Chair-ity Finished or Never Buy a $8.00 Chair

Finished chair with embroidered seat and pillow. 

The chair embroidery is adapted from the cover design.

Happily the chair is finished and turned into the library's Char-ity event!  It has been an interesting journey and I have learned so much.  Why never buy a $8.00 chair?  As might be expected the lower cost of the chair turned into more work.  We did sit on the chair and it was really strong so I thought "this is it!"  But now I've come to realize that there are other concerns like stripped screws holding the seat to the chair, damaged upholstery, and removing the chair's finish.  So next chair I will be pickier!

One of the happiest experiences from the project was rereading the book, "Exploring Elizabethan Embroidery" by Dorothy Clarke and designs by Stephanie Powell.  When I first gave my opinion of the book I had not realized how fascinating and inspiring the book truly is.  When I first started to read the "Exploring Elizabethan Embroidery" I didn't understand why so many of the stitches were just variations of the chain stitch.  Now I realize that the chain stitches fill an area very fast.  Also some of the needle weaving stitches save thread and don't weaken the fabric with hundreds of pokes with the needle.

It all started with the dissolution of the monasteries.  There was no longer as much church embroidery and many embroiderers lost their employment.  So embroiders started to work  more on  clothing and household goods.  Faster and more durable stitches helped this new wave of embroidery.  You can't make a living spending most of your life embroidering one dress!  There are also some interesting effects when using buttonhole stitches to needle weave.  If you needle weave enough buttonhole stitches in an area it causes the embroidery to become dimensional.  Stuffing material can be added before closing your work making a firm bump on the fabric.

 

Closeup of embroidered seat.

For strength the chair seat embroidery is made of tapestry wool and stitched on a heavy cotton fabric.  I kept the dimensional aspect of the embroidery low because it will be sat on .       

Needle painted rose.

The rose was stitched first using a simple needle painting technique which makes the rose flat on the fabric and requires lots of stitches causing many stitch holes in the fabric.  There was also an issue with wrinkles caused by the needle painting technique.  So I decided to try the needle weaving technique on the next part which was the pansies.

 

Finished pansies using buttonhole needle weaving technique.  

You can see how the pansies jump off the chair background.

 

Close-up of pansies the bottom gold petals really pop out of the background because 

this was a chair seat I didn't actually stuff the needle weaving before closing the stitches.

The way that the needle weaving was done was to first outline each section, i.e. petal, with a chain stitch in the color wool to be used in the needle weaving.  Then starting at the top you work a detached buttonhole stitch in each chain stitch until you reach the other side of your shape.  Then you work down one chain stitch and work detached buttonhole stitch back across the shape and into the first row.  You work back and forth using more or fewer stitches so that you match the shape.  More detached buttonhole stitches will cause the dimensional effect and can be padded if desired.  When you get to the bottom of the shape you close the embroidery by working in the bottom chain stitches.  Fewer detached buttonhole stitches may be needed to make the embroidery flatter.

 

Morning glory with more buttonhole stitches making the embroidery more dimensional. 

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For the morning glory I adapted the design to include detached buttonhole stitch and more complex shading.  I really love this but it looks less like an Elizabethan embroidery.  Still I really love it and chose a morning glory so it could vine through the other designs.  For the vine I used a variegated green wool thread.

Close-up of morning glory embroidery. 

 

Daffodil embroidery.

The daffodil was the final embroidery.  I had more fun with this flower.  The petals and cup are in detached buttonhole stitch with simple shading.  The stem is made in several colors of green in a chain stitch.  Then to give it some dimension I had the vine stitched behind the stem, making the daffodil pop to the front.  I added a snail and a bug and was finished!  The embroidery was so quick and easy it took less then a week!  

The hardest part of the project was to sand and paint the chair.  I had every intention of painting leaves on the chair but it just didn't look right.  I also found that the paint I used on the chair wouldn't let me paint acrylics over it.  The leaves just washed right off.  So I learned a lot from this project and I hope it brings money for the library.  The pillow is actually a Jacobean design but I don't think anyone will notice!

Since making the chair I have decided to make some chairs for myself.  We only have  office chairs in the house and some wooden chairs would be nice.  I have been thinking of painting each chair a different color and embroidering the seats in different styles!

I hope that this inspires you to try your hand at Elizabethan embroidery and maybe even entering a Chair-ty event in your area.

Linen Bag for the 2017 County Fair

I couldn't make anything today because I cut my hand cleaning a can, to make into a pincushion.  So instead I will show the linen bag I made for the 2017 Fair.  

 Linen bag with Brazilian embroidery.

The bag started off as something to make out of some scraps of linen that were left over.  The bag's finished size is 5.5 x 7 inches and is made of unbleached linen.  I also made a satin bag to be a lining.  Putting the linen fabric in a hoop I couched a blue cording with a darker blue thread in the shape of a heart.  Then I embroidered pink Brazilian roses surrounded by simple leaves and white fantasy flower on long stems.  

 

 Close-up of Brazilian embroidery.

After hand sewing the linen and satin bags I used small hidden stitches to secure the satin bag inside the linen bag.

 Close-up of hand made button. 

 

The bag was cute but a little dull so I decided to make a closure for the bag using a button.  Taking a small scrap of linen I embroidered matching Brazilian roses using two strands of floss and a small needle.  Then cutting a circle around the embroidery I ran small stitches along the edge of the circle.  Next I pulled the thread to make the circle into a yo-yo.  Before tightening the circle too much I placed a plastic ring inside.  Making sure the design was centered on the ring I secured the yo-yo with a couple of back stitches.  

Using felt I sewed a circle on the button back.  Then I needle wove a loop on the back of the button and sewed it to the bag.  A simple braid using blue and white floss completed the closure.

I have only a tiny amount of the unbleached linen left and I will use it to make a simple doll.  The bag and doll will make a great gift!

Scherenschnitte and Pergamano

Yesterday I was looking through a pad of paper when I found a scherenschnitte piece I had cut several days earlier and put in the pad to flatten.  This pattern was also from a magazine and was suggested as a wedding gift.  Unfortunately the birds were damaged while I was cutting them out.  Still the rest came out very well.

 

 

 

In some ways I suppose that the combination of Scherenschnitte and Pergamano just doesn't sound right, but that never stopped me before!  In fact I was surprised the other day when I went looking for pergamano supplies at http://www.ecstasycrafts.com/  All I can say is WOW!  They offer so many interesting supplies that anyone doing paper art will find something there.  But then I got to thinking that with so many different tools pergamano is a lot easier then when I started learning it 15 years ago.  Since I have been learning lace making it was only natural that making paper lace would become yet another hobby.  Unfortunately pergamano was beyond my skills.  I found that embossing the parchment was extremely difficult, just pressing down on the paper a little too much will cause a tear.  Pergamano can be a very frustrating hobby.  Finally I ran out of the special parchment and couldn't get anymore.  I do still have some heavy vellum card inserts for invitations.  So when I wanted to do pergamano I could, as long as the project was small.  After trying scherenschnitte with some success I decided to try a small pergamano project.  So I got out "Parchment Craft" by Martha Ospina and the vellum inserts and looked for an easy project.  The book "Parchment Craft" is a good book for learning pergamano and all of the gallery pieces have patterns, which is really great.  So looking through the book for something easy to make I found a fan pattern.  Without actual instructions I had to make some guesses on how to put the fan together.  But at least the fan pieces were marked clearly as to what tools to use.  The four needle tool gave me some problems, I had trouble lining up the tool so some of them were a bit crooked.  Not knowing how many piece were needed for the fan I started with 12.  For every good fan piece I made one was ruined.  After several hours I finally had 12 pieces and put them together using a brad.

 

 

Fan pieces being added to a brad.

 

Close-up of pergamano fan pieces.

 

 

Fan pieces.

 

A different angle.

 

The fan is not completed yet but it is a good start.  The fan was good practice for me and the embossing is getting easier to do.  I believe another six pieces should fill out the fan nicely.  There was a lot of trouble with getting the pieces aligned, it took me over an hour!  I thought that each piece would fit together but no such luck.  So I went back to the book and after staring at the gallery image I realized that thread was wrapped around each piece in a back stitch!  So the fan is permanently forced open!  The gallery image was also colored so I am thinking of doing that before finishing the fan.  So there is still a lot to do to finish this practice project.  Once I've practiced some more I hope to design a Scherenschnitte, pergamano and paper embroidery piece.

Helen M Stevens

Recently I have been ordering books again and found Helen M Stevens books from the 1980s.  The first of her books I purchased was "The Timeless Art of Embroidery".  Her first set of books were more like coffee table books.  She explains art theory and shows how to use it to make more realistic embroideries.  When I ordered one of her first books I thought she used mostly needle painting.  However she gets really lovely results using simple shadows, perspective and a stitch called opus plumarium.  You can see a preview of her book "World of embroidery" with stitch guide by clicking on this link www.books.google.com/books?isbn=0715326651
On Amazon they have a preview of the book and offering a good price for the book used.  http://www.amazon.com/World-Embroidery-Helen-M-Stevens/dp/0715309773/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386356398&sr=8-1&keywords=world+of+embroidery

She does use other stitches but opus plumarium and directional opus plumarium seem to dominate her embroideries.  Directional opus plumarium is a simplified form of needle painting in this case using fewer colors then other needle paintings.  Another factor that makes her work so unique is the use of colored background fabric especially black.  Helen M Stevens' use of art and stitches make her work very unique.

Then in the 90's her work was released again only this time it contained projects with more detail instructions.  These books were renamed "Master Class Series".  Then finally the "Master Class Series" was remade again in the 2000s to be even more streamlined.  This newer "Master Class" is even more concise in teaching specific techniques and has very specific projects.  I bought the third series "Embroidered Landscapes" which includes 5 lovely projects.

Personally of all of her book series I prefer the first.  Even though the first set of books are a bit rambling they bring out more of the authors ideas and character.  The first series is richly illustrated with the authors embroidery.  Each page has at least one embroidered piece or sketch from her journal.  The first series may not give many detailed instructions, but for someone who already embroiders they can use the pictures alone to make any of the illustrations.

Yesterday I started getting ready to embroider one of her birds.  I simply copied the embroidery onto card stock.  Then cutting out the bird I traced it's outline onto black fabric using a white fabric pencil.  Next I went over the traced lines and sketched in some of the details.  This will be the first time that I've tried embroidering on black fabric and look forward to the challenge.

I hope this little review has inspired someone to look at Helen M. Stevens' books and maybe even buy one.

Woman with Mantilla Revisited

Unfortunately I have only worked 2 hours on the portrait embroidery in the last week.  However I did get a lot done.  It is very difficult to feel motivated making hundreds of French knots.  So here she is after 18 hours with the left half of her mantilla almost finished.

 

Woman with Mantilla after 18 hours.

 

 

I must admit that I would really like to drop this project into a baggy and file her away in a drawer.  But I am enjoying the way it is colored and all the blending.  This project has given me a small glimpse into Picasso's style and starting to develop one of my own.  Every time I look at the copy of his "Woman with Mantilla" I see more colors.  It has been a very interesting project and it may also answer the question "How many French knots does it take to drive an embroider insane!

Embroidered Woman with Matilla Update

 

Embroidery after 16 hours.

 

The last few days I have been working on several projects including the Picasso portrait.  I've gotten to the easier parts after filling in the lady's hair and comb.  The mantilla is filled in with French knots but they are spaced farther apart and use both one and two wraps.  I am not trying to make this identical to the original but still trying to follow the color changes.  How fast the french knots work up has been a real surprise.  Every time I look at my work I'm astonished that I can stitch without lines but if I had tried to draw the portrait with a pencil I would have failed.  So all the doodling with a needle has paid off.  Still I don't know if I will work much longer on this piece it was just a self challenge to embroider a face.  There are several stumpwork pieces that I want to work on more than this portrait.  Still it has been fun.

  

 

Portrait of woman with mantilla.

Embroidered Portraits by Jan Messent

Recently I saw a book called Embroidered Portraits: Ideas, Inspiration and Techniques by Jan Messent on Amazon. Amazon has a "Look Inside" for this book and the portraits are very nicely done. This got me thinking of the Marie Antoinette embroidery that I have been working  So I was going to buy the book but I already have so many books.  Instead I set myself a challenge to try embroidering a portrait using the knowledge I already had.  The first step was to find a portrait that was usable.  So I chose a picture by Picasso that I felt could be translated into embroidery.

 

 

Woman in a Mantilla, 1917 by Picasso.

 

The portrait I chose has a lot of small strokes that could be made out of french knots and small straight stitches in clusters.  The colors have been a problem. I have been having trouble matching the picture to DMC floss.  So I have tried my best with the colors that were on hand.  Finally to add to the complexity I didn't print out the picture or even outline it on the fabric.  I tried to imagine using paints and pastels while using a needle.  So to do justice to Picasso this project is my interpretation of his work.  Hopefully his ghost won't come to haunt me.

 

To start the embroidery I took a medium weight white fabric.  Next using the image I free hand cut felt that roughly matched the shapes of the head, ruffle, hair and comb.  This was probably my first mistake.  Though it does look nice the felt fluff tries to show between the stitches.  I read somewhere that using an iron-on interfacing on one side of the felt helps reduce the fluff.  But it has been my experience that it is much harder to get a needle through the interfaced felt.  So I just made more and smaller stitches catching the fluff to the surface.

 

 

Woman in a mantilla embroidery after 5 hours of work.

 

In the picture above you can see how I jumped around embroidering the picture.  After tacking down the felt I wanted to try different stitches just to make sure the stitches were giving the right feel to the embroidery.  I started with the neck doing long and short stitches but I am still unhappy with the sharp color changes.  This is something I still have to resolve but I have gone back in with small random stitches to help blend the lines.

 

 

Embroidery after 7 hours.

 

I worked on the face only when my eyes weren't tired and my hands were steady.  Even with care I still had to rework the left eye four times.  So after 14 hours most of the face is finished.  Or at least the fabric can't take any more stitching!

 

 

Embroidery after 14 hours of work.

A Trapunto Brain

Certainly a brain is a strange thing to work in a form of quilting.  I've had an idea for a design for over a year but an idea is a far cry from a finished design.  It has taken a couple of tries but I may have the brain worked out.  The design is not very realistic but it looks enough like a brain to be recognized with the rest of the embroidery.  The trapunto piece is a 2 inch circle made by sewing two pieces of white fabric together with a random curling pattern.  Then a pink yarn is run inside the pattern creating a pinkish dimensional brain.  I wanted to show pictures but the pink isn't dark enough to photograph.  This project is still in the creative planning state.  Hopefully I will find a good way to do this because I am sure the finished embroidery will be amazing.

Crewel World, Jacobean Style Pillow Tops.

Sorry I know that is an old joke but then so am I!  For the French Altrusa tree I wanted to make some pillows.  I wanted the pillows to look period as if someone in a 18th century home made them.  This is what I bought more then 50 skeins of embroidery wool for a couple week ago.  So yesterday instead of doing hundreds of tiny stitches on a needle painting I decided to make another pillow top.  Using natural linen and wool threads this was fun and fast to work.  Here are pictures of the pillow tops for the Marie Antoinette tree.

Jacobean stylized flower motif.

Jacobean stylized flower motif.

If they don't get used in Marie's tree I think I can find a home for them : )  I highly recommend the book "The Margret Boyle's Book of Needle Art" for those interested in crewel work.  The book is only 160 pages so it does not go into great detail about any topic.  However what she does write about is clearly written and has many good suggestions and tips.  The book includes both canvas work and crewel embroidery.  The canvas section includes Florentine design and how to figure out the pattern repeats.  I would not suggest this book for someone just learning embroidery but the basics are included in the book.  There are several lovely projects in the book but only with brief instructions.  The project instructions include the colors and stitches to be used with referrals to the How To part of the book.  This is not a book for those who need lots of pictures to learn new techniques.  I plan on making several more projects from the book.

Marie Antonette Embroidered Picture

Doing two Altrusa trees this year has meant a lot of planning and starting early on the decorations and gifts.  So far I have volunteered for several decorations but I am not sure what gifts I could make.  The thing I like about our groups tree is that we don't throw money at them.  We make almost all of the stuff ourselves.  Some members do donate money for the supplies to make things, which is very generous.  We also get things from thrift stores and fix up.  One gift idea that I've had was a pair of crystal earrings.  I bought 2 large pink crystals that will be used to dangle large woven gold drops.  The crystals will made into cabochons sew in with gold or pearl beads, haven't made my mind up yet!  That is as far as I've gotten making gifts!

Last night I was looking at a friends pintrest page, http://pinterest.com/lindageorgeadis/marie-antoinette/ , and came across a lovely picture of Marie Antoinette and decided to embroider the picture as a gift.  I could have turned the image into a cross-stitch or needlepoint.   But instead I printed the image on cotton canvas and started embroidering sections to bring out the image.

Original printed image of Marie Antoinette onto cotton canvas.

When starting this kind of project deciding what to do first can be daunting.  So I took one thread of gray DMC and started embroidering straight stitches to add detail to the feathers in her hat.  This gave me the courage to keep working.  Besides all of the thread and color challenges there is also the challenge of getting the needle through the fabric.  The fabric is a commercially processed sheet that can go through a printer.  The fabric is very thick and besides bending several needles I also bruised my fingers when the eye end went into my fingers because the point end would not go through the fabric.

  Feather enhanced by straight stitches in grey DMC thread

and variegated silk ribbon added to the hair.

This style of embroidery is completely different from the more standard embroidery forms.  Unlike embroidery patterns whether to leave something plain or stitching to enhance a section is entirely up to the embroiderer.  The most helpful thing is to have a wide variety of embroidery supplies.  In this piece I have used silk sewing threads and ribbon, DMC floss, silver passing, crewel and needlepoint fibers.  In the above picture the feathers are enhanced by straight stitches in grey DMC thread

and variegated silk ribbon added to the hair.  On the right hand side of her neck bullion knots in dark gray DMC were added.  The darker shaded hair and smaller stitches make her hair recede into the background.  The color of gray was similar to the artists choice of color.

Curls added to the left neck area using crewel acrylic yarn in pale gray

and seed pearls added to form the necklace.

After enhancing the feathers I had thought to leave the hair simple with a few silver stitches.  But the curls were so tempting!  So I used a white acrylic crewel yarn and a silver crewel yarn and formed them into loops.  Then the loops were tacked down on top of the hair.

How to Make the Loops.

The loops were very easy to make!

Step 1:  Thread a needle with a strong thread matching the color of the curls, I used silk sewing thread.  Hold the thread along a dowel and wrap the hair fiber around the dowel and thread.

Wrapping the hair fiber around a dowel and encasing a sewing thread.

Step 2:

Once the loops are as long as you want for one area, sew through the hair fiber with the encased sewing thread.    Make sure to pierce through the actual hair fiber as you sew.  Keep sewing through until all the loops are sewn loosely together.

Sewing through the hair fiber.

Step 3: 

Sew the fibers through again going in the opposite direction.  Tie a small knot at the end of the loop with the sewing thread.  Be careful not to pull to tight.

Sew back through the hair fibers, do not tighten to much.  The loops should be sewn close together.

Step 4: 

Slip the hair fiber loops off the skewer and sew in place using the same sewing thread.



Finished hair loops ready to be sewn into place.

Loops starting to form hair on left side of head.

Bullion knots form tighter curls on right side of head.

Hair added to left hand side of head is made with darker variegated crewel fibers and is formed by making bullion knots.  This forms tighter curls which gives the impression that right side of her face is turned away slightly.  This is a simple trick to form depth to the picture.

Silver passing is used to give detail to the lace edge.

The last thing that I did last night was to start enhancing the lace on her dress with silver passing thread.  This was a bit tricky because after so much work I was afraid that the silver thread wouldn't work and I would have ruined the embroidery.  But it came out fine!  I used short lengths of silver thread and straight stitches.  I worked the silver following the white edge in the lace.

View of dress after silver passing was added to the lace.

Some of the bullions knots on her right side are a bit dark and I may do them over again.  The bouquet in her hand has stems and leaves but I still need to figure out how to make the rose.  The next big step is embroidering the background.  The trick is to make the background interesting and at the same time not so detailed that it is to busy.  Now to try and not destroy the picture today by doing something stupid!

A Secret Garden

The last few days Lee and I have been working on a beautiful shade garden.  Lee has done 90% of the work and I have been doing the easy stuff like starting seeds and planting.  Yesterday I planted a lot of violets, spearmint and apple mint.  Now that the area has been mulched I've been thinking about growing mint as a ground cover and naturalizing some bulbs for next spring.  There are a lot of paperwhites and narcissus to replant from the Spring.  The amaryllis has baby bulbs to replant too.  I would appreciate any suggestions.

The victory garden is really doing well, the weather has been so lovely and the tomato plants are getting full of fruit.  Usually we don't get tomatoes this early because there are so few bees.  But this year with have both honey bees and bumble bees.  They are still enjoying the lavender plant I planted 12 years ago.  It has grown into a beautiful plant but it needs to have the old flowers removed so it will bloom again.  Once I cut back the lavender the bees should be more interested in the vegetable.  The green beans are finally coming up and should take off in the beautiful Summer we are having.  A new section of the yard is almost finished it has taken me a long time to get it ready.  Lee worked over the soil but I want to make sure the weeds are out of the soil before I start planting more seeds.

The wild pansy embroidery is slowly taking shape.  The leaves are almost finished.  Getting the right angle of the stitches has been difficult and it seems to be an important factor in needle painting.  Tomorrow I hope to have some pictures.

This Last Weekend

Actually had a really nice weekend.  Saturday I went to the EGA meeting.  They were teaching how to cover candy tins and how to twist embroidery floss into cording.  Instead of attending the class I started a bargello needlepoint in pink and green wool.  This was the first needlepoint that I had worked on in over 30 years.  It wasn't that easy to get started but it got easier as I progressed.  The trick is to copy the pattern line and then repeat it making sure that you are going over the correct number of threads.

 

Bargello needlepoint.

 

The pattern is so easy that it only took me three days to get it finished.  Needlepoint doesn't have the appeal that it once did but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty and useful.  This piece is probably going to me made into a pillow.  Today I got out all the needlepoint books I have which is only six.  The book "More Needlepoint Designs" by Lou Gartner is very interesting.  The author's goal is to teach needle workers to chart or paint their own designs.  To trust in their ability to stitch without a specific "this color stitch goes here".  It is an interesting book and it has a lot of pattern outlines to start stitching.  It also has color photo to help determine colors and shading.  It is a lot like painting with a needle.

 

Sunday I put in beans and watermelons into the garden.  The garden is slowly it is getting bigger and we now have several tomatoes.  I also started some cantaloupe seeds sprouting.

 

 

Tomato plant.

 

Here is a picture of a new orchid.  Sally is a lovely pink shade.

 

 

 

Sally she is small but lovely.

 

 

Flowers pots in an wash tub.  This was to disguise a drain in the yard and be easy to move.

 

After weeks on a wheat less diet I had pizza from the best deli in town and watched "Red Dwarf" on Netflix.  I should have been eating toast but I love pizza more!

Don't Know Where to Start

Here it is June 1st already!  A whole month without posting, I've just been feeling quiet lately.  Sort of a brain vacation.

Usually this time of year is full of working on the fair entries.  I signed up and then decided to drop out.  Usually I redo the entries thinking they aren't nice enough and end up ruining the projects.  So instead I'm leaving them alone!  That leaves me a whole month of working on something new.

The garden is full of tomato plants.  The trees have lots of hanging baskets of herbs.  The basil and catnip are hanging out of the way of snails and cats.  Lee bought a clematis for me and I started it growing on the wisteria. 

 

I've also been working on a small potted garden under the olive tree.  So far I have two miniature roses, two fuchsias, snapdragons, violets, peppermint, lilies, white potato vine, hollyhocks, narcissus, gladiola, and three orchids.  I only had two orchids but they needed to be split.  The one was so pot bound that all the wood chips had been consumed.  So with some ambition and a heavy knife I worked on seperating it into two plants.  Even with the roots curled they were over 30 inches long.  Needless to say $8,000 and an emergency MRI later I now have them separated.  Thank goodness I have insurance again.  Still the copay would have bought a lot of orchids.  So no more wrestling with huge orchids.  Yesterday I pulled out some irises to make a small herb garden.  Hit myself hard in the head with the unpointy end of a pitch fork.  Happy about that!  So now there are herbs closer to the kitchen.  Now to find homes for the displaced irises.  They are small, 18 inches tall, and a beautiful deep purple.  They even bloom twice a year with extra care.  They are prolific and all my friends are trying to get rid of extras from irises I gave them years ago!

 

Embroidering has been my main hobby lately.  Working on surface embroidering mostly and slowly working through the needle painting book.  Just like painting it takes time to get the hang of shading and highlights.  But I am getting tired of working small pieces.  So I am considering making embroidered quilt squares, just need to find some nice fabric.  My butterfly  making has gotten better.  Using finer wire and cotton and silk sewing threads together seems to be the best combination.  I made a butterfly to put on my name tag for EGA meetings. 

 

 

Stumpwork butterfly.

 

 

Butterfly closeup.

 

A friend found a great deal on real French bias silk ribbon. She got me four rolls for $24.00 and the rolls have 28 yards each and are 1 1/2 inches wide.  Also the YLI 4mm silk ribbon was on sale for 50 cents.  I've never had an abundance of silk ribbon to play with before.

 

 

French bias silk ribbon.

 

 

Green and pink striped silk ribbon.

 

The green and pink ribbon was a challenge to work into a flower.  At first I didn't think I could use the ribbon.  After looking at ribbon flower books I decided to tried making it into a carnation.

 

 

Silk ribbon carnation.

 

The ribbon works beautifully as a carnation making it's own calyx with it's green stripe.

 

The carnation looks so real it is hard not to sniff it.  The other ribbons will make lovely roses when

I get some time to work on them.

Currently I am working up samples for a beginners embroidery class.  Hopefully I will be able to help someone learn to embroider.

How to Make Fabric Dorcet Buttons and Spider Web Roses

 

Dorcet fabric buttons.

I was learning how to make Dorcet style buttons yesterday and today.  My reference books for learning were "50 Heirloom Buttons to Make" by Nancy Nehring.   A great book with lots of button types and histories.  Also used was "The Button Maker" by Sarah Beaman.  "The Button Maker" has good illustrations and instructions.  I find that the two books are very complimentary.  I highly recommend both books.

Dorcet buttons are made of fabric with rings that help them keep their shape.  They are basically a yo-yo that has a ring inserted and then the yo-yo is closed.  The Singleton button is made the same way but has an added backstitch around the inside of the ring to keep the ring from moving.  Singleton buttons were made by the Singleton family and were embroidered with daisies according to Sarah Beaman's book.

To make Dorcet buttons start with deciding what size to make them.  I decided on using 1 inch plastic rings for the sample.  Both authors suggest the outer size of the button fabric be 2.5 times the size of the ring.  The fabric should be a closely woven fabric but not to thick.  If there is any chance that the fabric may shrink when washed, please prewash it.  In the sample I used a silk taffeta.   I wanted to embroider mine so I drew two circles, one a 2.5 inch circle and then another 1 inch circle in the center. 

So with my taffeta fabric marked and in a hoop I embroidered three leaves in a kind of Celtic design.  The leaves were stitched in herringbone using three shades of green cotton floss.  Then I decided to make spider roses using 4mm pink silk ribbon.  Spider roses are very delicate not the best choice for buttons, but I am not making these washable.  Be sure to read the limitations on the fabrics, rings, threads and ribbons you use.

 

Green embroidered leaves for button.

 

Embroidered leaves and Spider Roses.

How to Make a Spider Rose
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To make a spider rose draw a circle a bit smaller then you want the rose to be.  Then from the center of the circle fasten a thread matching the ribbon color.  I wouldn't use a standard knot because it might show.  I make a stitch and then pierce though it with the needle to lock it in place.  Next use a long stitch and stitch from the center of the rose to it's edge.  Repeat this remembering that you need an odd number of stitches and try to make them evenly spaced.  The long stitches form the web for the spider rose.

