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New stitches to learn

A package arrived today from my father in Iowa. It was a small and very nice package with 7 spools of Gilt Sylke Twist thread inside. I just L*O*V*E getting little packages in the post. Almost always they are thread. And I L*O*V*E thread. This particular thread was (and still is!) on sale at Hedgehog Handworks where  everything is 15% off until the end of February.

IMG 0441 459x900 New stitches to learn

I also have ordered a new book to help me learn new stitches to use with this new thread. I haven’t read a review nor have I seen the book because it isn’t released yet…but it will be very soon.

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Feb 22, 2012 | Categories:Trevelyon's Cap | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Royal Persian Blossom – almost done…

This weekend all I did was stitch. Well, almost all I did. Grocery shopping, laundry, ironing – the usual weekend chores. My darling husband did his fair share and a big part of mine as well so I could stitch more. It’s now late Sunday afternoon and I cannot continue stitching. My concentration is shot. It’s been great – all 10 hours or more – but I’m completely done in. How DO the professional embroiderers do it?

IMG 0396 500x426 Royal Persian Blossom almost done...

It’s so close to being finished, but I can’t concentrate any more and I’ve come to a part that will take lots of concentration. The anthers, or as I call them, the balloons at the top of the design are the very last things to do. They will have to wait until tomorrow.

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Feb 19, 2012 | Categories:Embroidery, Royal Persian Blossom, Talliaferro | Tags: , , | 11 Comments »

Racing towards the finish

Usually I’m pretty relaxed about getting a project finished. I love every stitch and am sorry to be done with each piece. I ‘ll be sorry to be finished with the Royal Persian Blossom project, too…but I also can’t wait to see it completed!

I’ve been working on the last components, all of which are quite large shapes and all of which are at the top. The feeling of the piece has changed so much with each area I finish.

IMG 0370 500x394 Racing towards the finish

I’ve begun the last pair of shapes right at the top of the blossom, one on the right and one on the left. There’s quite a bit of gold in the remaining areas to stitch. Whenever I stand up to look at my work from a distance, the amount of light the gold thread adds to the piece surprises me.

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Feb 16, 2012 | Categories:Royal Persian Blossom, Talliaferro | Tags: , | 8 Comments »

Royal Persian Blossom trellis

Laid and couched work is one of my favorite ways to fill a large space. With careful planning and the right tools it goes quickly and smoothly. The laid and couched work in the large curved shape of the Royal Persian Blossom project combines two trellis patterns, cross stitches over the intersecting points of one trellis pattern and diagonal stitches over the intersecting points of both trellis patterns.

IMG 0299 500x492 Royal Persian Blossom trellis

To begin, I used my triangle to find the correct placement for both the vertical and the horizontal lines. The first vertical line needed to be parallel to the far right side of the curved shape so I lined up the short end of the triangle to be parallel with the right edge of the shape. The right angle of the triangle then showed me exactly where the horizontal lines should be.

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Feb 13, 2012 | Categories:Royal Persian Blossom, Talliaferro | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments »

Gentle shading – Royal Persian Blossom

This is the most subtle long and short shading I’ve done so far. The two shades of blue are very close so the shading isn’t as obvious as it is in other places in the Royal Persian Blossom design.

IMG 0258 500x392 Gentle shading Royal Persian Blossom

Did this make a difference in how I stitched it? Well, yes and no. Usually long and short shading is done to mimic variations in color in something from nature: a leaf, a flower petal, the fur on an animal. What’s most important then is to pay attention to the shape as you’re doing the long and short shading.

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Feb 11, 2012 | Categories:Royal Persian Blossom, Talliaferro | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments »

Little strawberries

I just love stitching strawberries. It’s not difficult to do and they almost always look delicious when they’re finished.

This strawberry is worked in padded satin stitch using Pearsall’s silk red # 360, gold passing thread #4 couched with Perasall’s silk green # 221 over the top and the leaves are padded with silk and then satin stitched using Gilt Sylke Twist Greene.

These are tiny strawberries: each strawberry is 3/8 inch/1 cm across.

IMG 0229 500x495 Little strawberries

It took me a while to get the hang of satin stitch with GST. It’s such an expensive thread that carrying each stitch under the shape as one usually does in satin stitch seems wasteful. The first thing I tried was bringing the thread up to the front right next to where it had gone down for the previous stitch. This worked, but not as well as I hoped. The stitches didn’t lay flat and I couldn’t pull them firmly enough to make them lay flat. So I decided to look for help on the internet.

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Feb 09, 2012 | Categories:Embroidery, Gilt Sylke Twist, Pearsalls Silk, Trevelyon's Cap | Tags: , , | 7 Comments »

Something special scissors – your recommendations, please!

When I come home from school every day, I so look forward to reading emails from all of you. Yesterday I got one that asked for help from The Unbroken Thread community.

“Hi Kathy,
Somebody has offered to buy me a really nice pair of embroidery scissors for my birthday (one of those with a zero- shush……….)
But I cannot find any… Can your blog help?”

