When the syllabus for Nancy's Stitch Studio came out in January, I spied this gorgeous little piece of Sardinian knotted embroidery.
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| class sample - stitched by Barbara Kerry |
The pattern comes from a book by the very talented Yvette Stanton from Australia. She has a website here where you can see more of her work and her books. She also has a blog you can follow here.
Although I like traditional embroidery stitches, I also like varying my linen and threads. My piece is stitched on 30 count linen with DMC Perle 12 number 316. The recommended linen is 28 count, but I loved this mauve piece and it was only available in 30 count.
I'm learning from Barbara Kerry and she makes it all seem so easy. In the first lesson we made the lacy edging which is just beautiful.
In the second lesson we started the zig zag border. Counting is very important with this type of work. If you miss one thread the whole pattern is out and the zig zag won't meet up. I've done my fair share of unpicking with this piece.
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| The knots all sit on the surface - you don't see anything on the back. |
I couldn't resist trying a few knots once I got the zig zag correct. So over the two weeks since our last lesson my piece has grown. It's really quite addictive. The top photos show the correct colour of my linen. It appears different in photos taken in different lights.
We have one final lesson this Saturday and we're going to learn how to do the lacy edging. There's more to do on this piece yet, but I might actually finish something within a month of the classes finishing. Amazing. I've really enjoyed learning a new skill.
An update.
I did finish this piece, but I think I forgot to blog about it, so here's a photo of the finished piece. It was fun to learn something new, but this style of stitching is very unforgiving. If you're design doesn't meet up when you complete the motif it's very noticeable and you have to unpick and correct your mistake. But I'm happy to say I can now do Sardinian Knotted Embroidery.
9 comments:
I've not seen this before. It is exquisite and I adore your liken choice
Beautiful work...I can't imagine counting all those threads!
this is a beautiful piece wow 30 cont I have to use 25 now. Book looks interesting might just have to consider buying this one
I've never even heard of this type of embroidery before but it looks beautiful. Your piece doesn't look like a beginner's piece at all.
ukcitycrafter@live.co.uk
That is a lot of fine detail in a very small space, Wendy. Of course you do purple whitework!
your stitching is absolutely beautiful. This is yet another technique I'd love to try sometime. We've recently found a place that does some embroidery workshops and have tried Casalguidi and needle lace. We also went to a different venue to do silk ribbon embroidery - i must write some blog posts!
I didn't realize how tiny this piece was. I need to step up my game :) Your piece looks so delicate compared to my bulky one.
Wendy, your stitching is exquisite I'm amazed how much you've done on this piece. What an heirloom treasure you are creating!
It looks gorgeous Wendy, very delicate and details and another variation of linen/thread counted stitching from round the world. I bought a book in Cyprus years ago about Lefkara lace. It's the opposite of hardanger. The threads are cut before you sew which I always thought sounds rather scary!
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