Silk work - progress report

Here is the colour palette for the silk piece I am working on. I spent the morning on the patio, despite the wind, working. It is a welcome overcast day today, so it was easier to work without my hands becoming a little hot.

As you can see I made progress and finished the blue flower. Some of the petals are so small, it was hard to give a sense to each of the shapes. But I am happy with the overall effect. I had wanted to use a little more of the pale blue, and had tried a few petals using two or even three hues of the blues shown here. In the end, after several attempts, I simplified and used only two hues in the larger petals and one hue in the smaller ones.


I was reminded as I worked how surgical I have to be when placing each stitch. There is no room for error with the Pipers and I have to be very precise in the way I analyse both the start and finish of each stitch as well as the movement inside the form. A close up will show that each petal has a central vein and hopefully a slightly rounded movement upwards, downwards or sideways. I plan to use one thread of the darker brown thread to interpret the stems which will give a very delicate illusion to the whole. Once this corner motif is complete, I plan to work the central flower which will introduce the glorious pinks into the project as well as an increased degree of difficulty.
Wish me luck.

Silk work

To carry on with my post earlier today, given that I have lots of time to enjoy my embroidery without the usual constraints of the usual rhythm of a day at home, I have also started a more difficult silk piece. The design is inspired by an early 18th watercolour sample by Anna Maria Garthwaite as a suggestion for a custom order at the silk weaving mills of the Soieries de Lyon. The flower forms of the original painting are exquisite and a great challenge to try to transform the painted stylized forms into surface embroidery on fine linen.

I am working on optic white Belgian linen with Piper's 90 denier silk floss. As you can see from the second photo, the thread is not much thicker than a hair and I like to work with just one thread.

I have chosen a palette of vegetable dye colours, ambers, moss greens, and some indigo blues. I'll add a photo of the colour selection tomorrow.

This project is a pleasing change from the cross stitch I am doing simultaneously. One gives respite from the other.

And I even have a third project underway which I keep in my travel bag which comes on the plane with me.. maybe tomorrow I'll post that project and why I have no excuse to keep my fingers busy wherever I happen to be.



I love to keep busy and particular like to have a way to measure the passage of time. Embroidery provides this measure in a very tangible way and this blog helps also. Thanks for reading, loyal followers.

The Pimpernel Cushion

We are travelling right now so I am more focused on an easier project i.e. another cross stitch. After finishing the 'Orange Frieze', I had already set aside another Beth Russell design with the same colourway, roughly, so I decided to take this project with me on the trip.

We are in Arizona.. beautiful sunny days. We have a stunning garden at the house where we are staying so the mornings are devoted to an early breakfast on the patio, coffee and a long couple of hours of stitching and reading. I have just finished the book by Alexandre Jardin entitled 'Des Gens Très Bien'.

I took this photo of the pattern 'The Pimpernel Footstool', outside on the patio in the sunshine so the resolution is not brilliant but you can get the gist. When I chose the threads, guided by the suggestions of the designer, I wasn't convinced that the colours would suit my taste and now that I have worked much of the dark green, I am still not sure. However, experience has told me that I shouldn't judge the overall effect until I have put in the complete palette of colours because one colour influences the effect of the other colours. The eye blends the whole so that what might appear too dark or too pale when alone is balanced by the adjacent hues and nuances. I plan to take photographs as I progress and you'll see the changes as the other colours are stitched in. I also have a lot of respect for the design skill and colour analysis of Ms. Russell, so I am confident I will like the final effect.

Orange Frieze

Well, I have finished this piece. I started it quite some time ago and other projects have found their place in between, but here is a picture of the final embroidery.. 16 inches long, 2 inches wide... I'm not sure whether I shall make it into a small hanging or whether I will put it in a frame.

Already, I have begun another project, a design by Beth Russell again, called the 'Pimpernel Footstool'. In the same way as the Orange Frieze, rather than working it in wools, I will work it on a 28 count linen with 1 thread of DMC. The colour scheme is roughly the same as the Orange Frieze, without the coral colours.

It is always the colours that draw me to a project. We are also about to go travelling, so taking a challenging project, i.e. silk needlepainting which would be my other current project, is too difficult. However, I shall take the 'Arabesque' project with me in the hope of finding quiet time during these next two weeks to progress a little. I wonder though that just by the mere fact that I have an easier project close by that this may prevent me from going to the silk project. I'll find out soon enough. Question of self discipline, sometimes.

Silken flowers

I have been wanting to embroider this design for a long time. It is inspired by the embroideries of Kurenai-Kai, Japan. I have used Pearsall Silks. The leaves are executed in needlepainting i.e. long and short stitch, the stems are worked in stem stitch and the flower buds are worked in satin stitch.

It was the simplicity of the design that gives it its particular distinction. The luminosity of the silk adds that exquisite touch of light.

Project Cartier Bresson - embroidery cont'd

Here is that second Cartier Bresson project worked on sand-coloured Belgian linen and pink DMC Fil Floche. The corner details are worked in padded overcast stitch where the linen inside the openings is cut and folded to the back of the fabric while working the overcast stitch. The leaf design along the side of the doily is worked in satin stitch, the stems in stem stitch.

The edges are worked in padded buttonhole stitch

The final project measures roughly 15 cms x 15 cms.

I plan to work another doily with the same colours possibly and maybe reversing the techniques; i.e. the corner detail in satin stitch and the leaf design with open work.

Stay in touch and post the photo of the second idea for all to see.