Parisian Patisserie Box - EGA Online Class

Last month, the EGA offered an online class on box making. The class was taught by Sarah de Rousset-Hall and covers the box making method used by the Royal School of Needlework, which is different from the cartonnage method. We were given the option to purchase either a full kit, which included things like a cutting mat, ruler,... or a partial one. I opted for a partial kit as I was already equipped for cutting mount boards, what I was more interested is a sample of mount boards appropriate for box making. This will be useful to help track down more later. The fabric and threads are just a bonus allowing me to start the class sooner.

The class was broken down into three lesson, one dropped every two weeks. In the first lesson, we made the inside of the box. We learned how to accurately measure and cut our mount board.

The mount boards that go on the inside are padded with felt.

They were then covered with our lining fabric. We used the double sided sticky tape method to do this. I fussy cut my fabric. I wanted to have as continuous a look as I could.

In lesson two, we covered how the second method to cover the mound board. This was done through lacing. I watched the demonstration, but found that the lacing method I'd been using so far was more secure, so I stuck to that. The rule is you should always lace the pieces that will be visible on the outside or will have to sustain lots of manipulation.

The pieces are then assembled together around the inner box. There was lots of measuring every step of the way to make sure everything fit together, and it was a very tight squeeze. I wasn't sure until the very end if it would work or not.

As an added bonus, in lesson 3, the class included a whitework monogram on the lid. This was a welcome lesson as I always wanted to learn this technique. I learned how to plan my padding, where it should be thicker and where it should narrow, how to not crowd my stitching so that it would look nice and smooth. I also learned of a better way to join padded string, this would definitely be useful in other embroidery techniques like goldwork.

It looks so pretty. I'm really happy how it came out.

Here's where I made a little oopsy. In order to have my feather chain look as symmetric as possible and end in the middle, I put in a tiny blue dot. Well I found out that this blue dot was not waterproof when I sprayed my piece from the back to iron it. I figured, meh! I'll accept my mistake, take it as a lesson and move on. I completed my lid and slept on it. Then an idea came: beads!

A little pearl and some white beads and voila! It actually looks even nicer with it. Gives it a nice elegant feel, while not only hiding my little blue mistake but also covering where the two ends meet.

This class was well worth the cost of the lesson and kit, I learned so much from all the tips Sarah shared and hope to apply them again in future.

Switching Gears

While waiting to hear back from Jen Goodwin on the Contrast Color Wheel, I needed another counted project to work on when I didn't want to do something complicated. I decided to pull out the whitwork sampler. 

It took a while for me to complete the fifth band. It's more complex than the previous four and I only pulled it out every once in a while. Usually for evening stitching with the guild.

I took the opportunity to take a picture of the overall piece. My fabric is all wrinkly as it's been on q-snaps for months. I think this is my favorite motif to date.

I'm still writing the posts for how I finished the Poppy Pouch. It will be in three posts, I have two completed and I'm procrastinating on the third one as I still need to take pretty pictures of the finished product. I need my sister to take the pictures for me but so far the timing hasn't been right. I'm hoping I'll have them by next weekend.

October TUSAL

  

This month's TUSAL report features lots and lots of white from the English whitework sampler. Not very visible in this picture but there are also some thin strands of gold from the Armillary Sphere. I'll post my update on that piece very soon, but in the meantime here's my sampler. You can't really see the first band, but there are four of them stitched so far.

FYI, the aida is not for me. My sister wanted to do some cross stitching and purchased a kit from one of those Chinese website. It came with some horrible 11ct aida and I convinced her to switch it for a higher count fabric. I helper her set up and needed to trim the edges to make sure they were all straight.

English Whitework Sampler - New Start

 The last two months were hard, especially after work as I never seemed to want to do anything. It took me a while to realize that I didn't have a single counted project on the go. It's all surface embroidery. So I went hunting in my stash photo album. I take pictures of all the stash I buy as it makes blogging about them later easier.

I completely forgot I picked up and kitted the English Whitework Sampler when I visited Traditional Stitches in Calgary back in 2019. I bought a lot of stash that year during my work trips. Anyways, this design is by Darlene O'Steen, the author of the book The Proper Stitch. An excellent book by the way if you like samplers. I don't own a copy as I'm not really into samplers, but I've had my eye on this whitework piece since it came out in 2011.

Some technical information as I will be asked, I'm stitching mine on 40 ct Newcastle Linen with #12 perle cotton and #80 special dentelle tatting thread in B5200.

I popped the pattern sheets in protective sleeves and into a binder to keep everything tidy, and then measured and cut my fabric. However, before I get to stitching, I wanted to put in some guidelines as I won't be stitching from the center out. I wanted to start from the top left, so I first put in the vertical and horizontal center lines (going over and under 4 threads). I also put in lines to define the sides and the top of the sampler.

Each row is surrounded by dividing band of four-sided stitches. I've been stitching them as I go and filling in the areas. 

The third row is all done in satin stitch. You'll notice I skipped the second row. As this is a sampler, it has the typical row of alphabet. I already know my ABCs and have no interest in stitching them. Instead I will fill that space with a quote, which I will do later as I'm still trying to figure out spacing and whether I want to stitch it over 1 or 2 threads.

As you get closer and closer to the end of the sampler, the rows start getting more and more complex. In the third row, there is a bit of cutwork to do.

Regardless, I won't be doing any cutting until I've completed the entire piece. Which means once I'm done I will be revisiting parts of the sampler to really finish it.

Bramble and the Rose - Next Step

I set myself a goal last week to start the finishing process of Bramble and the Rose. My mom took a liking to it and said she'd like it as a table center. The only directive I had was to keep it as big as I could. 

After some counting and measuring (with lots of hemming and hawing), I figured out how much I would need to do a proper hem with mitered corners while still getting the overall size my mom wanted. There will be an outer drawn/pulled thread border and a smaller inner border. The space between will have some stitching around the corners.

For the curious, I used Christine Bishop's book on Schwalm Embroidery for the hem instructions.

(click on the post to see the animation below)

I started working on the outer border. I've already drawn the threads and now am doing the first round of pulled thread, making sure to miter the corners.

Once I've completed the first round, I'll be going around the outer border again to pull the threads into the final pattern. I'm still trying to figure out what effect I want, using Luzine Happel's book Fancy Hems. I should be doing that this weekend if all goes well.

Black versus White

Last week was rough. It has been a month since we started social isolation and being stuck at home, it's the rainy season here in Quebec so most days are cloudy (sun is out today). My mood tends to change with the weather, more energy on sunny days, less on cloudy ones. And working on a piece that is on black fabric in all grays, doesn't help. I wanted something light for a change.

Luckily, being a whitework fiend I have some choices in my stash. This kit is a Punto Antico design called Dolcetti by Gingerbread Girl. Even the name makes you think of something fun and delicious. I've been spending a lot of time stitching on it after work.

It's really hard to photograph, there is just a hint of green in the four-sided stitch, from the Caron Wildflower thread, that just doesn't come out in pictures. So far my favorite are those cute little bows with the purple center knot. I love purple!

I'm still working on Midnight Meander, I spent the day working on it yesterday. I just find myself reaching for Dolcetti more often than not at the end of the day for something a little more light and cheerful.

Best Laid Plans

So things didn't go as planned last weekend. I didn't end up going to my Japanese embroidery meeting because of major highway closures. So I ended up staying at home to stitch on Hiogi. I went ahead and worked on the cherry blossom. The padding went much better than they did during class. So I'm happy about that.

However, it didn't go so well once I moved onto stitching the actual petals. The instructions say to use a strand of #1 gold or silver to stitch the cherry blossoms. Since the cloud already has gold twisted into the thread, I'd rather do it in white. I attempted to stitch one petal and was just not happy with it. I've found I needed to put way too many stitches in order to cover all the padding. They're also too close to each other.

I do admit that I gave up after one petal, but in my defense I was tired after putting in all the padding and was ready to pack it all up. A friend suggested trying 1.5 flat to see if I get better coverage.

I did make loads of progress on my hedebo piece, I have the entire left side done. I plan to work on the right side next.

