented “Nothing Beats Silk” I totally agree! The silks in this project are by Au Ver à Soie who offer a good range of silk threads.

The padding is a row of teeny-tiny chain stitches worked in Soie Perlée, a 3-ply twisted filament silk. Filament silk is unwound from the cocoon in one long continuous strand that, when twisted, results in a soft smooth thread that is more lustrous than spun silk threads.

The satin stitches are worked in Soie Oval which is a low-twist filament silk that is very smooth and shiny! You can see in the image above that while these two products are made from the same raw material, the lower twist thread is much more lustrous than its twisted counterpart.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

Au Ver à Soie describe Soie Oval as flat silk but it is not the same as the Japanese flat silk I am used to which has absolutely no twist! In the image below you can see how the suga (filaments) of the Japanese flat silk (on the left) are separate and can spread. When stroked and laid correctly this gives the optimum shine.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

If you zoom in you can see how one strand coils around the Soie Oval (in the centre) preventing the filaments from spreading. This makes for a slightly more manageable thread but it also results in slightly less shine. The Soie Perlée is shown on the right, for comparison.

Happy Stitching