Tag Archives: embroidery

Sewing as Therapy

22 Sunday Jul 2018

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Embroidered beads in the making

Yesterday I went to a meeting of the WearTo? Group of the WA Embroiderers’ Guild, and tried my hand at making beads from fabric. I’ve seen this done before, and the results can be fantastic, mine have a little way to go! The idea is to embellish small strips of fabric with either hand or machine embroidery, then glue them on to strips of felt which are then rolled up to form tube beads. I started with some small odd shaped scraps and stitched them together crazy patchwork fashion first, then did some embroidery. That was as far as I got, I need to get some felt, and possibly figure out how to make the beads without glue, when I try to glue things I’m generally not very successful. All in all a fun day, and very different from the useful and rather mundane shopping bags I have been making lately.

I got to thinking on the drive home about creativity as therapy. The others in the group are all ordinary people, with the difficulties and challenges that we all face, but it seems that we all put those things aside for a few hours to focus on being creative, and taking some time for ourselves. As a result, there is lots of positive energy in the room, and that can’t be a bad thing.
I have to admit that what I’m going to say now can be applied to other creative arts, painting, knitting, woodwork, making music or model aeroplanes, but sewing is my thing so that’s what I focus on.
I believe sewing can be therapy, and it seems plenty of other people feel the same. Sewing and other creative pursuits have been shown to reduce stress, increase positive feelings, improve immune function, and even to protect the brain from diseases like Parkinson’s and dementia. When you are absorbed in creating something there is less room in your consciousness for negative or depressing thoughts. When you learn how to do something new you improve communication between different parts of the brain and may also improve the function of your memory. When you succeed in creating something you receive a boost to your self-esteem. When you wear something you have made and somebody compliments you on it the boost is even bigger. When you make something beautiful for yourself you are nurturing yourself, and we can all use some nurturing. When you make something beautiful for somebody else you are nurturing them and strengthening your relationship.
I don’t need to go on, do I?! Sewing is a great hobby (which is not to say that it’s better than any other creative hobby), but I and so many other people I know get wonderful satisfaction out of being creative and making something from fabric and thread. What are your thoughts?

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On Uncovering Long Lost Treasures

02 Friday Jan 2015

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I’ve been having a major sort out of some stuff which has been kicking around for years, decades in some cases. This is a precursor to redoing my sewing space.

One of the things I came across, and which has been around for decades, is a piece of cross stitch. It is finished, and I have thoughtfully dated it 1994! It’s still not framed!

Here it is:

Cross stitch embroidery of antique wardrobe with dresses etc.

‘A Cameo of the Past’ cross stitch design by Paula Vaughan, circa 1990.

 

cross stitch close up

At some point I have obviously flouted the golden rule of embroidery, and left my needle in the work, maybe for some years, who knows! There is a tiny rust speck, just to the right of the boots, which hasn’t come out, even though I have washed the piece. There may be a way of getting it out, but I’m not too bothered. I’m not against the odd imperfection, it gives character, don’t you think?!

So I have put it on the table in the sewing room in order to motivate myself to get it framed. The framing I will get done professionally, but I thought I would stretch and mount it myself first. A session on Google turned up what seems like a sensible, relatively easy and yet professional way to do it. It involves getting a piece of foam core board, cutting out a rectangle a bit bigger than the embroidery, and mounting the cross stitch on it with pins put into the sides of the foam core. I haven’t explained that very well, I will take some photos as I work and try to illustrate it a bit better. I found a few descriptions of how to do it, a good one is here at Wildfaces Gallery.

I have bought the board, but I didn’t have any of the short pins, which are variously called either sequin pins or applique pins. My local fabric shop didn’t have any either, so I ordered them online, but that was before Christmas, and they haven’t arrived yet – probably because it has been Christmas. Once they arrive I will be able to get started.

Out of curiosity I went looking for the pattern for the cross stitch. And I found it , on sale on Etsy. OK, so it’s a bit kitsch, but not nearly so bad as some other cross stitch patterns of the same era. I do remember that when I had finished it I had a lot of thread left over (there are lots of colours in the pattern, and it only uses a very small bit of some of them). Because of that I bought another similar pattern, thinking to use up the thread, but I have probably used quite a lot of it in other things over the years. I don’t remember what the other pattern was called, it was another of Paula Vaughan’s, but there are several that look familiar and I’m not sure which it was. Perhaps one day it too will come to light and I’ll start another cross stitch – it may also take 20 years to be finished and framed!

Handmade Christmas sewing gifts

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Our group of the Australian Sewing Guild had the last meeting for the year on Sunday, and had a Christmas gift swap. I always like to make something for these swaps, and so this year I did a needle book, following a tutorial by Nana Company.

It uses some tiny bits of fabric, 1.5 inch squares, so I was easily able to find some in my scrap box. Actually I think I have enough scraps in the scrap box to make at least a hundred of these, but that’s probably not going to happen! I had to buy some flannel, or at least it was flannelette, to use for the pages, and I bought pale blue instead of the more usual white or cream. There was white in the shop, but although they were both labelled the same the blue was definitely thicker, so I thought it would be better. Not sure of the difference between flannel and flannelette, I guess the latter is probably just thinner. I was quite pleased when it was done, but what doesn’t really show in the photos, but does in real life, is the fact that I originally put the transfer of the word ‘Needles’ on the wrong way up, so the wording was reversed. I turned the fabric over, and did it on the other side, but the mistake does show a bit, and I should have just cut a new piece of fabric instead.  A lesson in being more careful, even if it is late at night!

Here are some photos:

Handmade needlebook

Needlebook 1

Inside of needlebook

Needlebook 2

Outside back and front

Needlebook 3

Back of needlebook

Needlebook 4

Close up

Needlebook 5

Another member made some really cute sewing weights, which is something I’ve never used, I always pin my patterns. Sometime though I’m going to make myself some and give them a try. I remember long ago a reader of Threads magazine wrote that she used hockey pucks as pattern weights, because ‘they were readily available at garage sales’ in her neighbourhood. Not in Western Australia they aren’t! But the ones I saw on Sunday had fishing weights inside them, that’s what’s readily available around here! I’m going to be interested to try out the difference between pinning patterns and using weights.

A Salutary Lesson

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

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That’s what I got this week. And as I was thinking that to myself, I wondered what a salutary lesson is, and is there another kind? I consulted the net to find the definition and origin of salutary, and apparently it means beneficial, coming from the Latin ‘salutaris’. Before anybody takes me up on that, I did only a quick search, and that’s close enough for this purpose. So a salutary lesson is a beneficial one, and I think there isn’t any other kind, surely all lessons are beneficial to some degree? However, I think there is a general feeling that a salutary lesson is one which is beneficial, but not particularly pleasant, a little like medicine, which has to taste awful to have any effect.

My lesson, which really I ought to have learned by now, was not to leave things until the last minute. I had entered my Fremantle limestone embroidery in the Sydney Easter show, having been successful with it in Perth, and having seen an ad for the Sydney show in a magazine. The embroidery was made, obviously, since I had entered it in Perth in October last year, all I had to do was pack it up and send it off. In my defence, not quite so easy, since I had to find a box just the right size, and in the end I couldn’t and had to construct one out of two other boxes. However, I did that, and took it off to the Post Office with what I thought was just enough time. Fifty dollars for return postage, and that was that, or so I thought.

Then on the weekend a phone message from the Show organisers. Please ring back. I did so, but the person I needed to speak to wasn’t there on the first attempt, or even on the second, so it was several days before I got to find out what the message was about. My entry hadn’t arrived until after the judging closed! Sorry, but there you are.

So, a salutary lesson indeed, including in the sense of not being very pleasant. I’m now a bit worried whether my entry for the Cotton Expo arrived in time, since I also posted that, albeit Express Post. Fingers crossed. And in future, I will make sure to send any similar things off in good time, to allow for the abysmal performance of Australia Post. Don’t get me started!

Fremantle Limestone embroidery

15 Monday Oct 2012

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I finally got around yesterday to taking some photos of the wallhanging I entered in the Show, and here they are.

Fremantle Limestone wallhanging

Sorry I wasn’t able to resist leaving the prize card on it! Some close up shots:

close up

Close up 1

One of the ways I created texture in the piece was to attach shells to it, some which I had collected many years ago on the beach, I think in Rockingham or Kwinana. I made small pieces of machine embroidered ‘lace’ using water soluble stabiliser, stitching over it randomly in roughly circular motion. After washing out the stabiliser and drying the pieces, I laid them over the shells on top of the background fabric, and stitched around the edges, using the same kind of random circular motion, so that it looks as if the lace is growing out of the fabric. I was aiming to imitate the way shells and stones sometimes get embedded in rock.

close up 2

Close up 2

I made this texture by stitching from the wrong side of the fabric, with the top tension really loose. The top thread gets drawn to the underside in big loops. I then ironed on some fusible interfacing on the wrong side to hold the threads in place, and pulled out the bobbin thread, leaving the loops behind.

Close up 3

Close up 3

I made some crochet chain out of perle cotton, and hand stitched it down – machine stitching flattened it too much. The little bunches of threads that look a bit like flowers I made by looping the thread and stitching over it, then cutting open the loops. A wooden skewer is really useful for holding threads and so on in place while you stitch them down. It’s smaller than fingers, and doesn’t hurt so much if the needle goes through it!

I’m pretty pleased with the way the piece came out, and it’s certainly inspired me to have another go.  I already have a couple of ideas in mind, in the meantime I’m going to turn my attention to making some skirts to wear for work this summer.

 

 

Some progress on some projects, lots more to do

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

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The deadline for the Perth Royal Show is getting closer and closer, and I’ve still got nothing actually finished. The embroidered limestone piece is done, except for some way of hanging it, which I do have in my head, just not yet in reality. I’ve started on the second project, actually it’s probably at least half done. I bought some perle cotton, and instead of using the ribbon in long pieces as I was going to, I’ve cut it into small pieces and laid them over the gaps in the fabric strips, and am zig zag stitching across to form a kind of lace. Likewise with the perle cotton. It’s a very random and organic lace, but so is the whole piece. I pretty much have figured out what I am going to do to finish it, but it will take at least 2 or 3 evening’s work I think, and then I haven’t really any idea yet about the third piece. I’m going to be burning the midnight oil I can see, but I’m determined to get them done.

Part of the problem is that I spent all weekend outside building a veggie garden and preparing ground to put in lawn, and I came indoors absolutely exhausted, and didn’t feel like sewing. I’m pleased with the veggie garden though, at least with the sleeper framework for it. I have still to fix up the watering, and some kind of ‘cage’ around it to keep the dogs out. Otherwise the only person who gets to eat any veggies will be the blonde dog, after the black dog has slept on them.

I had to fence off the new lawn area too, but that fence should only be temporary until it is established. I found a company doing native Australian grasses for lawns and pasture, and bought some seed from them, so now all I have to do is wait and see how good it is. I sprayed, and dug, and weeded, since they emphasise that it needs a weed free seed bed, Then I put the seed in yesterday afternoon, and it rained afterwards, so a good omen perhaps. www.nativeseeds.com.au is where I got the seed from. Their site makes very interesting reading, and makes it all sound very good, we shall see what happens.

One project almost down, two to go

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

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Well, the whole ‘post once a week’ thing didn’t last, or at least it needs resuscitating, but I have been doing something creative (almost) every day. I’ve finished the embroidered limestone panel, and I’m reasonably pleased with it, just have to make something to hang it from. I have an idea for that, just haven’t done it yet. I’ll take some photos to post soon.

Now last night I started on the second piece, with only two weeks to go. It’s going to be a scarf, for the class for items using water soluble stabiliser to make machine embroidered lace. I have an idea for the design, although I will need to come up with a catchy title for it, there isn’t really a theme for this piece as there was for the first.

I bought some water soluble paper, as being stiffer and easier to stitch on than the normal soluble stabiliser I might have otherwise used. I have some fabric, which may or may not be silk, doesn’t really matter, in grey and taupe. I have cut narrow bias strips of both, and laid them out in a fairly random and organic pattern on the paper. So far I have just tacked them down, then I will work over them with some silk ribbon and hand dyed silk threads, filling in the gaps between, so that when I wash away the stabiliser I’ll be left with a lacy scarf. That’s the theory anyway. It looks OK at this stage, but I decided that instead of using normal sewing thread for the lacy bits as I was going to, I need heavier thread to give it more body. So this afternoon I’m going prospecting for something like perle cotton which I can use in the bobbin for the machine stitching. I already bought hand dyed thread and ribbons from here http://www.colourstreams.com.au/, but I need some plainer threads for a background.  I’m also undecided whether to leave the edges of the fabric strips unfinished, as they are at the moment, or finish them somehow. They won’t fray much as they are on the bias, and I quite like the look of mild fraying, but I’m again worried that there won’t be enough body, and maybe I should zig zig the perle cotton over all the edges to give them a corded look. Some trial pieces might be in order.

Embroidered eroded limestone

17 Friday Aug 2012

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Well, here I am again, having missed at least a month. Pressure of work is my only excuse, but I’m determined not to give up. I really want to continue with the creative stuff, whether it is writing or art or sewing or whatever.

I have been busy, but I have decided I will spend at least half an hour each day doing something creative, and post on here once a week at least. That’s surely not too much to expect. Maybe I’ve tried to have everything too good in the past, which takes time, quick and dirty might be the answer.

I have put three entries in the Creative Craft section of the Perth Royal Show, which considering there was only six weeks to go when I did it is a big ask. Now there is only just over 4 weeks to go, and my first piece is well started but nowhere near finished. It’s machine embroidery, they all are, a wall hanging/picture inspired by some limestone rocks in Fremantle and the erosion patterns on them. I took some photos on a recent visit like this:

It’s going reasonably well so far, but has a way to go. Then I have to do two more pieces, I have an idea for one but nothing so far for the third and final one.

