I'm changing the title of this series a bit--from "Needlework Site of the Week" to "Favorite Needlework Sites." I'm hoping readers will nominate sites they think are particularly good for cross stitchers and needle artists. Meanwhile, I'll continue to post great sites as I come across them.
Today I'd like to share the online needlework resources of The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England. My focus today is on a feature called "Florence Caulfield and The Illustrated Needlework Book." Caulfield was a needle artist from South Africa. She wrote The Illustrated Needlework Book in the early 1900s, drawing on South African wildflowers for her designs. Read about Caulfield, then click on the link to free designs to print or save so you can embroider some of Caulfield's Art Noveau-styled creations yourself (color photos of the completed desgins are included to guide you in thread and color choices).
Seems I skipped last week's "needlework site of the week" entirely. Yikes! (I turn 54 today--can we chalk it up to either a "senior moment" or a "meno-moment"?)
To make up for the omission, the site I offer you today starts with redwork; however, do some exploring and you'll find a lot more here on needle arts. A whole lot more.
A Redwork Embroidery Primer by Rissa Peace Root provides a fascinating history of redwork, and then goes on to discuss threads, fabrics, stitching techniques, pattern transfer methods, and a must-read list of "tips and tricks" to help you avoid such problems as thread colors running.
I enjoy redwork, although I prefer to do my own patterns. The photo above I adapted from the following sketch my mother had done for a Valentine's Day card:
Years later I wanted to make a gift of a redwork piece for her quilting, so I scanned the card, used photo-altering software to remove the color, and fiddled with the contrast to make the lines more pronounced. Next I printed the sheet out, went over all the key lines and details with a fine point Sharpie, then turned the sheet over and traced all the lines with a transfer pencil. I ironed the finished design to muslin and worked it. In fact, I stitched it backed by batting and another piece of muslin (a "quilt sandwich"); that's probably a no-no, but it adds dimension to the finished piece. (If you'd like to read more about this sketch and the quilt made from the redwork piece above, read "Valentine's Day in the 1940s" at Lillian's Cupboard.)
As for A Redwork Embroidery Primer--don't stop with this great page. It's part of Root's Pretty Impressive Stuff website, where she addresses a wide range of needle arts techniques as well as providing a stitch guide, gallery, blog, and more. (To get better acquainted with Rissa Peace Root, see her About page.)
Have you ever tried huck embroidery? Also referred to as Swedish weaving and huck towel embroidery, this technique is incredibly simple, fast, and pleasing in the effects that can be achieved. Traditionally done on huck toweling (a thin cotton fabric with raised threads--if you ever used one of the old-fashioned cloth towel machines in a bathroom, you've seen huck toweling), huck embroidery is frequently done in a larger format on Monk's cloth to create afghans and throws.
Huck embroidery basically consists of following a simple charted pattern to guide fiber through raised threads to create geometric designs and borders. Some can be simple, some can involve many rows of threads overlapping for a complex result that's further enhanced by creative choice of colors.
I've done a lot of huck embroidery over the years, making everything from dish towels to placemats to table runners. Although there's no knotting of the thread, the woven fibers stay in place on the surface of the huck fabric very well, and the end products are quite durable.
If you're interested in trying this embroidery technique, go to this week's website: Avery Hill Designs. Here you'll find history and instructions, FAQ, design books and supplies available for order, a free pattern, and color examples of huck embroidery.
Do try this technique. It's so simple and effective, and offers many opportunities for creativity!
The National Academy of Needle Arts (or NAN) is "an organization devoted to the advancement of embroidery as an art form." The Academy focuses on edutional advancement opportunties for teachers, judges, artists, designers, authors, and technically proficient embroiderers. NAN was established in 1985.
The website includes The Exemplary, a showcase of outstanding needlework by embroiderers at all levels; complete information on NAN's certification program for teachers and judges; sample articles from past issues of NANthology, the organization's quarterly newsletter; and, of course, membership information.
There's also a section devoted to some enticing free patterns, including a series of seasonal trees offered in both canvas work and surface embroidery, small enough to fashion into brooches. If you're interested in taking classes, the site provides information about the annual Assembly for Embroiderers, a seminar open to all students of embroidery. (The 2008 Assembly was held in March; check the site for news of next year's seminar.)
I found this week's site in the links section of Wyndam Needleworks, which is one of my favorite places to look at all the wonderful charts available (not to mention fabrics and fibers--and I buy things as well, of course). Linked as "Kathy Dyer's Page," the site is actually called the Counted Cross Stitch, Needlework and Stitchery Page. Here Dyer offers cross stitch tutorials in Japanese, French, and Italian, as well as English; FAQs on entering competitions and selling finished products and designs; short descriptions of various embroidery techniques; and color names and conversion charts for the top brands of floss.
If you're anywhere near as mathematically challenged as I am, you'll value Dyer's "How Much Fabric" calculator and "What Fabric Count" calculator. "How Much Fabric" provides an online calculator for Aida and one for linen/evenweave fabric (wth a separate set of calculators for metric conversion). "What Fabric Count" figures the size in both inches and centimeters for fabric counts 6/inch through 40/inch. (Trust me, it's far easier to use than to explain.)
Explore this site and take advantage of Dyer's terrific "gadgets."
