Paisley

This is the theme we have for the travelling pages for S.E.A.T.A. this month. We did a printing workshop with Jan Dowson a couple of years ago, when it was still Scunthorpe Embroiderers Guild, and I wrote about the process in Colours and textures 16 October 2020. And although I deliberated about what to do with the more or less finished main piece in Decisions, decisions 23 October 2020, I still haven’t done anything with it.

I knew that I had a test piece of four paisley shapes, printed with acrylic paint, on some gold-coloured sheeting that is about the right size for a travelling page. I used the big piece to give me ideas for stitches. The perlé and cotton thread colours that I used echoed the printed colours.

I backed it with a piece of calico, and used my go-to stitch of reverse chain stitch to outline the first “whale”, and French knots to fill the shape.

The next one was outlined in Coral stitch wanderingthreadsembroidery (also known as Snail trail stitch or German stitch), a knotted line stitch, then filled in with individual fly stitches

This one is stem stitch round the edge and lazy daisy stitches to fill in.

The final one was button hole stitch and stab stitches to fill in .

I’ve started stab stitching around the shapes, but not finished it yet. It looks as if it will be a last minute finish this month! The piece of mount board is cut ready to lace it round.

I still need to do my inspiration page too.

Decisions, decisions

Stab-stitch finished

I’ve worked on the Jan Dowson piece this week and have now finished the stab-stitch. It’s still got raw edges on three sides, the other side has a nice firm selvedge which may stay as it is.

It now poses several decisions; which way up it should go and what am I going to do with it. The latter possibly affects the first. It could be a cushion, but my first real embroidery teacher Pat Philpott always told us not to have knots on the back of our cushions, as they were uncomfortable to lean on, and certainly would be on the front, same applies to beads and French knots. This always makes me think of ‘The princess and the pea’, but it does have several quite knobbly bits.

A bag, possibly, but it may not stand up to the washing it would need. The yellow would get grubby quite quickly. It could have a dark surround to the panel though, which would make the panel glow and pop like some of the autumnal trees around. There seems to be more yellow leaves this year, the weather conditions?

A sketchbook cover, maybe, but may spend more time stroking the cover than working in the book. It does feel nice, all the different textures under my fingers telling their own stories. Is it that I have become more aware of these things since social distancing, and it helps fill the gap of physical contact with other people?

When the paisley motifs are horizontal I keep seeing them as ‘whales’ and finding it impossible to un-see them as such. Some are being friendly facing towards each other, and some are turning their backs (tails – do whales have tails?) on each other! Think I’ve spent too much time in isolation and getting fanciful!

The flower looks as if it’s drooping in the centre ‘whale’.

It’s useful looking at photos of our work. It helps to highlight things you don’t necessarily spot as you are working, for instance I’d forgotten that I’d not finished the yellow straight stitches around the ‘tail of the whale’, I think the yellow perlé has been ‘borrowed’ for another project. Note to self, look on a ‘good’ light day as yellow is difficult to match on dull days or artificial light.

Just spotted that the bottom left ‘whale’ is not finished

I know we are living in a crazy world at the moment, but the flowers are still growing the right way up, not giving in to gravity and growing downwards as in the image below. Also in spite of assessing the balance of the whole piece as I was working it seems top heavy this way too.

The flower just looks upside down in this one

At least one decision sorted, the orientation; weight at the bottom, the flower growing upwards, paisley’s not whales, which also puts the selvedge on the right-hand side, so possibly / probably a sketchbook cover. Unless I have any other ideas!