Stumpwork ladybird picture re-work

This one took a lot more time than I'd expected and threw up one or two more challenges than I'd thought it would as well.

The first challenge, really, was colour choice.  It's at times like this when you realise just how much difference there truly is between the DMC and Anchor colour ranges.  The original kit was worked in the DMC threads that came with it, but my re-work was in the Anchor threads that I normally use.  The greens were totally different - there wasn't even a close match for one of them, and one of the purplish reds was also missing from the Anchor collection.  Of course, the other way around will be true as well - certain Anchor shades won't be available in the DMC range.  I even considered starting a DMC thread collection, but not for long.  I have nowhere to store a second range of stranded cottons, I don't have the needed £300-400 to buy it and, frankly, I'm not a specialist.  If I were someone like Trish Burr, I would consider it a professional necessity, but as I'm just little ol' me, I'll have to make do.

Anyway, I made the mistake of trying to match the colours too much to the originals and less to each other, so I'm not sure how I like the results at times!!

Here, although the contrast is not good in photography, you might be able to see that I cut the lightest shade out of the blackberries.  I thought about real berries and felt that the shade I'd matched up from the old piece really didn't occur.  As for the darkness of some of the pictures here, the lack of daylight is partly to blame - it didn't seem to get fully light enough to take good shots for days on end!

Above is the almost finished piece before I stitched the wings, and below you can see why you should avoid stitching detached elements on just plain old white/cream fabric unless the edges are to be that sort of colour.  Match up wherever you can!  It's not so bad when the edging is buttonhole, but just plain overcasting almost always leaves one with this problem:

I really hate seeing those white edges and so I seriously considered re-stitching the wings onto red fabric, but decided that, before I started that, I'd see if I could rescue the situation with a good, red pen.

As you can see, it worked and, after giving the wings enough time for the ink to dry thoroughly (you don't want red smears on your background fabric!), I attached them in the usual way and here's the end result:

Here he is again, from a different angle and with the back two sets of legs re-stitched as the first attempt was rather too short!

So, that's it for the old DMC stumpwork designs.  There was a sixth one, but I never bought it as I didn't really like the design.  The next step is to stretch them all onto those cardboard squares I showed you a couple of weeks ago and then find some way of displaying them.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014

Stitching coming along s-l-o-w-l-y!

I'm anything BUT on a roll stitching just now!  Today I got a nice comment left on my last post by Rachel, who said she hoped I'd had a nice Christmas and that it had meant lots of time for stitching.  Well, even though we don't keep Christmas here Chez Braun (we're not so comfy with its non-/pre-Christian origins, so we've decided against it), I still didn't get much done with a needle and, when I did get to pick one up, I made little more than an unholy mess of most things!  Yesterday I was trying to get a few surface items done on the re-work of the DMC stumpwork ladybird design and ended up doing and re-doing almost everything I attempted!  Bit frustrating.

So, as you can see from the two WIP shots above, I haven't got very far and what I have done, especially the pale pink flower, looks like it needs pulling out and re-doing.  I may re-do that flower, or perhaps three of the petals (but nothing else!!), I haven't quite decided yet...

Since these photos I've done the ladybird's head including bead eyes and 'feelers' and started to put in some French knot black bits on the berries.  In the original design, there were no felt padded bits, but I thought I'd include them this time for a bit more dimension.  If I get this done over the next few days, (possible, but not highly probable), then this will be the fourth stumpwork finish to showcase this year.  That's a definite record for me.  Actually, the three I've done thus far make a record already.

Now onto the other piece I was trying to do and, frankly, I made such a mess of even such a small bit that I decided to put this piece away for the time being until I get more confidence and ability with needle painting and feel I can go on with this one in the silks I'd started with.  So, I've made a note of the colours I was planning to use and put them back in the silk threads box.  I'll try the same design in another colourway and in stranded cottons instead.  That one should be coming up soon and will be the first of the Needlequest pieces for January.=)

What have you been working on (supposing you've had time)?  Had more success than me?  I pity any poor soul who's had less!=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Assembling the stumpwork dragonfly

It's finally complete! The dragonfly is done and today I share with you how the last stages were done.

First I covered the last of the padding stitches with satin stitch in two strands, making the far left hand side considerably narrower to form the head.

Next I added two beads for the eyes.  I still feel these are a little large for the context (actually, the whole insect feels much too large for my comfort), but the ones supplied with the kit were even larger, so it could have been worse!

Following on from this stage was adding in the legs and one or two other parts in Kreinik Cord.  I used the grey-ish brown shade here.

I also added in one or two stitches in dark grey on the tail area in keeping with the real thing - as seen in my good old Brtitsh Wildlife book.=)

Last of all, the wings were attached using the method detailed in my tutorial on assembling a wired stumpwork flower.

