Inspiration

I have written a few times about where to find inspiration or how it comes to you. This past weekend was our group's 12th night event. Talking to friends and spending time laughing reminded me that inspiration is all around us...we need only keep our eyes open to it.

Consider the beautiful blue glass stone handle on a pate spreader from a friend that gave me an idea for a new embroidery pattern based on a 14th century picture I had seen. The realization that machine embroidery for a large project is a better use of time than my trying to embroider 10 feet of trim for a friend's cloak. Better to focus on the small details that will be seen more often. Watching a friend explain a new piece of garb to someone who has not ventured into that era yet.

Inspiration is not just what you find but what you give. Give lots!

Making cuffs

Good day everyone! I'll be posting a series of posts and pictures as I assemble a set of cuffs so you can see the process.

Some people, ie. my friend Isobel, have great success with transfer pencils. Me...not so much. I use an old overhead and gel pens for darker fabric. One of the challenges is that the gel pens don't always adhere enough so I need to ensure the pattern comes through enough to go over it again. Deciding on colours is a challenge too as I try to decide what to put the cuffs on or if I'll be giving them away. I decided to use green which I realize may make you think of Christmas but I'm trying to use up some of my fibres which have become separated from their tags. Think of it as the no-name project.

Embroidery and pattern transfer

Today I wanted to share an embroidery mistake with you. The picture that has most of the embroidery filled in was transferred onto the fabric with a transfer pencil. Problem? The marks wore off before I finished the hawk. I will finish it but for the 2nd hawk (these will be a set of cuffs) I traced the picture onto tracing paper and stitched through the paper onto the fabric with a running stitch. It took a little while but as you can see, I have a pattern that can be followed and won't wear off. Once the stitching is done, the basting stitches can easily be removed.

Not sure who is getting the hawks yet. I did a set for Baron Erec a few years ago and I'll try to get a picture of those. I have used silks and cottons for both sets.