Tag: handembroidery

The RSN USA Summer School

Two years (2018) ago I attend the RSN (Royal School of Needlework) Summer School in Lexington, Kentucky, in the United States.

Enjoyed it a lot and learned to do blackwork and whitework and stumpwork. I also bought a couple kits to learn goldwork and broderie anglaise (more whitework.)

Whitework pulled thread stumpwork brooch. Design by Sarah Rickards.
Blackwork initial (I added the beads.) Design by Annalee Levin
Goldwork cherries. Design by Annalee Levin
Broderie anglaise thimble. Design by Zinaida Kazban

I was supposed to go again this year (2020.) They were planning to have the USA summer school every two years, but COVID-19 put a damper on that.

So I decided to take one of their online self-paced classes this summer. I signed up for the Introduction to Jacobean Crewelwork class.

Online self-paced embroidery class

The class was great! I learned the basics of crewel. It’s very interesting working with wool threads. They tend to break more easily than cotton after a few stitches.

My own effort, the crewel pomegranate.

One of the ways to keep the wool threads from breaking, is to keep the stitch on the surface as much as possible. This is done with stitches like the raised stem stitch. You first create a supporting grid of horizontal stitches. The stem stitches will then go vertically under the supporting horizontal stitches, NOT through the fabric.

Raised stem stitch.

Other stitches that help cover large areas with minimal trips through the ground cloth are the trellis stitch (inside the pomegranate) and the woven wheel in the center of the petals to the lower right side.

It was a great class, I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to Deborah Wilding for teaching it!

Advertisement

Icelandic Narwhal Cushion

Since my beloved is a big fan of Iceland and narwhals, I decided to combine the two and make a cushion cover for his favorite cushion with an embroidered pattern featuring Icelandic embroidery and narwhals.

Icelandic narwhal embroidered cushion cover

The pattern comes from the book Traditional Icelandic Embroidery by Elsa E. Gudjónsson. However, I did not use wool, rather, I shopped my stash and used 25-count linen and stranded cotton thread.

Traditional Icelandic Embroidery by Elsa E. Gudjónsson

The pattern had peacocks, which were replaced with narwhals (besides, how Icelandic are peacocks?)

Icelandic peacocks?

I used the long arm cross stitch or gamli krosssaumurinn. I followed the tutorial in the Piecework Magazine article by Justin Allan-Spencer (February 2020.)

Long-armed cross stitch instructions by Justin Allan-Spencer in Piecework Magazine article.

Once the embroidery was finished, I used an old shirt and a left over piece from a bed cover to make the rest of the cushion cover. I even made piping! I originally wanted to put an invisible zipper but realized that it was too small for the cushion, so I ripped it out and put in buttons instead.

Homemade pipping or rather “artisanal” piping.
Well, at least now I know how to put in an invisible zipper.
The buttons for closing the cushion cover.

I learned a lot, specially the sewing skills required to make the cushion cover.

Cushion cover in use.

And like they say in Iceland, bless bless!

Around the world and the calendar with needles

Or embroidery and other fiber arts events.

Festivales, talleres y cualquier evento con bordado y otras manualidades.

January/enero

February/febrero

  • Creativa, Zaragoza, Spain.
    • This is a general craft fair.
    • Feria de manualidades

March/marzo

  • Nashville Needlework Market, Nashville, TN, USA.
    • It’s for wholesale buyers and designers, but it’s good to follow on social media to keep track of new designers and designs.
    • Feria para diseñadores y mayoristas, pero es bueno seguirla en redes para enterarse de los últimos diseños y diseñadores.

April/abril

May/mayo

  • Madrid Craft Week, Madrid, Spain.
    • General crafting fair.
    • Feria de manualidades y artesanías.

June/junio

  • DIY Canarias, Canary Islands, Spain.
    • It is a crafting festival and it includes workshops on calado canario (Canarian openwork.)
    • Festival de manualidades y artesanías, incluye talleres de calado canario.
  • Festival de lana de Canarias, Canary Islands, Spain.
    • Wool festival with craft fair.
    • Festival de manualidades y artesanías.
  • EGA (Embroiderers’ Guild of America) South Central Region Seminar, location varies.
  • Festival de la ruana, el pañolón, la almojábana y el amasijo, Paipa, Colombia.
    • Poncho, shawl, and baked goods festival. Includes sheep shearing and spinning competitions.
    • Incluye competencia de esquilado de oveja e hilado.

July/julio

  • Royal School of Needlework Summer School. Online, every two years.
    • The Royal School of Needlework (from the UK) holds summer school every two years online with schedules for the western and eastern hemispheres.
    • La real academia británica del bordado ofrece su escuela de verano (en julio) cada dos años. Es en lí
  • Tejilarte, Sutatausa, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
    • Local wool festival; spinning, weaving, knitting, etc.
    • Festival de lana de oveja regional.