And here is the whole finished item from two angles:

So, that's the last of the old DMC stumpwork kits worked up.  I'm glad it wasn't the first one I tried, or it might well have been the last!  The other four were far better.  The designs and instructions were superior and truer to life.  Yes, I know there can be a good deal of artistic license with stumpwork, but I personally feel that the scale inequalities and so on that are part and parcel of the traditional raised work style are more fitted to figurative work, i.e. pictures that look rather like 17th century pieces.  Many modern designs are much more realistic and that's the type of raised work I like best.

What's coming up next?  I've made a start on the first of four bookmarks that are to be gifts for my in-laws and another couple when we're in Germany next month.  They'll all be counted work, which will be nice for relaxation.=)  After that, I need to do two silver wedding cards, both of which will be 'gold' work and freestyle - probably silver hearts with various filling elements and also to finish Sir's anniversary present, which I wasn't able to get done in time to give him this morning.=(  The sampler is coming to Germany with me and I hope to make considerable progress on that there and then I can look at some fresh ideas.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Stumpwork Ladybird Tutorial

Today I have a tutorial for you helping you to create a ladybird (ladybug) in raised work. You can also vary the design, as you'll see at the end. The tute appeared in the spring 2012 edition of 'Crazy Quilt Gatherings', but I was disappointed to see that the photos and text got out of sequence in editing, with some text referring to incorrect photo numbers. If you saw that version and were confused, this should help clarify.=) Enjoy!

Cut an oval out of felt just a little smaller than half an inch or about one centimetre in length.  Usually I would use the same colour as the base stitches, but this shows up better for photographic purposes.

Stab stitch the felt oval into place, normally using a matching coloured sewing thread.  If you want to raise the bug’s body higher, then stab stitch a smaller oval underneath this one first.

Begin to cover the whole of the body with a smooth layer of satin stitches in two strands of black cotton.  Note that the stitches go across the body, not from head to ‘tail’.  Below is the completed satin stitch.  

Work three or four satin stitches across the top to form the head and then three or four more from just below the head to the back of the bug, fanning the stitches out very slightly.  You need to work these stitches in black, they are done in green here for clarity on this photo only.

Beginning at the centre next to the long stitches, begin to work satin stitches in two strands of red stranded cotton (or a shinier rayon or silk thread, if you prefer), making sure that they sit smoothly over the body and that they fan out a little in order to cover the whole of the sides too.  Below you can see the complete red thread work on the wings with the slight angle of the stitching showing.  (Sorry  this shot is a little blurred.)

Refasten on your black cotton and, taking care not to pull the stitches tight, work small horizontal seed stitches over some of the red threads (two at a time should be fine) to make the spots on the wings.  Make sure both sides are similar.

Whilst you’re still working with black, and if you need to, work another stitch or two under the head area to cover any felt that may have become visible when stitching the red wings.  I worked two, each going from the outside of the body to the centre forming a shallow ‘V’ shape.

With either plain black sewing thread or one strand of embroidery cotton sew on two black-based, regular sized seed beads for the eyes.  You can use plain black, but I’ve used a slightly iridescent shade here for added interest and sparkle.

Add in the legs and antennae using one strand of a very fine thread working from one back leg around the front and head to the other back leg.  The legs are worked in two straight stitches and one lazy daisy nearest to the body.  I used Kreinik Cord 105C here, which is a silver and black mix.

Here is your completed ladybird/bug!  Remember, you can make yours stand a little higher than mine by adding an extra, smaller oval of felt under the main one.

Variations

You can vary your bugs in a number of ways.  The first is a miniature version of much the same bug but just about half the size.  If you want to work one this small, remember to scale everything down including using petite beads for the eyes, one strand for wing spots, the finest thread you can find for legs, which you should also shorten a little, and don’t use extra padding for the body.

Here’s a 14 spot ladybird worked in a light tan stranded cotton and with extra wing spots.

This green leaf beetle’s iridescent wings were worked in two strands of Kreinik blending filament shade 085.  As you might remember from the stumpwork beetle tute (which this whole tute is based on the technique from), you can also get a good effect with DMC Stranded Metallic in the emerald green shade.

This shining flower chafer was worked with Anchor Lamé thread – a 12 stranded, fairly smooth metallic.  The cross-ways stitches from step 3 were worked in the same light tan shade used for the 14 spot ladybird.

Finally, here they all are together.  You can see the difference in size between the regular and mini ladybirds very well in this shot.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.=)  If you work a little bug of your own, please leave a link to it in the comments section below and share your success with everyone.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012

TAST Week Two and so on...

If you were one of the many kind readers who enjoyed and commented nicely on the last TAST posting, then I'm afraid that today's may prove rather a disappointment as I've only done the doodle-pad this week.  So, to answer your question, Cynthia, no, I won't be doing a picture every week.  I'll just do them when I feel sufficiently inspired and I have the time and umph.=)  I do plan to do the stitches themselves each week, but will be happy with doing about half in some sort of pictorial form (which I plan to  make a sort of portfolio affair of, or may even mount some into cards etc).  At the moment, I have a number of gifts I want to make and other things to do, so I decided against the blanket stitch based picture.  To be honest, I wasn't really excited enough about it anyway, even though I found a good few variations, as you can see here.

So, here are samples of plain blanket stitch, double blanket stitch, knotted blanket stitch, what would have been a blanket stitch pinwheel had it not been worked on Aida and therefore turned into a blanket stitch diamond (which I liked a fair bit and felt had some potential in counted work), long and short blanket stitch and a raised blanket stitch bar, which was rather rushed off and so didn't really cover the threads it was stitched over very well.  Why blanket and not buttonhole?  Well, in the form buttonhole was introduced on Pintangle, it's exactly the same, but there is a traditional buttonhole stitch which is actually somewhat different, so I chose to be pedantic!!=)

One of the first of the other things I need to do stitch-wise is a 'thank you' card for friends who gave us a most unexpected gift the other day.  So, I fished out this old magazine freebie kit that I'd part-worked to finish off and got on with that a bit yesterday.  I also want to do a cross stitched bookmark for another friend and, after that, a nice cushion cover for the couple the card is for.  I'd planned something like that anyway and now I feel I have good impetus to do it.  I also want to get the dogrose made up into its final form and get that needlepoint giraffe sorted as well.  So, there are many projects clamouring for my attention and that means that it's not likely that TAST will be a major priority as far as really taking it as far as it goes each week goes.

And what do you think of these fellows?

These are for a magazine - 'Crazy Quilt Gatherings' Issue 4 - and the tutorial that was requested will be just for the central, larger red ladybird, but with instructions at the end for the other variations.  You can find out more about the mag and order a copy when I can find where the editor has hidden the info I got from her site before (LOL!!!), but I will be reserving rights to re-publish the tute on my blog, which I plan to do in the summer.  So, that's something coming up later on.

In the meantime, I have stacks of photos to chose and edit ready for that tute, plus one on general wired needlelace elements for stumpwork (yes, using a poppy petal from my recent project), then the assembling of the poppy itself along with the finished piece.  And that's before I even start on....

Yes, I'm feeling busy again!

© Elizabeth Braun 2012

Stumpwork Beetle

I completed the stumpwork beetle yesterday afternoon and, whilst I think I need more practice, I'll share with you how it was done here.  Hope you enjoy and find it at least a little interesting, and maybe even useful too!

The kit came with just an oval outline on the fabric.  The first thing to do then, was to pad the outline with felt.  There was no pattern given for it, so I just guess-timated and then trimmed to size.  Then you stab stitch it in place.  No need for lots of stitches, just a few are OK.  You could even just put a few stitches in the centre of the felt and that would be fine too, but I prefer to have the edges secured so they don't get in my way when I'm working the next part.

The next step is to work satin stitches all across the body, completely covering the felt shape.  Here you can see me working with three strands instead of the prescribed two again.  No need to worry about covering outlines here, but it both saved needlestrokes and may even add to the height of the whole element.

The next photo shows the next two stages.  First, five stitches were made from 'toe to head', fanning out at the bottom, but going into the same hole at the head.  It's rather hard to photograph well, both lines of stitching being black, but I think you can just make it out here.  After that, re-thread the needle with two strands of metallic green floss and put a few satin stitches over the front to form a head.

Next we move on the green wings and, as you can see in this shot, the satin stitches are worked from top to bottom, along the diagonal line formed by the five black stitches.  You need to close them up slightly at the head end to both fit them all on and to stop them slipping off the side of the body.

Here you can see the completed satin stitches.

The next element is the legs and antennae.  These were worked in just one strand of black stranded cotton and done in straight stitches and detached chain (lazy daisy), thus making the 'double' look of the first section of each leg.  The antennae, of course, are just one straight stitch each coming out from the front of head (where else???!)

Finally, just stitch the eyes, two blue- or green-black seed beads, on to the front of the head and here he is, your stumpwork beetle!

I do apologise for the slightly blurry quality of one or two of the photos, but he's quite a simple little fellow and I'm sure you can find the materials for him easily, if not from the stash you already have.  The green thread is the dark green one from the DMC Light Effects range and I daresay Kreinik will also have something that answers.

© Elizabeth Braun 2011

Stumpwork Bee

I've finally completed the DMC stumpwork bee kit. Sadly, these kits (there were about 6 in the series) are no longer on the market, which I think is a shame given the helpfulness of kits when learning a new technique. You have all you need to complete the project as well as detailed instructions and diagrams that walk you through the process without the need to go and buy a number of specialist items.

Anyway, here's the creation of the bee itself in turkey stitch/ghiordes knots.

Here's the turkey stitch trimmed and combed out (with an old toothbrush)

Below I've added in the legs in DMC black metallic stranded thread and eyes using one black seed bead each:

One of the wings in progress (wire secured to a double thickness of calico, then wing worked in DMC white stranded metallic. Cut it free from calico pad by snipping between the calico layers.):

Wings attatched from various angles

And the completed piece in its entirety

© Elizabeth Braun 2009