Running in circles

The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of messing about with scraps of paper, cutting up fabric, scribbling in sketchbooks, and staring at photos in the hope of inspiration. The holiday challenge is underway! After much pondering, I have decided to make a set of three related pieces using one of my favourite techniques – embroidery in a hoop.

We learnt to embroider as children. I can clearly remember Nanny Edwards teaching me how to do lazy daisy stitch. Recently, I rediscovered an ancient work of art, which I think I must have done in my teens, on material cut from an old sheet (presumably with permission from mum!) It looks like I had a new stitch book and was trying everything out. Autumn colours were obviously a favourite even then, and I still like to stitch right up to the rim of the hoop.

Early adventures with stitches.

I always have some embroidery on the go. In between grander and huger projects, it’s relaxing to catch a circle of fabric in an hoop and just stitch away. I have plenty of hoops, but my favourites are about 10cm in diameter, which means they don’t take long to fill, even if, as occasionally happens, I feel the need to obsessively cover every inch. I like to work on coloured or subtly patterned fabric, usually cotton. Recently I’ve discovered that felt also stretches nicely in the hoop and gives a lovely soft texture to work on, although the smallest stitches sink into it and disappear. I always use single strands of embroidery silk, in many colours; over the years I’ve built up a rainbow collection, all lovingly wound onto thread holders and filed in colour order.

Felt work in progress. This hoop is only 8cm diameter and very fiddly to manoeuvre the needle at the back.

Occasionally, I have a design in mind, but mostly I just start with a line of stitching and see where it wanders. Running stitch is the simplest of stitches, and I like to work it in undulating lines, avoiding using the same colours next to each other. I keep adding lines until it’s as dense as I want it. The ‘in and out’ of running stitch produces a rhythm across the fabric and very slight variations in stitch length keep it from looking too regimented – I have never like to be too neat! This and the wavy lines give the embroideries an organic feel. I have some favourite patterns that sneak in to whatever I’m sewing – concentric circles, spirals, dots and waves.

Pebbles.
The stitching is in continuous lines around the oval shapes, and reminds me of coloured patterns we used to make as children.

 

Because the size is so small, it’s hard to add much detail, so I usually stick to the abstract. This embroidery is one of my favourites – it started as the central circle and I added radiating lines, with a seed stitch and a few French knots. I think of it as a sea creature, floating about with its tentacles waving.

A many-tentacled blob 

This embroidery (nearly finished) unexpectedly sprouted a village with a whirlpool. I thought I would have fun using different stitches for the patterned roofs, but in fact they are so small that you can’t see the detail, and they were painstaking to do. The window panes are about 1mm square.

Rows of wobbly houses are also a favourite theme.

So back to the holiday challenge. For my first embroidery, I’ve taken inspiration from the jewellery factory that Deb and I visited, and combined the shapes of the cogs and handles of the old machinery with the delicate colours of the jewellery in the displays upstairs. The base is blue green cotton, and, as usual, its worked in single strands of embroidery silk. I took a photo after each session to show how the piece evolved.  Unfortunately, this also shows how difficult it is to capture an accurate colour representation, especially as the silks reflect light so well, giving the actual pieces a beautiful rich glow.

Cogs and Wheels -the finished piece.

I need to decide whether to back the finished piece onto card or leave it framed in its hoop. Then its on to my next subject - more about that another time!