New Tools

With the start of learning Gold-Work came the acquisition of 2 new tools.
Firstly the lap frame (or 'fanny-frame' as my mother likes to call it) proving to be brilliant as it gives me two hands to stitch with.

the base part simply slides under your leg, giving you support & the frame can be raised, tilted & swung around.
Second tool was a Mellor:

I got this at my Ladybug class, this one is made from stainless steel, here in NZ. otherwise hard to find, when I went googling anyway. It's great for pushing the metal threads into place & for stuffing small areas.

and an update on my letter:

Silver work all done.

and here you can see I have satin stitched the top corner motifs over felt which gave padding. Then I realised I needed another one - for the bottom left...

Illuminated Letter

Now I'm back into it - with a lap-frame making stitching much easier - I have started a project which I bought the pattern for back at conference last July.

Illuminations for Embroidery, an Annie M. Design. Letter K.
Part of me was reluctant to buy this as in my mind, it kind of looks like a B, but I was swayed as I want to do the technique & I had a voucher for Nancy's to spend. Also they told me that it has the lines top and bottom as this was the medieval thing to do.

So after feeling successful with my first go at gold work, I dug out the pattern & set about ensuring I had the necessary supplies. Firstly, fabric - luckily in my stash I has a beautiful piece of Dupion Silk, exactly the size required - yah!!

I also had the silver required - purchased with the pattern. Then tried to sort out colours to go for the flowers, leaves & some padding thing & the inside filling of the letter.
Got my carbon-type paper for putting the pattern on fabric, then off to the shops for some calico, and the padding thread. also got some invaluable advice from my Mum to make sure I was on the right path for the colours. (Hurrah for Mum!)
here is the pattern traced on, ready to stitch.

See - it looks like a B.
And after the morning at the A&P show here is todays work.

And a close up of the silver...

I'm not sure I am overly happy with the top & bottom lines, but I will do more of the actual K before I unpick those lines to re-do. I seem to be developing some form of perfectionism, which feels very weird.

Back to Stitching

Yah! back to stitching :)

there has been much moving around, getting settled & finding places for stuff, including my craft stuff. Even working out where I want to work on craft & how that will work in a new home.

The best thing, still, is my mum. She enrolled me in a class to make a 'gold-work' brooch, before I even moved down & that class has given me the push I needed.

here is what I did...

 

 Above is my progress through day 1

this is my finished Lady-bird brooch

"Gold-work" is the technique, although I prefer silver & so choose to use silver metal threads.

This is what my Mum made - apologies for the terrible pic, I was using my cell phone.

And now inspired I did this last night. I now have a lap-frame, which makes stitching easier than ever!