Pearl Competition

I am entering an embroidery competition. We were given a pack with three small pieces of silk and 3 pearl beads. This is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our guild. The instructions are to use at least one piece of silk and one bead. I decided to create a dragon using a copyright dover image.

I did a few trial pieces on hessian to check that the design was OK. The first one was done in white but with different stitches. I didn't feel that there was enough contrast in the texture so decided to make a coloured dragon. The one on the top right was not completed because the machine decided that it couldn't cope with stitching through the layers. I think the dark orange stitching was too small.

I stitched a bottom layer of a weave pattern. The machine got jammed up in the middle of the stitching (bottom right) and no matter what I did, it would not start again. I was worried that it was broken. Given that this was still a trial, I started again. The one on the  bottom right is the final sample. The colour in the photo is very orange but in real life it is a bright yellow.

The image below is of the final piece, although it needs pressing and framing, I am hoping that I will be able to get rid of the puckers. The background is stitched in cream embroidery thread and the detail is in gold metallic thread. Unfortunately, metallic thread always looks poor in my photos. It looks very glamorous and shiny when viewed in person. I'll post another entry when it is framed and ready for presentation.

Shimelle - September 4th

September 4th, originally uploaded by juliestenning.

I spent some time on Saturday September 4th experimenting with the embroidery sewing machine. It is much newer than any other sewing machine I have used and I have to get used to making sure that a cap is put the end of the spool and that it is better not to chop off the loose bit of thread when winding the bobbin.

The Embroidery Sewing Machine

Some of you will know that my mum and I share an embroidery sewing machine. It usually lives at mum's and she is three hours car journey away from me, so I don't get to play with it very often. It is a complicated little beast and each time I go and play I have to learn how to do it all over again. I am on annual leave at the moment and the beast is living at my house. One of the main reasons for having the machine is so that we can both make tidy hands for dolls. We both find it difficult to make them using an ordinary sewing machine. I now have a fool proof method of preparing dolls patterns and turning them into patterns that can be read by the machine. I've also created a set of videos so we can both review them when we have forgotten to how to do it. I've stitched a pair of arms with it today and will be putting them together with the rest of the body tomorrow.

The other thing I have done is prepare a vermicelli pattern and also some shapes to make brooches (pins) and necklaces.

This is still work in progress. You need to use stabilizers in the hoops when using such a machine. It stops it from puckering. I used a layer of water soluble stabilizer followed by a layer of white silk. Next came some fabric and thread scraps, along with bits from a white plastic netting bag. Purple organza was then put on top along with another layer of stabilizer to complete the sandwich.

The vermicelli pattern is one that I designed and converted into a sewing machine pattern. I stitched it in purple and then moved the pattern two stitches to the right and stitched it again in pale blue. I fancy doing a small piece with vermicelli where I move the pattern a few stitches along and change thread each time until it gets too thick to work with. Finally, I created another pattern of shapes, added a layer of felt to the bottom of the sandwich and used the machine to satin stitch around the edges. These will now have some beads added and probably some stiffening. The finished results will be posted here some time soon.