Thursday 22 September 2016

shadow work

Summer has been a flurry of embroidery workshops and new techniques.  In August wonderful mum and I went to a workshop in shadow-work at The Living Threads group.  Our tutor, Susan, was brilliant, very patient and with the ability to teach - very important that!


We worked on pieces of organdy.  Organdy is a cotton fabric that has a very stiff drape.  Organza is made from silk or man-made materials and is very frayey.  Yes, frayey is a word.  The fabric is quite transparent, so the stitches are on the back, showing through as a coloured shadow.  The photo above is the front of the work.  The photo below is the back.


We used perle cotton and herringbone stitch to stitch a row and a leaf shape.  That is all the technique that's involved!


We traced the pattern onto the fabric using a pencil, this was very easy as the fabric is ideal for this kind of work!  We then hooped up, adding in a piece of tissue paper to the front. The tissue was torn away a bit at a time and was to keep the fabric and work clean.


Here I used a pale blue to stitch my initial.  You can vary the look of the piece by stitching tiny stitches close together or bigger stitches further apart.  I was aiming for a closed block of stitching.


I used a darker blue for the flower then added yellow french knots.


Unbelievably, I left with a finished piece!  There was the perfect amount of time in the class to finish the piece.  But, and there was always going to be a but, I haven't framed it yet!  Ridiculous, I know.  I have a lovely piece of green organdy to put behind the stitching and I have a hoop of the right size... so why haven't I done it?

8 comments:

Rachel said...

Time, I expect. Besides, finishing isn't always as interesting as doing the stitching itself....

Cath said...

Well done achieving that in the class. Looks great. :-)

D1-D2 said...

Another technique to add to my list. It's great when you leave a class with a finished piece :)

Christine B said...

It looks beautiful Wendy! Well done on getting it finished! Christine x

margaret said...

you must get ths framed and up on the wall, a lovely piece so delicate

Jane said...

that's so pretty, you have to mount it

Sarah in Stitches said...

It's so pretty! I've never heard of this technique, but it's so lovely. Great job!

Magpie Sue said...

Your initial piece turned out lovely! This type of work has such an elegant feel to it.