Sumptuous Surfaces - eyelets

Following a very busy Christmas period, J and I headed for Amsterdam to spend the New Year with his sister. We like to get out and about as much as possible while there but I always take some stitching with me in case the weather makes staying indoors a more attractive option. Japanese Embroidery is not terribly portable nor is it a very sociable activity (unless shared with other Japanese Embroideries). I prefer to take something that I can pick up and put down easily. This year, I took my Sumptuous Surfaces sampler.

Between short forays in below freezing conditions, I filled an area of the first sampler with eyelet stitches.


Most of the stitches are worked in Mulberry Silks. I've tried to vary the size and shape of the eyelets as well as the threads. I started by scattering some larger eyelets around.


And then added more and more until I had filled the entire area. In a few gaps, too narrow to work an eyelet, I have worked a satin stitch block.


I am beginning to feel more comfortable with random. I suppose like most things, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. Gradually I am becoming more willing to put my hand into the bag of threads and work with which ever presents itself.

Happy Stitching

More Wallpaper

Three more rows of stitches: the first is Vandsyke stitch, a new stitch for me that I found in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches. I purchased this book, second hand, from a book sale at my local branch of the Embroiderer's Guild. Four of the following stitches were taken from this book.


I worked the stitch in the lovely fine wool from Gumnut Yarns (light fawn) that I picked up at Alli Palli. I found the stitch easy enough to work, although it was a little difficult to keep the central chain straight. At one point, I tried to shape the stitch around a circular cut out, that proved more difficult and I am not entirely happy with the result.

To the right of the Vandyke stitch is a row of reverse chain in Rachelette (silver Taupe) from the Caron Collection and the right of that is Basket Stitch worked in DMC cotton. Again the stitch was fairly simple to work.

The design has three small circles set into the striped back ground. The first (on the far right) I filled with velvet stitch.


This is an other stitch that I have not tried before. I found the stitch fairly easy to follow but on this scale (28 count linen) extremely fiddly. However, the stitches were tightly packed in and felt secure so that when I trimmed them the result was a nice thick velvety pile.

For the circle on the left I used Turkey Stitch (another new one). On paper, this stitched looked more straight forward than velvet stitch but I found it difficult to translate into practice. I think I got it eventually, but am still not certain that I was working it correctly. It was less fiddly than Velvet Stitch but is less dense and never felt as secure. Although Velvet Stitch was more difficult to work, I think the resulting texture makes it more worthwhile that Turkey Stitch.


The third (central) circle I filled with padded Satin Stitch outlined with stem stitch.


Particularly unimpressive. I could say that the linen frayed and came loose from the calico border, so the linen was not taught in the frame. I could tell you that I worked it late at night and was tired. Poor excusses really, I should be able to work a better satin stitch than this by now.

All three of these circles are worked in Flat silk. Allthough much of the sheen is lost in the Velvet and Turkey stitches, I think that the lushious pile of the Velvet Stitch is largely due to the silk. I will try this stitch again in another thread to compare the results.


Happy Stitching

Wall Paper

Most evenings I am progressing my stitched samplers for Sumptuous Surfaces. The course has concluded now but I am still working on Lesson 2, such is the content and inspiration of Sharon's course notes.

Over the past week or so I have been working on a stripped design, aiming to fill each vertical stripe with a different texture, some low relief and some more textured. At the moment, I am particularly fascinated by pulled work, so these have featured heavily.


The area on the left is filled with satin stitch worked in a zig-zag pattern over a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 threads, #8 cotton perle. Actually, I am a little pleased with this bit. Random usually terrifies me, but for once, I just went with it, rather than trying to work out a random pattern.

To the right is cobbler filling, also worked in #8 cotton perle. Nothing random here, a straight forward pattern.


These two areas are seperated by a row of Portuguese Stem Stitch worked in 12 strands of Soie Cristale. Sharon had commented on an earlier sample of this stitch that it worked well in thicker threads, so I decided to give it a go. I agree, the thicker thread shows the stitch of well.


I enjoyed working the zig-zag satin stitched so decided to try it again, this time in a regular pattern over 6 threads, again in #8 cotton perle. I really like the pattern created in the fabric.


Next, I worked a stripe in four sided stitch. Again, this is a regular pattern and it creates a lovely texture. These 2 stripes are seperated by a line of heavey chain, stitched in Mulberry Silk.

