Skip to main content

Creative Embroidery Correspondence Course - Border Patterns

Border pattern   ( February 2015 - Wilma Simmons) 
Was this on my bucket list ?  No,  not really, but after completing Stages 1 & 2 of the Creative Embroidery Correspondence Course with the Embroiderers' Guild about twenty+ years ago, this year I decided to enrol in Stage 3 - finally.  As I want to record what I do, I am sharing each month's exercises with you right here. If you are unfamiliar with these courses, what you get each month is an envelope with instructions, handwritten comments by your assessor and some threads and fabric and then the completed work is returned to the Guild each month for assessment.
February's threads and fabric 
For February's lesson, the theme was inspired by border patterns, emphasising the way stitches turn into patterns when used close together to fill shapes and spaces. Besides the embroidery, there were drawings to do - three border patterns and three square patterns like tiles. I love doing this part, but then to choose one or two,  and  interpret the designs into stitching.... ?
Drawings ( February  2015 -Wilma Simmons) 
To make life easier for myself, I  photocopied  my drawings onto freezer paper and ironed them onto the fabric. I then machine stitched around the lines to provide the "shapes" for stitching... 
Machine stitching the outlines of the shapes 
Work in progress 
Work in progress 2 
Square pattern ( February - Wilma Simmons) 
I used two different approaches ...  The stitching on the square is done within the shapes. With the border pattern, I appliqued some previously  hand painted cotton  and stitched the background in the colour scheme provided with different filling stitches. 
Border pattern exercise ( February 2015 - Wilma Simmons) 
There is nothing better than the feeling of having completed the exercises on time and then getting back the assessor's positive comments! 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is it a mutant? Is it an alien? It's an octopus - or is it?

Have you ever thought how strange a creature the octopus is?  This week's fascination started when I asked the question, "What colour is an octopus when it's underwater?"  The answer is  "any colour it wants to be " -  An octopus' coloration depends upon its surroundings.  An octopus possesses the ability to alter its coloration depending on its immediate environment. This defensive technique protects the animal from predators and entices prey to come close to the animal . ((from  https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/color-octopus-be94f74fcdc74ebe)    . Why did I want to know the colour of an octopus? Because I wanted to draw octopus tentacles as mermaid hair for my art journal! Then, I began to think it might be considered a little too weird and even perverse to give a mermaid octopus hair.... Facebook friends assured me that this was not so, citing Medusa and her snake hair as a precedent, and even one friend said that she thought it was l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 15 - Diamonds Forever!

How much would you pay for a Christmas  fruitcake?  The world's most expensive fruit cake has been estimated at $1.65 million. Yesterday, I wrote about the less than positive term "Christmas cake as it is applied to unmarried women, so again it amazed me that  in Tokyo, this most exquisite and expensive Christmas cake was created. It took six months to design and another full month to construct. The beautiful cake is fully edible ... that is except for the 223  real diamonds  used as decoration. This cake was part of an exhibition called Diamonds: Nature's Miracle  and was one of 16 exhibits showcasing creative ways with diamonds . Apparently, the cake was auctioned, fetching $1.65 million US. While there have been other very expensive diamond encrusted cakes since this one in 2005 with estimated values of up to $75 million, this Japanese designed cake was the forerunner of the extravagant diamond studded wedding cakes in the higher price r...
Post a Comment
Read more