Silk shading – day 2

Day two and it is all about the colour! Today we chose our silk threads ….. a mixture of DCM and Anchor.

My colours were not as vibrant as a lot of the other students – but I hope they will still work well all together. A lot of the colours on my flower were described by our tutor Deb Wilding as ‘muddy’! Doesn’t bode well!

Once chosen we were let loose on our pieces – and following our order of work and stitching directions carefully, we all got going. This is how far I managed to get after a whole days work.

Nobody said that silk shading was quick! Happy stitching everyone….

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Silk Shading Intensive….

Just to continue my theme on never finishing something I have started – I have put away my canvas work for the next couple of weeks to concentrate on silk shading on an intensive course at the RSN, Hampton Court. My view for the next two weeks…….

The first day concentrated on choosing an image. I had lots of flowers that I liked, but most were small and white which apparently is not a good choice – so I went for something bold and bright although the end result will probably not make it to a frame as I am still not sure that I like it! However it is the process that I am learning and as you can see there is a lot of scope for colour and some challenging shapes to attempt. The RSN also specifies that the picture chosen needs to have flower or fruit, leaf and a turnover – I think this fits the brief quite well.

Once the subject had been chosen a black and white and colour sketch of it was made to get you to look more closely at the image.

We then worked out an order of stitching – the background elements need to be tackled first before anything in the foreground – next we looked at the direction that our stitches will be moving in.

Finally an outline was pricked with a needle and the image was transferred using pounce onto a piece of silk mounted over calico – which I had prepared before hand.

One thing that stuck out immediately was how calm and quite the intensives are when compared to a normal C and D day. With only 6 students the room was very quiet and you got a lot of individual attention from the tutor and her helpers.

Looking forward to day 2!

SAL 17 -Ooops…

Sorry guys – still no progress as I have spent the last two weekends working on other projects. So I will just tell you about last weekends sewing escapades if that is alright with everyone.

I have long admired the work of Georgina Bellamy of That Embroidery Girl and was so pleased to hear that she was going to be running a number of sewing courses based on her goldwork creations. So last weekend I drove most of the way around the M25 to Blackheath to learn how to make a 3D goldwork octopus. But it was well worth the trip.

After two days I managed to create the body and some of the legs – when sewing goldwork it essential to get the padding right and it is a very time consuming process. So now all I have to do is ‘bling it up’.

Here is what I hope it will look like…

Also on show was some of Georgina’s work which is just lovely….

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I hope that next time I will be able to show you the finished fish…..but I am not promising anything as I am easily distracted at the moment!

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis, Claire, Gun,  Carole,  Sue,  Constanze,  Christina,  Kathy, Margaret,  Cindy,  Helen,  Linda,   Heidi,  Jackie, Sunny Sunny, Hayley Hayley, Megan Megan, Clare Clare, MaryMargaret MaryMargaret, Renee Renee, Jenny Jenny, Carmela Carmela, Jocelyn Jocelyn, Sharon Sharon

Sew much fabric…sew little time

I just can’t resist a pretty fabric! My recent purchases arrived on the doorstep a couple of weekends ago….. and at least this time I have something in mind for them.

I have decided to make a mini station maker by lillyella. I have made a number of sewing organisers for others during swaps, but never one for myself.

First I quilted the main fabric – but wasn’t convinced I could do this freehand so instead decided to draw lines on grease proof paper and sew over these. I think it worked quite well.

I then prepared the pockets at either end of the design using contrasting fabrics. I also decided to add binding to the ends of each pocket which I will then match up to the binding around the edge of the whole pattern.

A little tray was made to sit on the top  – to hold sewing notions – as well as a matching pincushion. Each of these contained magnets in their bottoms so that they sit on the metal strip. I wasn’t totally happy with the finish on the tray as I think it needs to be sturdier and you can see that I caught the fabric. Finally I made the little thread catcher.

Sew here is the, nearly finished, tidy. All I have to do now is sew on the button that holds the thread catcher.

I was quite pleased with the finished result and the instructions were easy to follow. I think I might make one of two more as gifts!

Happy stitching everyone and I hope you are enjoying the lovely summer sunshine.

 

 

SAL 16: No fishing!

Oh no, so sorry everyone but I am afraid I have made no progress what so ever on my little fish! It is getting to the end of the school year so I have been busy making thank you gifts for all my parent helpers and TA!

Although the pattern is simple enough, I do have quite a lot to make! I am using the ‘Wee braw bag’ pattern by Laura Zuckeruss and materials that I have in my stash. This is how far I have got – still got another weekend or two to make something for my super TA!

I have also been trying to make myself a little armchair tidy for sewing in front of the tv – it is coming along nicely – but I will save that for another post.

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Clare, MaryMargaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

 

 

Halo, halo….

Another trip to Hampton Court and a little nearer to finishing (I hope!). I have been working on the halo towards the top of the picture. My tutor has suggested a uneven satin stitch effect. I am not sure if I like the stitch as I was wanting to use more of an interesting eyelet stitch. I also worry that after spending so much time colour matching the halo has a rather random colour theme.

You can see the random nature of the stitches in this close up. I have used ribbons, perle and a glittery embroidery thread.

The day started off wet, but as the afternoon went on the sun came out and I was able to get around the grounds of Hampton Court. The gardens are lovely at this time of year.

Thanks for popping by – Happy stitching everyone.

Circus fun….

On a totally unrelated theme, my little Kingfisher class (30 year 1 children) produced a magical big top filled with circus acts for a summer fayre art competition. Each class at school enters the Frensham fayre competition every year – and here is our entry…

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Inspiration came when I found a large circular piece of wood at home – and a child’s brolly at the local charity shop. The children covered the brolly in papier mache before painting it. They covered the wooden base in a mix of sand and glue and painted lolly sticks to go around the edge. We then brainstormed all the acts that might be found at a circus and, with a little adult support, they made peg dolls of each of these. The children even made the props, a fire ring, canon and knife thrower’s wheel.

I am so pleased with the result! And my little Kingfisher’s cannot believe how it has turned out.

Quick update – they one first prize – whoop, whoop!