Christina standing below hand-dyed embroidery threads |
My friends", Debbie and Rebecca, dyed felts and threads |
The felt and threads are vibrant and beautiful. Gail feels that having your materials inspire you is important, so she helps her students understand their color choices and combinations to be successful with the dyeing process.
Some of my dyed felts and threads |
After our dyeing days, we started doing small stitch samplers. Each stitch will have its own page in a small stitch book (we even learned how to bind our books!) We also worked on documenting our samples within a sketchbook, including what threads we used, any observations we have, needles that were chosen, etc.
Some of my incomplete pages with the sketchbook documentation pages and sample threads |
French Knots (in process) by Christina Fairley Erickson |
While none of these samples is complete yet, you can get an idea of what they'll look like here. I have additional ones started, but these are the most complete. The other thing which was different and interesting was the freedom which we were encouraged to take with each piece. For instance, in years past, French knots were expected to have the thread wrapped neatly around the needle two times. With contemporary hand stitching, however, we can make a variety of sizes and different textures and effects by wrapping a thread more times around the needle, or by wrapping it loosely, rather than tight.
Running Stitch (in process) by Christina Fairley Erickson |
Seed Stitch (in process) by Christina Fairley Erickson |
Blanket Stitch by Christina Fairley Erickson |
Open Chain Stitch (in process) by Christina Fairley Erickson |
You Might Also Be Interested In:
Dyeing to Embroider; | Recognizing our Limits & Not Giving Up |
Hand Stitch Variations |
Check Out these other Great Blogs:
Anything Goes - Quilt 'n Sew at Stitch by Stitch
Freemotion by the River
Quilt Story
Beautiful...I like the way the fabric turned out. The stitching brings back memories from my school days...I think we learned that chain stitch at school. This is a really lovely idea and by the looks of it will turn out great.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karin. Yes, it's nice to go back to the basics sometimes. So very relaxing to sit and hand stitch and reminiscent of childhood. I'm looking forward to sharing my stitch book when it's done.
DeleteWow, those colors are so vibrant and beautiful! It sounds like an amazing time of 'stitching'. Visiting from Anything Goes. Have a great Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful threads and projects! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteFreemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday