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.

Can't Believe I Hadn't Posted in Days, Hedebo

Recently I started doing some research into more obscure forms of lacemaking and embroidery.  When I research I get very wrapped up in the data and verifying the information.  Hedebo seems to be a little know embroidery and it has changed so much over the last few centuries that two completely different looking embroidered pieces can both be Hedebo.  This link has the basic stitching infomation and good starting instructions
http://www.bobbinmaker.com/hedebofaq.html
This link gives some history on hedebo
http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/ID/Hedebo.html
This link has more images and some interesting history
http://embroidery.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=embroidery&cdn=hobbies&tm=12&gps=126_10_1024_452&f=11&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=8&bt=3&bts=3&zu=http%3A//k%F8ge.info/hedeboeng/kulturhistorien/i-koebenhavn

Books on Hedebo are hard to get and some expensive and others not in English.  Fortunately I already owned 4 books that had some information on Hedebo.  But the books did not have a lot of  information unfortunately.  What I really wanted was a step by step how to do Hedebo.  The only detailed instructions I could find was in the book "The Open Canvas" by Carolyn Ambuter.  The book has an interesting Reticello and Hedebo sampler.  So I started working through the step by step, which is very helpful.  I'm using 20 count off-white linen and size 8 ecru perle cotton.  It would have been nicer to use linen thread but I didn't have any linen thread that was thick enough.  So far I have started working the setup stitching for the Reticello corner squares.  The setup embroidery reinforces the fabric strength and keeps it from stretching.  The only hard part is all the counting to make sure the elements are in the right place.

Most of the books used information from books written in the late 1800's.  So I went to a site that sells needlecraft books out of copyright and print,  http://www.ivarose.com/  There I bought "Needlecraft Practical Journal #52 c. 1906 Danish "Hedebo" Embroidery" by Manchester School of Embroidery along with "Priscilla, Hedebo and Cutwork Book".  Both are lovely books with instructions and many examples.  The books assume that the needleworker needs a minimum of instructions.  Books from this period were written for an audience of skilled embroiders so the projects will be a challenge.  The service at Ivarose is great and I got the books in three days.

Book Review Beginner's Guide to Bobbin Lace, Gilian Dye & Adrienne Thunder

Part of what I want to accomplish this year is to add all my books from my private collection to http://www.librarything.com/ and review them.  Tonight I found "Beginner's Guide to Bobbin Lace", by Gilian Dye & Adrienne Thunder.  It is a wonderful book and has great instructions, pictures and diagrams.  However it only teaches the Torchon style of bobbin lace.  The difference is Torchon works on a diagonal grid adding fibers when starting the piece.  This can be easily be seen in the bookmark lessons.  The projects are great, Spring purse, Summer scarf, Summer bag, Autumn cushion, Winter scarf.  The Winter scarf is beautiful and a good example of how bobbin lace can be done with any size thread and be beautiful.  Great starter book.