Crazy Patchwork

I made this as a Christmas present for my son and his girlfriend, at the time i did not realise it was crazy patchwork.

Vintage Household Needlework Tool

Esme’s mention of a tool for making netting that has passed down the generations reminded me of a recent acquisition of mine. My cousin has given me a “SPEEDWEVE” darner that belonged to my grandmother. My mother always said that if my father ever expected her to darn his socks (or if he grew a beard) she’d leave him, so that may be why it was her sister who first inherited the Speedweve. The consensus is that it was made in the 1940's (near where I lived when I was at college in Manchester in the 1970's) and I notice that one of these tools has been listed on the BBC A History of the World objects by Blue Town Heritage Centre (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/yEdSeY1tRQmDB9DZkLVt0Q which shows quite a good picture). Mine is similar, complete with box and instructions. I haven’t had a try yet; wondered whether it would be good for making woven squares (for patchwork?!).

Embracing the Imperfect...

After three years of work and almost a quarter of a million stitches I've finally finished my needlepoint project. It's inspired by something I once saw in the V&A which sadly is no longer on display. I feel I've learnt an awful lot whilst I did this, about matching and contrasting colours as well as holding large pieces clean and secure whilst working on them over a long period of time. And I think it's been quite inspirational to my little niece who has loved holding and arranging the bobbins of cotton thread.

I started in the middle which in a way is a shame - I did all my learning about colour there and so the biggest mistakes are there. I learnt quickly not to unpick - the weave is just too small - so all the bits I got wrong are there in all their glory. And I think it was a mistake to use tent stitch, which brings me onto my next paragraph.

The finished work is well out of 'true', so I've blocked it using the instructions in 'Crewel Embroidery' by Jane Rainbow. (There are alternative instructions at http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~rtusler/stitching/blocking.html). It took two of us a fair bit of effort to pull the thing as square as I've shown it and nail it in place and it's still far from perfect. And I've discovered that the ostensibly 'fast' cottons (to 90 degrees) will bleed slightly at room temperature - luckily only into the ground. I'm not keen to do this again! So I've decided to embrace the imperfect and stop fretting. I have a nice piece of deep red silk that I'm going to use to mount it and the sides will just have to be slightly off true. I intend to use my newfound 'log cabin' skills to do this....

Encyclopedia of needlework

For those of you who have not heard of the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont, it is a fascinating insight into needlework techniques, covering stitching, crotchet, macrame and lots more. It can still teach a thing or two even though it was written in 1884. Now it is available on-line
http://encyclopediaofneedlework.com/

Inaugural post

It's been a bit of a journey, this embroidery lark. Not only have I had my preconceptions and expectations of needlework pushed and pulled every which way over the last year but now I'm forced to embrace 21st century comms! Today I'm suffering from 'to-do' list paralysis: so much to do before September term starts (including a lot on my 'personal projects' list) that I can't decide where to start. So I've done what many a needlework enthusiast does: I've got a handlful of fabrics out and am contemplating them wistfully without wishing to cut.

Today I think I will try and crack on with 'log cabin' or 'cathedral windows'. I've found a couple of websites which take you through the techniques and are useful, and I've had a look on google images and can see it's OK not to use plain fabrics for the log cabin (I believe we call this 'pushing the boundaries'!)

Here are the websites I found, for those interested:

http://alternative-windows.com/patchwork-cushion.htm
http://gourgette.wordpress.com/2009/05/11