From a question posed in the class forum, and rereading the instructions, I realised that my earlier attempts at Portuguese Stem Stitch were not stitched correctly (although I like them as they are) so I tried again, wrapping the stitch twice as per the instructions, rather than once, as I had done previously.



I worked two rows, one going up and one down, expecting to get a mirrored effect, but I realise now that I should have worked both rows in the same direction, but one left-handed and one right-handed. Between them I worked a row of cable stitch in a twisted rayon.

Happy stitching

Sumptuous Surfaces

For as long as I have know about it, I have wanted to take SharonB's online class, Sumptuous Surfaces. Previously, I have thought that I had too much on to take part. When it was announced that the class would run again this Autumn, I decided that if I didn't just make time for it, I would never get to do it, so I signed on and waited excitedly for the start date.

At the start of the course, I had several other commitments and had to contain my eagerness for a couple more weeks but finally I have some time to dedicate to it.

The course runs over six lessons with the the first three weeks concentrating on monochromatic design and the remaining three weeks focusing on colour. Although the course is now on week five, I am still on week two - I have waited too long for this course to rush through it simply to 'keep up' and I am very pleased that Sharon fully embraces this philosophy and encourages her students to work at their own pace.


These are the threads I have selected for the monochromatic design. Some I already had, others I sourced at the Stitching and Knitting Show at Alli Palli and the remainder I picked up at one of the few embroidery suppliers in my area. I've included a selection of co-ordinated beads and sequins.

Rather than concentrate on a single design for this stage, I have chosen to do a series of small samplers 4 X 2.5 inches. I chose the simplest shape I could imagine as the basis for my designs - a circle.


First we are encouraged to outline the main features of our design, in this case those are the circle, which I have outlined in threaded back stitch using a soft wool purchased at Alli Palli and the wavy lines for which I used Portuguese stem stick. I have never used this stitch before but very quickly settled into it and found that I liked it.


The next step is to work on areas of low relief. In this design there are two areas of relief that hopefully have a very different feel to them. The first is essentially linear but I've tried to make give it a random feel by varying the width and spacing of the lines of satin stitch. These are all stitch in Mulberry silks in a variety of thicknesses and colours.


In the second area I wanted to try out pulled thread work. The stitch I have used is honeycomb stitch. It gives a lovely regular texture but it taxed my brain more that a little.

I like the contrast between these two areas. The third area will be more textured and offer greater contrast but I will not stitch that until I have explored low relief a little more.

Happy Stitching

My Poorly Computer

My computer is very poorly; the hard disc has died. My partner obtained a new disc and installed it but it now seems that one may be defective. We are waiting for a replacement. In the meantime I have limited accesses to the web. More concerning is the potential loss of many of my photographs and various files that I have downloaded and saved. Some of my pictures are copied onto CD but not the more recent ones. J says that it may be possible to retrieve them but by no means certain. All of my fingers and toes are crossed that they can be recovered.

On the stitching front I am making slow but steady progress with a couple of projects. Work on Venerable Friends continues. Currently I am outlining the pages of the central book. For each outline, I first make the couching threads and then a 4->1 tight twist of sufficient length for the outline I am stitching. To make the threads and outline a page takes me a little more than one hour and must be done in one sitting as the tight twist begins to relax if it is not couched in place quickly. I can only manage an hour-long session a couple of times a week so progress is slow. Only a couple of main pages remain; once they are outlined, things should go a little quicker because the remaining outlines are shorter.

Between times, I am stitching a Christmas ornament for a swap. This is the first swap I have ever signed up for and I am slightly anxious about it. I have probably decided on a design that is too time consuming for the time available, but I am determined that I will not be late sending it. I am also concerned that the recipient will not like it, but I guess I can only do my best at stitching it and hope that she will.

When I first heard about SharonB’s Sumptuous Surfaces on-line course, I very much wanted to take part but at the time was over whelmed with other projects. That has been the case each time the course has rerun, until this year. As soon as I heard that it would rerun this November, I determined to do it and signed up. With the Christmas ornament still to do, my time is a little stretched but I have made time to read the excellent class materials and work some of the exercises. I am desperate to start stitching but will resist all temptation until the ornament is dispatched (well, I'll try).

So even if the computer were fully operational, I would have very little stitching to show even though I am doing quite a lot. The only new pictures I have, are some scans of my design exercises for Sumptuous Surfaces in my Flickr account.

Happy Stitching