Helen Steven's Study

This project has been in the 'unfinished project' box for more than 10 years.  At that time, I had been asked by a client to prepare a simplified drawing of one of Helen Stevens' beautiful embroidery pieces.  My client had already done a fair amount of needlepainting with DMC cotton floss but was now ready to experiment with fine flat silks.  I had the full selection of Pipers Silk floss from Chinnery's, U.K., the preferred silk of Helen Stevens, so it was fairly easy to put the project together with similar colours as those shown in the colour plate of her beautiful book:  The Timeless Art of Embroidery. 

As I often did, I prepared a similar project for myself and while my client worked, I also embroidered in an attempt to anticipate and resolve some of the technical challenges she would likely face.

And then time got away from us both.  I don't know if she ever finished her project.  I was determined to not let the work that I had already accomplished go to waste.  So I picked up from where I had left off, with just the white rose and a leaf stitched, and during the rainy days of mid-July, I set to finish.  

I was reminded of the stunning precision the Pipers' silk gives in terms of colour and line.  There is no margin of error with this thread, and I had to get into gear and stay with the work for a long time so as not to lose the rhythm of my needle and thread.  

I have already picked out a bird study from another of Helen Stevens' books.  I am anxious to begin. 

A horseman of the Bayeux Tapestry

I mentioned on May 14 that I was working on a scene from The Bayeux Tapestry, which is not a tapestry in the contemporary sense, since it is embroidered on a linen ground fabric. I had already embroidered a naval scene 10 years ago. This piece is framed and hangs in our living room, so when I embroider in the evenings, I see it. Since I like the history attached to the original Bayeux, one of the oldest original embroideries that exist today, on exhibition at the Bayeux Museum in France, it is a compelling work to copy.

The Bayeux Tapestry is my personal history, the Battle of Hastings, 1066, the clash of armour between the French and English. I live divided between these two cultures, between the heritage of my family and that of my husband.