Tall ship

Another scrimshaw influenced embroidery- this time of a tall ship. I am really enjoying using stitch to imitate engraving all those little lines. Really, really loving just playing around with shading and the effects it creates. Do you think if I did a large piece in this style using crewel wool I could ink up the embroidery and print with it or is that taking things a step too far?! (I am seriously considering this!)

This little ship is tiny - the embroidery is around three inches wide and is worked in a teal silk on white quilting/craft cotton. In the next one the waves will be more precise and will be stitched in minuscule sashiko. I think I'll have to go slightly larger though to achieve that- not massively bigger but enough to be able to fit in a few short stitches to create the shading on the waves.

Thanks for visiting, please say hello and if anyone tells me to go ahead and try printing with a crewel embroidery I promise to give it a try ;)

Diva Plavalaguna

P9300705, a photo by Sewphie T on Flickr.

I made this for the Phat Quarter "5" swap. Both me and my partner like the Fifth Element so I though I'd do an embroidery based on that. I originally started an embroidery of the films main character Leeloo but that didn't turn out so well! I ended up abandoning it part way through as I could tell it wasn't going to look good. I am glad I did because I love how this piece looks- Plavalaguna is blue so I chose blue cotton to stitch on. I am really into engravings and graphic novels at the moment, the use of repeated lines and cross hatching to create shadow and shape- and you can see I played around with that a lot here. These techniques really work for me in stitch and I am using them in my scrimshaw pieces too.
This was so much fun and I'm pleased to say my partner loved it which always make me happy :)
Now I just wait to receive my piece from the wonderful Olisa!!

Treasure!

I've had this little embroidered bag for years, I picked it up at an antique fair for about £8. I've always thought it was pretty but it's only since I've tried working in goldwork I can appreciate just how lovely it is. 

The goldwork wires are all laid down so neatly- no little jagged bits sticking up at all and I love the stylised detail on the tail. There are loads of small pieces of check purl stitched down like in the leaf above which catch the light. I don't know anything about this bag- I don't think it's particularly old or valuable but to me it's a bit special.