Exciting Source for Embroidery Designs

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

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I found a wonderful source of antique embroidery patterns and books on the net, all scanned and available under a creative commons licence. It’s here. There is heaps of stuff there, and it would take an age to look through it all, but by dint of looking at published dates I was able fairly quickly to come up with two or three possibilities for the cover of my commonplace book. Yesterday I went shopping and spent ages looking at possibilities for the book itself, and finally bought one. It’s a scrapbook, only a small one at 8 inches square. The bigger ones are 12 inches square, and I debated long and hard, but the big one is too llimiting in terms of paper and printing. You’d need to use A3 paper and cut it down, and there just isn’t the variety that you can get in A4. With a smaller book I’ll have many more options for printing on coloured paper, it will be easier to scan and print my drawings to a suitable size, and altogether I think better.
I’m going to do a cross stitch design for the front cover, there are at least two if not three possible designs on the site which I have downloaded. A couple are only in black and white, one of which is a bunch of flowers which would be quite easy to colour, the other is a pair of peacocks, which I can see in just black and white, or possibly red and white. Any colour and white I guess, except that black and red are traditional, although not necessarily very art deco. Then there is a very geometric design in a few colours, an oval shape, but I could find a border to put round it. At the moment I am leaning towards the bunch of flowers, if for no other reason than it has a slightly wood cut look to it, and I’m also trying to get a Margaret Preston feel in some of the other drawings.
Now that I have the book I have no excuse not to push ahead with the drawings, before I run out of time. I think I’ll start with the title page, if I’m going to put embroidery on the front cover then the design I had for the cover can go on the title page instead. That’s the logo made up of the letters of ‘book’, and the word commonplace drawn in a suitable font. Do I stick with a certain palette of colours throughout the book? I think it would be better to do so, in which case I might need to stick to one medium for the drawings. I can probably do acrylic, need to buy some more white if so since I have none, and that limits mixing of colours and tints. I’m leaning towards a purple/plum/pink palette, with some greens as well, and purplish browns. Perhaps also some peachy colour, although not orange. More an ecru, no, darker. Not sure what it is called, don’t even really have it in my mind yet. I guess all this deliberation is part of the concept development, and must be documented somewhere for assessment. I should also try out the water colour pencils, but I don’t think they will give the look I am after. I need to experiment a bit with mixing colours for them.
Here are the embroidery designs I am considering, all downloaded from the site above. What a wonderful resource it is. It would be terrific if there were a similar resource for sewing and dressmaking patterns, but I don’t know of one.

oval design    bunch of flowers   peacocks

I thought uploading the files would make the picture appear in the post instead of a hyperlink. It usually does, but these files are pdfs which seems to make a difference. Not sure why.

Mid-semester review – the point at which I start re-thinking my design

04 Wednesday Apr 2012

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Mid semester review went OK at TAFE yesterday. Most of the other students have drawings, but not much idea of how they are going to fit a story, or put the book together when it’s done. I, on the other hand, have a very good idea of what I want it to look like, I just have to make it happen. Although, I am now wavering a bit on the style of the thing. For each of the subject title pages I was going to do a drawing, pencil with maybe a watercolour wash. Now I’m leaning more towards a woodcut Margaret Preston type of thing, like these but I’m not sure I can do it. I wasn’t going to do a woodcut as such anyway, but a drawing in that style, but they are very simplified, and I think that takes more ability than I currently have. I really want to have that Art Deco look though, which a pencil and watercolour drawing doesn’t necessarily have. I have two weeks, (mid-semester break apparently now only 2 weeks instead of 3, which means the whole thing is a week shorter) to work on getting the style right. I also have to figure out the cover, which was going to be fabric with a painted design. Peter said he’d like to see some needlework or textile work, and then when I went to the library I got a book out about painting and decorating textiles, so I’ve gone from having a clear idea to starting again. The design I have drawn is too small to applique, I could do canvas work or surface embroidery, which would be more authentic? Needs yet more research, I’m leaning towards canvas work. There is also the issue of wearability, I don’t want it to look tatty after only a short time, although in point of fact it’s not likely to get any wear at all. I’m also thinking again about the format, A4 does not leave much space for content, after allowing a bit down the side for the binding, perhaps I should go with the ready made scrapbook covers in Spotlight which are square. They had some with a cutout in the middle, I could always put a piece of embroidery in there, I think there was a clear plastic bit which would protect it.

This is a problem which I have had before when trying to be creative, getting to a point where I feel I have done the best I can, and then just trusting to that, instead of re-thinking numerous times. In this instance there is a time limitation, I have to leave myself enough time to actually do the work at the end. I have a feeling the critical point is coming soon.