I finished Hearts and Flowers Monday night, but I'm still waiting for some good lighting to take the final pictures. In the meantime, I decided (maybe unwisely) to start a new (tiny) project while waiting for my goldwork class to start next Friday.
This small project is one of many I plan on stitching from the book by Yukiko Ogura called La Broderie de Perles. I bought the book 3 years ago now and always planned on stitching a few designs but always had a hard time tracking down all the beads.
It took a while (months of back and forth actually) but I lucked out in finding an online store that was actually willing to help me track down all the beads. You would think it would be easy since the bead number is included in the pattern, but no bead size is mentioned. The worst is that some of those bead numbers are completely wrong! The ladies from The Beading Room were amazingly patient with me and I was finally able to put together all the beads.
The piece I decided to start with is called De Rose Vêtues. It shows a pair of pink tulips with lovely shades of green for the stems and leaves. This is not the smallest design in the book, but the smallest one from the patterns I want to stitch.
The fabric was measured and cut months ago and just waiting for me to start. The top fabric is some sort of even weave I found at the fabric store and the one behind is muslin. Backing your fabric is great for hiding the ends of your threads :)
The book comes with all the patterns to iron on your fabric. When I cut all the fabric and ironed them I planned on ironing the pattern on as well. Unfortunately, they didn't work. I think it lost whatever it was that made it iron on :(
Fortunately, I had bough transfer paper from the craft store last year. I never got the chance to use it yet. I was planning on using it next week to transfer my goldwork pattern onto the fabric. This is a good opportunity to practice.
I started by placing the pattern centered on the fabric.
Slowly lifting up the pattern, I slipped in the transfer paper. I went with blue, because I read somewhere that it blends in better with white so it won't show as much once the piece is finished.
I have a pen with a cap shaped like a crayon making it perfect for this task ;)
So out came the light-box. I'm glad I tried this out this week, imagine I found out next Friday that the tracing paper is useless and I'm unable to trace my goldwork pattern. I will have to make sure to pass by the fabric store and find an alternative product.
Now that my pattern was traced, I took out my threads and beads. The nice thing about these designs is that they use DMC thread so I can raid my stash. I love this color palette ^_^
I really should have sewn together the two layers of fabric, but I was too eager to start. I just hooped it up and pulled the fabric taught. Hopefully stitching the beads on will bind them together.
The first night, I didn't get far. I got one flower stitched.
The instructions don't mention anything just the name of the stitch in french, in this case point de feuille, and the DMC color. Nothing is mentioned of the number of strands. Luckily I managed to get my hands on another book by Yukiko Ogura that contains more information. It says to use a single strand doubled with a knot at the end, which is usually the norm when embroidering with beads.
Tonight I stitched the second flower and took the time to take more pictures of the process. All the stitches in this book are stitches that many would recognize, you just do it with beads.
The next step is the greenery: stems and leaves. However, (I'm sensing a trend here) while pulling out the beads and double checking the numbers, I realized I'm actually missing one of the greens :( I've found it at my usual online bead store but I'm going to wait for a sale. The worst is they just finished having a 40% sale >.< The rest of the beads have since been checked and double-checked to make sure I don't run into this issue again.
So for now I guess I will have to put it away. I was so hoping to get it finished this weekend since it's such a small design. It's a sign I should take out one of my WIPs :P
This small project is one of many I plan on stitching from the book by Yukiko Ogura called La Broderie de Perles. I bought the book 3 years ago now and always planned on stitching a few designs but always had a hard time tracking down all the beads.
It took a while (months of back and forth actually) but I lucked out in finding an online store that was actually willing to help me track down all the beads. You would think it would be easy since the bead number is included in the pattern, but no bead size is mentioned. The worst is that some of those bead numbers are completely wrong! The ladies from The Beading Room were amazingly patient with me and I was finally able to put together all the beads.
The piece I decided to start with is called De Rose Vêtues. It shows a pair of pink tulips with lovely shades of green for the stems and leaves. This is not the smallest design in the book, but the smallest one from the patterns I want to stitch.
The fabric was measured and cut months ago and just waiting for me to start. The top fabric is some sort of even weave I found at the fabric store and the one behind is muslin. Backing your fabric is great for hiding the ends of your threads :)
The book comes with all the patterns to iron on your fabric. When I cut all the fabric and ironed them I planned on ironing the pattern on as well. Unfortunately, they didn't work. I think it lost whatever it was that made it iron on :(
Fortunately, I had bough transfer paper from the craft store last year. I never got the chance to use it yet. I was planning on using it next week to transfer my goldwork pattern onto the fabric. This is a good opportunity to practice.
I started by placing the pattern centered on the fabric.
Slowly lifting up the pattern, I slipped in the transfer paper. I went with blue, because I read somewhere that it blends in better with white so it won't show as much once the piece is finished.
I have a pen with a cap shaped like a crayon making it perfect for this task ;)
I traced over the pattern, making sure to press hard, but no matter how much I pressed I didn't get much on the fabric. After doing it over twice I gave up because I didn't want to ruin the original pattern. It seems this stuff stops working over time despite never being used.
So out came the light-box. I'm glad I tried this out this week, imagine I found out next Friday that the tracing paper is useless and I'm unable to trace my goldwork pattern. I will have to make sure to pass by the fabric store and find an alternative product.
Now that my pattern was traced, I took out my threads and beads. The nice thing about these designs is that they use DMC thread so I can raid my stash. I love this color palette ^_^
I really should have sewn together the two layers of fabric, but I was too eager to start. I just hooped it up and pulled the fabric taught. Hopefully stitching the beads on will bind them together.
The first night, I didn't get far. I got one flower stitched.
The instructions don't mention anything just the name of the stitch in french, in this case point de feuille, and the DMC color. Nothing is mentioned of the number of strands. Luckily I managed to get my hands on another book by Yukiko Ogura that contains more information. It says to use a single strand doubled with a knot at the end, which is usually the norm when embroidering with beads.
Tonight I stitched the second flower and took the time to take more pictures of the process. All the stitches in this book are stitches that many would recognize, you just do it with beads.
The next step is the greenery: stems and leaves. However, (I'm sensing a trend here) while pulling out the beads and double checking the numbers, I realized I'm actually missing one of the greens :( I've found it at my usual online bead store but I'm going to wait for a sale. The worst is they just finished having a 40% sale >.< The rest of the beads have since been checked and double-checked to make sure I don't run into this issue again.
So for now I guess I will have to put it away. I was so hoping to get it finished this weekend since it's such a small design. It's a sign I should take out one of my WIPs :P
That is a lovely pattern and you've made good progress. Isn't is so frustrating when you are sure you are all ready to start and then so many things just won't work? I am convinced that some days the universe just hates crafters!
ReplyDeleteIt will look delightful when finished. I've also found the dressmakers carbon paper rather unreliable. I assumed it was just me, but clearly not!
ReplyDeleteGreat job, not just with the beading but with the hunting down of all supplies. It's looking very pretty.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I want to try this!
ReplyDeleteOh this looks so interesting, pretty progress.
ReplyDelete