I've been finishing things! Almost completely....
First up, remember I did some Stumpwork in a class? Well I finished that. First I had to finish the wings. They were made separately to the main piece, using a piece of paper wrapped wire to form the outer edges and button hole stitched onto a lovely organza fabric.
The picture above shows them cut out. I cut them out, then realised I was supposed to coat the back of the wire in glue! Ooops... as long as people don't poke the piece, it should be OK!
And here it is all finished and mounted in a hoop as it's for my hoop gallery.
I made the ladybird by using a running stitch, then gathering it up tight to pull the edges round the back. I stuffed it and sewed it closed. I didn't do a great job with this, but it was hard! It was stitched on Aida which isn't exactly a giving fabric. I might have been better making it into a covered button!
The wires for the wings were poked through the fabric and tacked down on the back. I'm really pleased with the final piece! The wings are so lovely and shimmery in real life.
I also finished the goldwork that I started at a class. There wasn't that much to do here. The left mushroom was stitch with rococco, for which there were no instructions! I guessed and couched it down. I added the spankles and the pearl purl for the stem.
This isn't hooped up yet as I needed a 4" hoop and only have 3" or 5" ones! I've now ordered some and will probably bind it with a gold or silver ribbon.
I had already finished my shadow work piece, but it's now mounted in its hoop. There is a piece of green organza behind it which looks nice.
That was really hard to photograph and I don't think I was very successful! So, just one more to hoop up and that's all 3 WIPs from embroidery classes done!
In July we had a day out to Lincoln Castle Heritage Skills Centre to attend a class with Sarah Homfray. You may remember we did a goldwork class with her recently, you can see that post here. And no, I haven't finished that piece yet, nor have I finished this one! It will happen...
This time we did stumpwork. Stumpwork is an umbrella term for the many different techniques that make up raised, or 3d embroidery. I have done some raised embroidery, in the form of Casalguidi where we made a raised band and did some woven picots along with bullion knots - I assume they are classed as raised embroidery.
This time we were learning to do small stuffed pieces and wired shapes. There are probably official terms for these techniques, but I must have missed that bit!
We started with a ladybird tent stitched onto mono canvas. The next step for this is to cut round it, do a running stitch and gather it up before stuffing it with fibre fill and sewing it down to the background. Clearly I didn't get that far!
Next we worked on the dragonfly. His raised body is finished, though of course I could have chosen to work stitches over the full length of his body. All that needs adding to this is the wings.
We were given this lovely piece of shimmery organza and some pieces of paper wrapped wire. We formed the wires into wing shapes and then sewed them down onto the organza using a very close button hole with 2 strands of embroidery thread.
That's hard work. Trying to catch the thread at the back from where we cast on, trying to keep the stitches tiny and neat and trying to keep the wire in the correct shape are all tricky, especially all at the same time!
This is as far as I got in the class. I have been ignoring this project for a while whilst I finished up the Princess Bride, but now I hope to get it finished, along with the goldwork and the casalguidi!
I'm hoping to have more Finishing Things posts to come!