August/agosto

  • La ruta del bordado. Cartago, Colombia.
    • Market for embroidered goods, classes, and there’s an embroidery marathon competition (no running involved.)
    • Mercado de bordados, clases, y la maratón del bordado (no hay que correr.)
  • La fête du Fil, Labastide Rouairoux, France
    • Textile art workshops, exhibits, etc.
    • Exposiciones, talleres, etc. de arte textil.

September/septiembre

October/octubre

November/noviembre

December/diciembre

All Year round/todo el año

Below are schools and other organizations that offer embroidery classes

Lista de escuelas y otras organizaciones que ofrecen clases de bordado.

Please let me know if you know of any other needlework events to add to the list.

Si sabe de algún evento, por favor compártalo conmigo para añadirlo a la lista.

Las diferentes clases de bordado (Parte II)

Los bordados en lana

Se hacen con hilos de lana.

El crewel es un borado inglés que se hace con hilos de lana sobre tela de sarga (twill) de lino.

Cojín en crewel de Crewelwork Company

El bordado de Fonquetá en Colombia se hace con hilos de tela sobre tela de lana.

Tarjetero de Taller Artesanal Fonquetá

El bordado ayacuchano del Perú también se hace con hilos y tela de lana. La lana por lo general viene de la oveja, la llama (o sus parientes.)

Monedero de urpiperu

Las colchas bordadas de Nuevo México en los Estados Unidos se hacen sobre tela de sabanilla (lana tejida de las ovejas churro, originalmente traídas de España) y se bordan con hilos de la misma lana, teñidos con tintes naturales de la zona.

Colcha by Julia R. Gómez

El bordado islandés tradicional se hace con hilos de lana sobre tela de lana.

Bordado islandés del siglo XIII en la colección del museo de Victoria & Albert

El bordado medieval europeo se hacía con lana o lino. El tapiz de Bayeux fue bordado con hilos de lana (en algunas secciones con hilos de lino) sobre tela de lino.

Sección del tapiz de Bayeux

Las puntadas tejidas

El reticello italiano y múltiples estilos de encaje de aguja (el merletto di Burano, etc.)

Reticello antiguo del siglo XVI

El hedebo sueco

El Ruskin lace inglés.

El calado canario.

Calado canario de diycanarias por Antonio Rodríguez R.

El bordado de las rosetas de Tenerife.

Bordado de Tenerife

El ñadutí de Paraguay.

Ñandutí

Bordados metálicos

Bordado metálico, diseño de Anna Lee Levin

Los bordados metálicos se hacían con hilos de oro y plata, pero los que se hacen hoy en día son hechos con hilos que son solamente dorados con una cantidad mínima de oro.

Los hilos, cuencas, canutillos, mostacillas, etc de oro se pegan a la tela (algodón, lino, seda) con hilos (algodón, poliéster.)

En el Or Nué y en el sombrado italiano se hacen efectos de sombra y diseños con el hilo para pegar.

Y luego seguimos . . .

Las diferentes clases de bordado (Parte I)

Bordados hay muchos.

Pero vamos a empezar por lo básico: la diferencia entre tejer y bordar.

Tejer viene primero, y empieza con hilos que al combinarse se vuelven una tela.

Telar antiguo
Telar antiguo

Hay tejido en telar, con agujas, con ganchos, con las manos, etc.

Para bordar hay que empezar con la tela ya hecha. Los hilos se añaden con agujas y se forman nuevos diseños sobre la tela o en el caso del calado, a través de la tela.

Bordado de punto de cruz sobre tela de lino.

Hay dos categorías mayores:

El de hilos contados y los sin-contar.

Bordados sobre hilos contados

Se hacen sobre telas de tejido plano (ligamento tafetán) generalmente lino o algodón (o alguna mezcla tejida planamente.)

De esta manera los hilos en cualquier dirección se pueden contar. Estas telas se venden por su cuenta de hilos por pulgada:

Por ejemplo, si la tela es de 32 hilos (32 thread count) esto significa que en una pulgada de la tela se pueden contar 32 hilos en dirección vertical. Si contando en dirección horizontal, la cuenta será la misma.

PulgadasCentímetros
104
146
187
2510
3213
4016
Equivalente de cuenta de hilos en pulgadas y centímetros.

Al poderse contar los hilos, los diseños se prestan para hacer diagramas y se vuelven repetibles.

Diagrama de diseño de punto de cruz.