The end of the year is coming fast, I need to start planning what I want to start next year. I already know I won't be starting a new whitework piece as I'm still working on finishing the hedebo piece. I'd love to finally start one of the Hazel Blomkamp kits I have. There are also some kits I bought when I went to Calgary in the summer...

I See Traces of Dragon

Tracery Dragons is still holding my attention. I'm almost done stitching the bottom half. Originally I planned on only stitching the stone and leaves but since I need to move my q-snaps, I figured I might as well finish it all before moving onto the top. You can't really tell from the picture but there is a little sparkle in the dragon. The colors are just so pretty against that dark fabric.

The left side of Hedebo Starburst is ready for stitching. I ended up powering through it while watching Disney movies. I'm loving Disney+.

I've started another piece, but it will be a while before I share anything here. If you're curious on what it is, check out my Instagram stories. 

Blast From the Past

Remember this piece? It's Tracery Dragons by Teresa Wentzler. I had to look it up, but the last time I stitched on it was December of 2016. After I finished Mermaids of the Deep and Miniature Midnight, I didn't have enough time to start something new (I was leaving for Winnipeg) and I didn't feel like working on my other WIPs. So I decided to pull out something that I haven't touched in forever.

Another more practical reason is that the thread box is taking up some space and hogging floss. It would be great if I can finish it and pack everything away.

Once I got back into it, I made some very good progress. There is still some stitching to do on the bottom half (more leaves) but it should be almost done. Except for the dragon, I haven't started putting him in yet. I think I will leave him for last. I really should have been working on my Japanese embroidery but I couldn't stop once I started.

I also worked on Hedebo Starburst. The top side is all done and you can see the entire pattern. I need to clean up the sides (or at least one) in order to continue. I'll try to put in some time tonight.

Back From Winnipeg

I'm back! And look two posts in one week. As I write this, I'm working my last night shift. Lots of time waiting around for things to go wrong. Luckily things have been going very smoothly.

I took three projects with me to Winnipeg, but only touched two of them. The third one was a really bad choice as it was on a dark fabric, not to mention it took up space in my suitcase. On the plane, I stitched on Bramble and the Rose. I'll probably do the same on the return flight. Trying to complete that bottom right corner.

The rest of my trip was spent working on my Hedebo piece. I've been avoiding it before as I have a lot of really short strands to weave in. To avoid dying of boredom, I'm doing enough at a time so that I can start the dove's eye pattern.

Every time someone sees me stitching this piece, they ask "you don't use a hoop?" Well, here I am finally using one. I always prefer not to use a hoop when working on counted whitework. I only pull it out for the pulled thread portions, as you need an even tension on the fabric.

After few days of working on and off, I can finally see the beginning of the starburst pattern. With the amount of weaving I still need to do, I'm a long way off from the end. But it's going to look so pretty when it's finished.

While I was in Winnipeg I had some free time. I visited Lizzy B's, a cross stitch store where I bought the Thea Gouverneur kit, Teresa Wentzler pattern and the pretty needle threader. It's purple, I couldn't leave it at there! The second shop is called NeedlePoint Place M & N's. The owner Ewa was nice enough to host me for a little stitch-in at her shop, so I would have a place to stitch outside my hotel room. I did buy some threads from her (not pictured) for a project I want to start very soon.

Before leaving for Winnipeg, I also organized a stitch-in with the Winnipeg Embroidery Guild (did you know that EAC was founded in Winnipeg by Leonida Leatherdale?). One of the guild members agreed to host it at her house and it was Kathryn Drummond. I met Kathryn back in 2014 at the Creative Festival in Toronto where I took Punto Antico for the first time. We had a lovely time catching up and I even brought back some goodies from her house: three new Punto Antico books. I also met a fellow embroiderer from Instagram. It's always exciting when I get to meet Instagram stitchers in person. Her name is Cathy Wiebe and she's a couture dress designer. We had a great time exchange information on embroidery, me on Japanese embroidery and her on Lesage where she is learning Luneville embroidery.

All in all I really enjoyed my trip to Winnipeg, despite the snow at the end of it. I could have lived without that.