Fanciful Story, Chapter Seven - I've Got You Covered

Some of the stitching on this project was challenging but I rarely find stitching daunting. I relish learning new techniques and working with new materials. The finishing process is less my forte and often takes me outside my comfort zone. I have mounted several of my embroideries for framing and am relatively comfortable with that process. Fanciful Story is a book cover which is something that I have not done before.

The first issue I encountered was that the dense stitching had shrunk my carefully measured surface area. I needed to make some small adjustments to get everything to fit.

The first step was to separate the pages from the cover of the supplied book in order to lave the embroidery around the cover in much the same way I would cover a mount board.

I needed to adjust this a couple of times to allow the covers to close around the pages (because of the shrinkage I mentioned earlier). When I was finally happy with the fit, I pasted in new end papers. For this, I used a hand-marbled paper that I had purchased several years ago. At the time, I was looking for marbled paper for a different project but I could not resist this flame marbled paper. I was very happy that the scale of the marbling and the colours were a perfect fit for this project.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

Recovering the book was extremely challenging and tested my patience but, in the end, it was worth persevering.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

The End.

Happy Stitching

PS: Fanciful Story is one of a series of limited-edition Heirloom Embroidered Ornaments designed and sold by Rachael Kinnison of Diamond K Folk Art.

Fanciful Story, Chapter Six - Bedazzle

I completed this project about a year ago so it is high time I finished its story.

The wrapped Ceylon stitch ribbons are quite a statement in themselves but this little book cover is about to get a whole lot blingier!

The space between and around the ribbons is covered entirely in real gold spangles, each attached with an antique opal glass bead.

I began by working around the edges of the spaces to be filled, starting in the corners or awkward spaces and adjusting the spangles between to leave the minimum space between but not overlapping as much as possible.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

I then filled the remaining space trying to avoid obvious rows forming. The beads were so tiny that I could not fit the needle through some of them however I had been supplied a generous amount so this did not become an issue.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

For various reasons, it took me nearly two months to apply all of the spangles but it was a process that I enjoyed. Like couching, I settled into a rhythm and found it relatively relaxing.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

In the images, the wrapped Cylon stitch ribbons become a little lost among the spangles. I real life they are more evident. The overall effect is bedazzling!

Happy Stitching

Happy New Year 2025

2024 was a good year, although not for this blog, I di not manage a single post, not even my Happy New Year post. Before writing the post for the current year, I like to read what I wrote in the previous one. I had to go back to 1 January 2023. It all seems a very long time ago ! I finished by saying “Bring it on 2023, I am excited to see what you have for me!” I did not plan to review 2023 in this post but I think a few things are worth at least a mention. I finished Kusadama! I attended Teacher Class and became and accredited Japanese Embroidery Tutor. I joined Jane as a teaching assistant for her classes in Lancaster and have a small but growing number of students learning Japanese Bead Embroidery. A planned trip to the Netherlands on the Harley were rapidly revised when I tripped and broke my elbow two days before we travelled. Fortunately, my husband was able to change bookings from the bike to the car and arrange a vehicular pass for the city or Ghent where we had booked overnight accommodation for one leg of the journey. And we fulfilled a fifty year dream to visit Egypt. Ever since seeing the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition in London, I have wanted to visit the Land of the Pharaohs. We did a twelve day tour taking in upper and lower Egypt and not only did the trip not disappoint, it exceeding my expectation. It is difficult to select highlights from a trip that brought something new and sensational every day but one standout moment was something that I did not think was going to happen. We had hoped that The Grand Egyptian Museum would open in time for our visit. It didn’t. I thought that this meant we would not see the Treasures of Tutankhamun. Although I had seen them all those years before, I did not remember seeing the funerary mask, and hoped that I would get to see it again. Much to my delight, it was still on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and by good fortune, at the moment I stood before it, everyone else moved away leaving me alone with this iconic symbol of ancient Egyptian civilization for several minutes.

