On Saturday I got to take a workshop in Needlelace with the Bridge City Needlearts Guild! I was so happy to finally attend a class. That's why I joined the Embroiderer's guild - to learn more forms of embroidery. I was especially excited about the Needlelace workshop for two reasons. 1 - there's no counting. Yay! (I find cross stitch extremely difficult to pay attention to and follow like a map.) 2 - Needlelace is absolutely gorgeous and I try hard not to drool when I see the samples that Ulla brings
to guild meetings for show & tell. Here are some of the class samples show by the instructors.
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| Samples - I think Ulla made these. |
These are samples of what the instructor has made with Needlelace.
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| here is an example of the finished project - each petal, stamen, and leaf a separate piece. |
To begin, we baste our foundation to work on and then we couch our threads. We were told to bring crochet cotton. I brought along my cherished 12 weight variegated cottons on the spool from Wonderfil to see if it would work. It was AWESOME and just the right weight too!
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| couching an outline for a petal using 12wt cotton |
So far so good. I can do this. I like basting and couching. Next was to begin the 'weaving' or lacemaking. That's done with a variety of buttonhole stitches and whipstitches (singles, doubles, twisted). All good. I can do that. Bonus - I AM ENJOYING THIS!! : )
I made another, and another. I finished this leaf outline we were given using my own stitches and my favorite Wonderfil color - it's like a pea soup color. Looks like an antique green.
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| it's not perfect, but for a first try I am REALLY happy with what I made!! : ) |
It was fun experimenting with different stitches and seeing the patterns they created as you build them up row by row.
Class ended and I went home and just kept on working on it here and there on Sunday (in between much gardening, and several bike rides with the kids). Last night, I sat out on the balcony and stitched until the sun went down. It faces north. It's a great place to sit in the days when it's too hot outside, and a perfect spot to enjoy summer sunrises and sunsets. (From here, summer sunrises are in the northeast and the summer sunsets are in the northwest.)
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| tada! Me, a needle & thread, some moscato wine and a calm quite evening. |
Isn't that pretty!? The last step in stitching is to buttonhole around the outside to create a pretty finished edge. Before I started the purple one I thought about flower petals: pansies in particular. I figured if I put 2 petal templates together, I would get a big double sized petal done in one shot. The cool thing was that it made the prettiest heart shape. I just kept working it and then made some deliberate large spaced stitches, and did some every-second-loop stitches too. Oh wow - that is when I lace look began to appear!!
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| The finished Needlelace petal pieces, off the foundation papers. |
I am beaming with pride here. I've been given several little projects to try at this guild over the last year and a half, and
never have I been able to finish even one. I was feeling like a failure, but maybe I'm just not a 'counter'. So now I can stay? YAY!!
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| I MADE THESE!!! : ) My first Needlelace project. : ) |
I'm excited. I have a huge pile of solids and variegates to work
with. Oh I am going to enjoy this!
Happy Victoria Day!
ps - if you are looking for
more colours, Creative House in Saskatoon sells the entire line of
Wonderfil 12 wts long staple cottons - huge 400 m spools for around $8.) Pictured below are some of my small variegated spools that I use for teaching.
Okay - back to enjoying a day with the family. ; )
(
Linking to The Needle & Thread Network's WIP Wednesday)
