Embellished jacket

A couple of weeks ago I finally made a start on a long-planned piece of work. In fact it was started some time ago, as many of the pieces were just waiting to be stitched on, and with some of them it was a case of finding them, having been tucked away in a variety of folders. The main one was the “bubbles” piece, which was returned to me after the Lincolnshire Textiles exhibition at the Chapter House in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of August. It was / is to be the focal point on the back of the jacket.

I’d envisioned it before it was even finished stitching last year. Once I had it back, I’d had it pinned on the back of the jacket on my tailor’s dummy, but I tried it on and got somebody to take a photo at “In the stitch zone” a couple of weeks ago. I felt it needed moving a little higher or even…..

….. putting across the back yoke. But it isn’t symmetrical in shape and not unsymmetrical enough to look intentional. It just didn’t look balanced. The bottom piece was done years ago – a workshop with Mary on Kantha work, which I’d never heard of at the time, but I loved the effect. Ironically I’d decided I should make a whole jacket in it, but it hasn’t got any further since! It may end up on this jacket, or maybe another project, who knows?

I also tried other pieces on the front. I thought the cream one would be more likely to get grubby near the bottom, so stitched the brown and orange one down over the pocket, making sure not to stitch through the front as well, so that the pocket is usable.

I rotated it ninety degrees anti-clockwise as well, and extended the stitching on to the jacket using the same variegated thread. I was so excited about it, that I wore it with just this piece on.

I then added the bubbles to the back, slightly higher than the top photo, using tiny ladder stitches and turning the excess under as I went.

By the end of the second session, I’d got a couple of inches left to do, and again wore it with a few threads dangling – it was the easiest way to carry it, rather than it being crumpled up in my bag. It’s all stiched on now.

I’ve found some more pieces for the front, and have made a start on adding more stitches to the orange crazy patchwork butterfly piece. There’s still a long way to go, but it will evolve as I go along and I can at least wear it while it’s a WIP.

Bargello

I’d planned on taking this charity shop find (from long, long ago) to work on at the Bargello sessions at Alex’s “In the stitch zone”, but as I wrote in last week’s blog post I managed to leave the frame on the settee at home.

It was already stretched on a frame and started when I found it. I thought it would cover the piano stool, but it ‘s not quite big enough. It could be extended by adding more canvas, but on looking at the piano stool the cover is perfectly fine as it is. The other alternative was to cover what was my Nanna’s foot stool but, on looking that out, again it’s not quite big enough; and the only thing wrong with it is that the edge needs a new trim.

So I’ve decided to make it into a big cushion, with the Bargello just in the middle of the top like the big canvas work cushion that I did several years ago (2014) (Finished canvas work cushion). It would seem the other later one that I did was when I wasn’t blogging. Another charity shop find?

The centre was done in honeycomb stitch, but I had always intended to do variations of Bargello to finish it.

I did a little reading about the technique and looked at a few books, and then decided rather than follow a pattern I would use the basic principles of zig zags but make it up as I went along. I did this pattern in pairs of stiches, but varied the length of the stitches on each row.

This one is one stitch wide (except where I’ve done two together by mistake, but for some reason the left hand edge is right!). Again I’ve varied the length of stitches on some of the rows.

And this one is three stitches wide with stitches of varying length in the green wool, and two wide on the caramel coloured stitches.

I’ve now done about as much as the centre hexagons that were done when I bought it. We have a catch up / own project week coming up, so I may continue with it then, but it’s easy to pick up when the light is not good, and I feel as if I should make use of the good light that we have at the moment.

We have a few new folk in the group, and it’s been suggested that we take some of the things we have finished or are WIP’s for them to see the sort of things that can be done. Plans are being considered for next term.

Alex has sent us all a list of things that we have done since the group stated pre-lockdown; some I had forgotten about, so once I sort them out they’ll pull me in several directions!

Knitted lace

Detail of knitted lace

I bought a circular piece of knitted lace about 18 months ago in a local charity shop for the princely sum of 50p. It had been in a basket of old linens, with no price on it. The assistant obviously had no idea of the time, work and skill it had taken to knit, and said I could have it for 50p. I felt it was an insult to the knitter and that it deserved better than being left screwed up in the bottom of the basket. I did feel as if I was ripping them off, but we had bought a load of other things that were much more realistically priced.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but much later found tucked away a calico circular feather cushion pad that was slightly bigger than the lace. I wanted a colour behind it to show off the detail, and came across the perfect solution when I found some burgundy cotton left over from the stained glass window quilt that I’d made for our bed.

I gave the knitting a gentle wash and blocked it on a board over an old towel. I worked from top to bottom, side to side, measuring from the middle, gradually dissecting the sections in half until I had a pin in every scallop. It was then left to dry out fully. Procrastinating, I only removed it when I wanted the board to block something else.

The burgundy cotton fabric I washed in the washing machine. I had previously washed the fabrics for the whole quilt but, with there being so much contrast between the cotton and the knitting, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to bleed at a later date when it was washed.

I was considering how best to put it on a frame and get a big enough even circle to use as a guide. I couldn’t find anything big enough, much too big for a pair of compasses, bigger than any plates we’ve got. I came across the big circular quilt frame that was my mum’s (not that she’d ever used it). No more excuses. I used the wok lid on top once I’d stitched the middle in place, just slightly smaller than the inner ring of reverse stocking stitch. I used a tiny stitch to anchor a single thread every centimetre or so in a silk thread that matches the knitting.

There was one tiny pull on the stocking stitch, but fortunately it had just made a long loop on the back about 2” long and had not broken the thread. I managed to ease about half of it back into the knitting which removed the tight line of stitches.The last bit of thread I managed to hide as I stitched it down.

Knitted lace

I stitched round the other reverse stocking stitch ring, then into every scallop, trying to make it look as even as possible. It’s not a perfect circle and the scallops vary in size, but that shows that it is made by hand, giving it character.

Finished stitching down

Detail of knitting

It’s now ready for me to make up the cushion. I just need something big enough to make a circular pattern.

The lace is reminiscent of fungi that I return to repeatedly as inspiration.

Fungi in the woods in October 2020

Close up of fungi in the woods November 2017

Fungi in the woods

Catching the light