Of course we can help, I thought. Our combined knowledge must be staggering!

I use two different pairs: one for embroidery and one for gold work. My embroidery scissors are KAI 4″ fine point embroidery scissors. They are sharp, sharp, sharp! And they have a fine point so snipping out stitches (which I do a LOT as you all know!) isn’t so difficult or so dangerous to the fabric.

IMG 0243 Something special scissors your recommendations, please!

My goldwork scissors are from the RSN and came as a set with a mellor. I’ve been very happy with both tools and, after my gold work course this summer, I’ll be able to tell you even better how they held up to lots of use.

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Feb 07, 2012 | Categories:Embroidery | 18 Comments »

Two changes on The Unbroken Thread

IMG 7976 100x100 Two changes on The Unbroken ThreadOn Feb. 2, 2012 the very first interview in The Unbroken Thread’s Inspirational Interviews series was published, featuring Tracy A. Franklin. There are more wonderful embroiderers who have agreed to be interviewed as part of the series and I am so looking forward to sharing their insights with you.

To thank them, each designer will receive a free advertisement placed on The Unbroken Thread for the month they are featured. This will give The Unbroken Thread readers plenty of time to explore what each designer has to offer the embroidery community by providing you with easy and direct access to their web site and/or blog.

Additionally, starting in February 2012, The Unbroken Thread will begin accepting advertisements from carefully selected businesses that provide high quality products and services to the embroidery community. There will be up to two discretely placed advertisements on the site.

If you are interested in reaching members of The Unbroken Thread community directly through advertising on the site, please contact me and I will happily send you more information.

Feb 06, 2012 | Categories:Embroidery | 9 Comments »

Gilt Sylke Twist rose and leaves

I’ve fallen in love with Gilt Sylke Twist thread!! I know, I’m way behind the rest of the embroidery world on using this thread, but better now than never. It isn’t that difficult to work with, the sparkle and the texture are just wonderful – unlike anything else on the market – and the results look so fabulous!

Preview 500x388 Gilt Sylke Twist rose and leaves

I’m still a beginner at working detached buttonhole stitch and if you look carefully you can tell where I started and where I finished on the petals of this flower. One of the great qualities of Gilt Sykle Twist is that, because it has wire in the thread, it’s can be gently pushed into place if one’s stitching isn’t perfect – as mine isn’t…yet!

The flower went as I expected: detached buttonhole for the petals and stem stitch in a spiral for the center. The leaves, however, needed some tweaking for me to be happy.

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Feb 04, 2012 | Categories:Embroidery, Gilt Sylke Twist, Trevelyon's Cap | Tags: , | 6 Comments »

Inspirational Interview : Tracy A. Franklin

Our very first interview in the series Inspirational Interviews is with Tracy A. Franklin. I had the wonderful good fortune to spend some time in her studio with her in October 2010. You can read about it here, in a post aptly titled “Fowlers Yard & Tracy Franklin – Inspirational”.

Tracy A. Franklin is a freelance specialist embroiderer working in her studio in Fowlers Yard, Durham City where she teaches and works on commissions.

Originally trained at the Royal School of Needlework in 1991, she  continued to work at the RSN for a further seven years as a teacher and in the RSN Studio before becoming Apprentice Coordinator in 1997. Since leaving the RSN in 2001, Tracy has written two books, New Ideas in Goldwork  and Contemporary Whitework which she co-authored with Nicola Jarvis.  Her third book Crewel Work is now available and is self- published. You can read my review of Crewelwork here.

She designs and works to commission, sells and exhibits her own work which uses hand stitch techniques both traditionally and with contemporary styles. These include gold work, silk shading, and white work.

Tracy is Head Broderer for Durham Cathedral and runs a City & Guilds programme and the RSN Certificate and Diploma Courses from her studio in Durham City. Tracy’s teaching includes classes, courses and workshops taught to groups and individuals of various levels. Courses include the Royal School of Needlework Certificate Course and City & Guilds Design and Embroidery (up to diploma level) with Julia Triston ­ through the independent City & Guilds centre.

1. Do you have a favorite kind of needlework? If so, which kind and why?

I like most types of needlework, and feel I can adapt to whatever I am enjoying at any one time. At present, I enjoy mixing techniques and methods, using contemporary ideas, with traditional good technique. I am into couching – including gold threads, but other things too.

Tracys signs 500x666 Inspirational Interview : Tracy A. Franklin

2. What motivated you to create your very first design? Looking back, do you think it was a successful design? If so, why? If not, why not?

I always create my own designs (rarely copy), and they are naturally influenced by whatever I am drawn towards or attracted to at the time. As I have grown as an artist, designer and embroiderer – I feel quite confident with most things I produce and I nearly always have a technique in mind when I am designing.

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Feb 02, 2012 | Categories:People, Tracy A. Franklin | Tags: , | 3 Comments »

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