 

Spider webs stitched as first step of making a spider rose.

Now for some fun!  Sometimes I start by sewing a tiny 3 mm crystal in the roses center.  But this time I will just make a standard rose.  Thread a small tapestry needle with the 12 to 14 inches of 3mm silk ribbon and bring it through the fabric near the center of the rose.  Remember that the silk is delicate and will start fraying if to long a piece is used.  Pull the ribbon through the fabric leaving a small tail. 

 

Silk ribbon brought up near center of spider rose web.

 

 

Weaving started, beginning of spider ribbon rose.

 

 

Weaving continues.

 

 

Spider ribbon rose partially woven.

 

 

Twirling ribbon to create more realistic petals.

Then weave the ribbon over and under the web threads.  This is done very gently, if you pull the ribbon to tight it will not make a pretty rose.  Once the center is woven you can twirl the needle curling the ribbon.  The curled ribbon makes interesting petal shapes and makes the rose more roselike.  Then straighten the ribbon for the last round of weaving.  Sometimes if the rose is uneven I will stitch a petal or two around it. 

 

Sewing the ribbon ends to secure them to the back of the embroidery.

(I have long stitches of pink on the back, I ran the thread across rather then beginning and ending the webs separately.)

Then pull the ribbon back through the fabric.  Clip both ends of the ribbon and sew them together using the web thread.  There are other ways to do this but I like the security of sewing the ends.  Sometimes I stitch into the ribbon roses very gently just to secure the petals.  It is a bit tricky not to leave a stitch showing but it makes the roses more durable.  It also gives an opportunity to shape the spider rose.  Finally I decided to stitch some rocailles beads one at a time around the embroidery and within the 1 inch circle.  The button remind me of little tiles.

 

Stitching the beads on using silk beading thread.

 

 

Finished embroidery.

 

 

Making the Dorcet Button

 

With the embroidery finished now comes the button making.  I was a bit worried at this point because I was unsure that all the beads were inside the 1 inch circle.  Now instead of cutting the fabric at the 2.5 inch circle I decided to try something different.  I took the small yo-yo maker by Clover and placed the top piece over the embroidery.

 

 

Embroidery seen through the top part of a Clover yo-yo tool.

 

This turned out to be trickier then I though it would be. The ribbon roses crush easily and the beads were slippery. But I gave it a try and cut around the yo-yo tool leaving about a 1/4 inch of fabric beyond the tool.  Then I put Stop Fraying by Aleene's on the edges of the silk and let it dry. 

 

 

 Stop fraying was put on the edges of the button rounds.

 

After the fabric dried, I tried to but the yo-yo tool on but the embroidery was to thick.  So I held the two parts together gently and stitched around the yo-yo tool.  It was a bit hard to do because the tool kept slipping.  But it came out great because I was extremely gentle.  Using the yo-yo tool should work better with a less delicate and 3D embroidery. 

 

To form the button without a yo-yo tool stitch a running stitch around the fabric circle about 1/4 of the depth from the edge.  The trick here is to leave enough fabric to push under to secure the edges.  But also to leave enough fabric to close the fabric circle.  You may need to run the gathering thread a couple of times to get it right.  Remember to place the 1 inch plastic ring inside the button before closing it tightly.

 

 

Pulling the running thread to form the button.

 

After pulling the yo-yo closed, making sure the fabric edges were tucked inside as well as the 1 inch plastic ring.  The trick is to pull the thread and then loosen the gathering and spacing the fabric evenly.

 

 

Gathering the button.

 

Finally I ran the thread around the close for extra strength.  If there is still an opening you can run stitches from top to bottom and side to side.  If there is still a whole or you want a neater back, stitch a piece of fabric over the opening.

 

 

Running another gathering thread to help tighten the button opening.

 

 

Closing the button opening.

 

To use the button simply sew through the button onto the garment.  Another way to attach the button is to use a button safety pin.  I hope that this will inspire and help with making fun and unique buttons.