Family and Friends

2024 was a fabulous year for family. Two of my nephews got married. Two very different occasions, both perfect, and both my favourite moments of a great year. Looking ahead we will be travelling to the Netherlands to be with my sister-in-law and her husband when they celebrate another mile stone in their relationship. I have another wedding to look forward to, this one of a friend. Wendy is the sister of someone I was dating many years ago. Our friendship lasted way beyond the relationship but somehow we lost touch somewhere along the line. One day, I received a PM through social media and we picked up where we left of, as good friends do. I am thrilled to be invited to her wedding in the Summer.

Work

The past two years at work were not what I expected! Somewhat bored and unfulfilled, I was considering retiring. A new boss reignited my passion for the company and our product and encouraged me to take on a challenging new role. As he put more and more trust in me, my confidence and enthusiasm for the role grew. Unfortunately, he has decided to move on to new projects and I am feeling uncertain about progressing without his support and encouragement. What will this year bring … I will have to wait and see!

Embroidery

If there was a downside to my renewed enthusiasm for work, it is that it impacted on my embroidery time. I put a lot of energy into my work and worked a lot of extra hours. That said, my embroidery was not neglected.

However, as often is the case, when I reviewed what I HAVE done over the last two years, I was surprised to see just how much there is. Most of them are not (yet) recorded on the blog. I add those to my growing list of things to add to the blog!

In no particular order
The Elizabethan Valentine by Katie Strachan
Ringo, a raised embroidery beetle based on a design by Arlene White
Fanciful Story by Rachael Kinnison
Topaz, based on Topaz by Alfons Mucha
Cherry Fall, playing with beads.
Deep Dive into Stumpwork by Well Embroidered (Sara Rickards)
Phoenix and Pine (briefly, and I really would like to get back to this)
Spooling Around, a 6 x 6 canvas for the Textiles in Oxford Showcase
Summer Hydrangea, JEC Phase XI
Orchid Broach, a raised embroidery orchid based on a design by Jenny Adin-Christie (with kind permission)

My current sewing room project is the Summer Hydrangea.
My current sofa project is Black and White + 1, a piece based on White Blossoms by the JEC reimagined as a 6 x 6 canvas for the Textiles in Oxford Showcase, 2025
My next course will be A Garden in Gutter Lane by Cynthia Jackson. I am very excited about this course 😊

I have continued to assist Jane with her Japanese embroidery classes in Lancaster and we have a small, but growing, number of students learning Japanese bead embroidery. Starting in January I will be teaching Japanese embroidery and bead embroidery in Oxford, assisted by Jane. I am very grateful to Jane for her support and guidance in setting up this first class and I am very excited for this new venture to begin.

So, bring it on 2025, I am excited to see what you have for me!

Happy Stitching!

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

Fanciful Story, Chapter Three, So Long Ceylon Stitch – it’s a Wrap!

It seems to have taken me a very long time to do all of the wrapped Ceylon stitch. As with most techniques, I felt that it got easier and/or I got better at it with practice. I would even go so far as to say that I now quite like working wrapped Ceylon stitch but for now, I am happy to move on to something different.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

There are several factors to mastering a stitch or technique (not that I am claiming to be a master of anything).

The first is understanding the method. For me, the ideal way to learn a new stitch or technique is to have someone who knows it well demonstrate it. If that is not an option, I am able to manage with well-written instructions.

The second is practice, there really is no substitute. The more you practice, the better you get!

As mentioned in my previous post, the right tools can make a big difference and this can be something as simple as using a suitable needle.

Increasingly, I believe that understanding the thread you are using is fundamental.

The wrapped Ceylon stitch is worked in gilt passing thread In this design. Passing thread consists of a fine wire wrapped around a thread core. It feels like a wire but does not behave as a drawn wire would. We naturally twist the thread as we stitch adding or reducing overtwist to the thread which causes the thread to twist or buckle. I treat passing thread like any other twisted thread and twizzle the needle to maintain the correct overtwist throughout.

Passing threads are both expensive and delicate. For this reason, it is often couched to the surface of the fabric. When it is stitched, it is generally used for stitches that are predominantly on the surface. Wrapped Ceylon stitch is worked in two stages. First, the Ceylon stitch or ladder stitch is worked. This shows mostly on the surface with short parallel stitches on the reverse. The second step is to wrap the rungs of the ladder. Except for starting and fastening of the thread, this is worked entirely on the surface.

© Rachael Kinnison/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

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 are 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