Project Cartier Bresson - embroidery cont'd

As promised, I have attached a photo of how this design has been translated on different coloured linens and contrasting coloured Fil Floche of DMC. The dimensions of each piece is roughly 15 cms x 15 cms. As you can see, the detail is in satin stitch, the edges in buttonhole stitch. What you cannot see is that in order to give the edges solidity and a padded effect, two lines of surface running stitches were worked around the edges and are neatly hidden by the buttonhole stitch finish.



I have often spoken about projects that give repose between those that challenge, and if in the first photo there are many examples of the same design, this is an indication that this is a restful one. I can keep my fingers working on something simple and beautiful while I am cooking up the energy and inspiration for the next more difficult work. And to boot, a set of four or six makes for a lovely gift.

Project Cartier Bresson - embroidery

I knew this design was somewhere in my archives and while I was looking for something else in my files, I was thrilled to discover that I still had this. The design is one of two that was given to me by a client who no longer embroiders but whose culture, she is French, and heritage equipped her with a vast knowledge of embroidery art and a sensitivity to the work I was doing in my studio for all those years in Quebec. Geneviève was and continues to be a faithful supporter of my work.

She had the generosity to give me a part of her wedding trousseau, embroidered bed linens on that rich, thick, écru-coloured linen that gives me a nostalgic feeling of times past. In this treasured gift were also books from her youth relating to the needle arts and the stamped project, partially worked, of a pattern from the house of Cartier Bresson, the ancestors of the famed photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson. Thiriez & Cartier-Bresson were purveyors of great threads and embroidery projects for the French market of the time (1833-1984).

I have embroidered many doilies with the first design, shown here in the original form that I received the design, but now that I have found this second design, above, I have already prepared some natural coloured linen for
embroidering. I think I'll work with some blue DMC Floche or even pink... not very traditional, giving the project a contemporary air which is pleasing not just for the time I am working but also the final effect.

I invite any follower of my blog to order the project, or copy the design and transfer it to a piece of linen and work the project herself.

There a two ways of translating it: either with buttonhole stitch for the edges and satin stitch for the detail; or, buttonhole stitch for the borders and 'broderie anglaise' for the detail. I plan to use the latter technique for my project, even tonight, and I'll post a photo of my work for all to see. What is really important is to choose fine linen for the fabric and Fil Floche for the thread, the traditional thread for this type of work.

I'll take a photo of this design, just above, embroidered in various different colours, tomorrow and show you.

Stay posted.

Simple poppies

I'm preparing another project. I tend to do this when I see the end of one piece of work drawing near, and I am almost finished with my William Morris 'Orange Frieze'. That time between the end of one idea and the resurgence of another, if too long, can be a 'low' time for me; I fall into a bit of a dell and have a hard time climbing out.


This project will be a gift to a friend who has just built a new home. Her tastes are very contemporary so I needed to find something quite linear, simple but sophisticated at the same time. I had embroidered these stylized poppies quite a few years ago on white linen. For my friend, I have made two table runners which she will place across the width of the dining room table to make four place settings. The motif will be placed on the left of each setting... the colour scheme has been adapted to the honey colour of the linen and I have chosen Pearsall silks to give a lustre to the embroidery. These are a lightly twisted silk thread and a pleasure to work with. I just have to be careful to wash the darker colours prior to stitching since some of the dyes tend to bleed.

I'll keep you posted so stay tuned.

Jacobean work

While tidying up this week, I found another embroidery. This was my interpretation of a design from The Royal School of Embroidery of England, an inspirational source of work. I had found a small photo in magazine and considered it a good study of form from this period (1567 - 1625). I offered it to my clients at the studio as a possible project to learn many of the basic embroidery stitches. The colours chosen for this piece are not typical of the era.

In the 16 th century, the colours were derived from vegetable dyes and the fibre was wool. The term 'crewel' is derived from the German word for fine worsted wool, knäel, and probably came into use at the time that these wools began to be imported from Germany. The ground fabric for traditional crewel work was a twill fabric of which the warp threads were of linen and the weft threads of cotton.

The project shown here was executed on a pure linen ground fabric, the threads were DMC cotton embroidery floss. The stitching offered close to a dozen different techniques typical of the era and to create a raised effect, two threads of the floss were worked together in the needle rather than just one.

I had intended to cover a book with this embroidery, but as is so often the case, no sooner was the course completed and my particular piece finished, I quickly moved on to preparing other programmes and projects for my clients. This explains why only now has it seen the light of day and sits in my studio, framed, so that I can enjoy it along with the good memories spent embroidering with those that attended the class and who became friends.

Healing threads

Oh, look what I found today when I was clearing out some of my work from past years. I had found this design in a magazine, Marie Claire Idées, probably from 2000. I can find the exact month since I have kept most of these magazines in my library. It was the year that I wasn't so well, healthwise and had to close the studio on Maguire in Sillery, Quebec, for a month to undergo some surgery.

Fully aware that I was not going to be able to do a lot of work, I was happy that I had this fun project at my fingertips. The colours suggested in the magazine was in a variegated blue cotton thread, but to be different, I chose one of the variegated pink colours that DMC offers. I worked it on natural coloured linen. One thread, automatic changing tones, different techniques. I could sit quietly and just enjoy the adventure in the stitches and the different textures created in the process without worrying about changing the thread for a change in colour.

I finished the project but I returned to the studio and the business of teaching and taking care of my clients' needs took over. This project just was washed and ironed and left in my storage box waiting to find its final destination. I wasn't sure if I would make it into a cushion or frame it. Here we are, more than 10 years later, rummaging around in my studio here in the forest and I rediscover the project in its box. I chose to frame it simply in a stainless steel frame with a white matting board, just to give it a support so that I can hang and enjoy it.

It is reminiscent of 'art naïf'. A playful design and just the mere activity of focusing on it during my convalescence made me feel better. Embroidery has that therapeutic effect and it certainly worked for me then and continues now as I can see it as I work on other things.

I'm making progress on that beautiful adaptation of a William Morris design which I wrote about several weeks ago. I marvel at the brilliant choice of colours to render the piece alive with lots of movement. I am already thinking on how I could adapt this design to a different technique, using silk threads and the needlepainting. It is exciting work, simultaneously challenging and restful. I start my day with this piece and devote the last hour of the evening to it also.