Unos de los más populares estilos de hilos contados es el punto de cruz. El punto de cruz es sencillo, sólo hay que hacer una cruz cruzando un o más hilos verticales.

Muy popular también es el bordado en cañamazo (needlepoint.) La tela de cañamazo tiene por tamaño 10 hilos por pulgada (también se encuentran de 12, 14, etc.) Se puede bordar con muchos tipos de puntadas, con hilos gruesos y lana.

Patterns 11/05/11
Cañamazo con diseños de Bargello por Sarah Barker.

Las labores en negro (blackwork) se pueden hacer en cualquier color, pero tradicionalmente se hacen con hilos negros.

Bordado en negro. Diseño por Masako Newton

Calados

Los calados se hacen cuando se sacan los hilos de la tela y luego se retejen con otros formando nuevos diseños.

Randas o vainicas. Diseño por Linda Driskell

Calado en estilo Hardanger. Diseño por Linda Driskell.
Calado apretado. Diseño por Linda Driskell.

Los calados también se pueden hacer sin cortar los hilos si se usa una tela de baja cuenta de hilos (25 hilos por pulgada o menos) el calado se hace al apretar el hilo al pasarlo por la tela abriendo huecos (pulled work.)

Bordados sobre hilos sin cuenta

El bordado más conocido es el superficial, donde las puntadas van sobre la tela.

Muestrario con puntadas en tela sin cuenta.

Entre estas están los bordados dimensionales como el brasileño.

Bordado brasileño, diseño de Edmar.

Y hay muchas clases más . . .

Embroidery and other Crafting Lit

Apparently there is a type of literature called knit lit. It is simply books where the action takes place around knitting and usually includes details of a knitting project. Some authors even publish a project pattern along with their books.

Well, I have found some of these that take place around embroidery.

Monica Ferris and the Crewel World Series

Under the Cozy Mystery category is Monica Ferris and her Crewel World series. The series has 19 books and counting. It tells the adventures of Betsy Devonshire who owns a needlework store in Excelsior, Minnesota. Betsy is usually solving a murder in between stitching and tending to customers.

crewel world

Each book has a stitching pattern, usually of a project discussed in the story. The pattern can also be accessed on the author’s Web site.

What I found very interesting is that the author talks about details of the stitching world. In one of the volumes, Crewel Yule, the protagonist attends the Nashville Needlework Market which is a trade fair where needlework designers (mainly cross stitch) and needlework store owners meet. This year, I followed the market on Instagram and learned a lot about designers.

The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren.

Because if you are an immortal vampire, you have all the time to knit.

This is another Cozy Mystery, but frankly it should have its own sub-sub category: supernatural cozy mystery.

The story revolves around Lucy Swift who owns a knitting shop in Oxford, England. And yes, there are knitting vampires, and witches, and murder mysteries. There are nine volumes and counting.

I think I like it better than a Discovery of Witches (which is now a series being shown in the US on AMC.) Both take place in Oxford, the British University town and both deal with witches and vampires. But Lucy and her vampires and witches are more fun.

Both of these series are available as audiobooks. I listen to them as I stitch using the Hoopla and cloudLibrary apps, which are free through my local library.

Re-discovering Embroidery

I embroidered this thimble in broderie anglaise. Design by Zinaida Kazban

Why Embroidery?

A couple of years ago, my cousin mentioned to me that she was re-learning to knit.

The idea of taking up a crafting hobby sounded good to me, I was looking to unplug from my phone and my computer, and keep my hands busy, so I decided to give embroidery another try.

Having attended a school run by nuns in Colombia during my childhood, we had a manual arts class (along with algebra, history, geography and computer science) where we had to learn to embroider.

When I was a child, I hated embroidery. I loved computer coding, it was what I wanted to do. But now, 30 years later after a career in IT, I was going back to embroidery to get a break from technology.

Apparently I am not the only one. Doing a search on crafting, knitting, or embroidery, yields many posts. People are showing off their projects on Instagram and Pinterest. They are teaching others how to knit, crochet, weave, and of course, to embroider.

I rejected the fiber arts when I was a child because I wanted to dedicate myself to technology, which promised progress and riches. But now that I am older, I am reconnecting with the crafts of my youth, which promise calm and a connection to the past.

In the olden days, the fiber arts were one of the few spaces where women could express themselves, and that was the reason I rejected them when I was young; I saw embroidery as repressive.

But now I can see that the fiber arts are not repressive. The times when women were ONLY allowed to sew, embroider, weave, knit, and spin were repressive. Those women created beautiful art, developed mastery, and built a sense of identity.

Despite having today more career opportunities than my grandmothers did in their days, I am revisiting their art to enjoy what they enjoyed and connect with them.

%d bloggers like this: