After spending so long on my Jacobean crewel work I felt the need to do something fun and frivolous. So today I spent the day at Hampton Court learning how to make a stumpwork bumble bee brooch with Rachel Doyle as tutor.
So cute!
The morning was spent on turkey rug stitch which forms the main part of the bee’s body. Once the stitches were complete you then had to cut them all back to give a bushy effect. It was with crossed fingers and legs that I took to the scissors! Then in the afternoon we wrapped wire to make antennae and legs.
During the final part of the day we learned how to make the little wings by sewing on a very fine mesh. As always there is never quite enough time to finish the project, but here was my progress at the end of the day….
I was hoping to put it all together when I got home – but after being caught in a major traffic jam for 2hours, I thought better of it. So will post my finished brooch later.
Happy stitching everyone!
This is beautiful, and such a lovely idea. I look forward to seeing him when he’s finished
He was great fun to make!
He’s cute! Did your tutor tell you how short is too short to trim the turkey rug stitch? I’ve only done it once on a bunny tail and was worried in case I made it too short! I’ve never tried stump work but it looks like fun.
Hi Jen, Rachel had made a bee sample – so we cut to about the same height. Apparently the shorter you go the fluffier the effect. This was basic stumpwork – but a fun introduction.
Your Bee looks wonderful. What a great way to take your head to a new space after Jacobean. Well done.
He was really fun to make and not too difficult.
How cute is that. Good idea not to try anything after a traffic jam. One just needs to breathe and get back to normal I think. I look forward to seeing your bee, specially the wings, which looks very delicate.
Happy crafting. 🙂
Cute and not too taxing to make – great day out!
how lovely and fluffy ^^
and fun!
This looks like such a fun project, though all that turkey rug! A lovely effect though. I hope you can finish it off soon.
The turkey rug was very time consuming – and working with black wool was hard on the eyes.
So sweet. The perfect antidote to the detailed work you have done recently 😃
And wearable to boot!
lovely! It’s going to look fantastic all sewn together