Santa Clara: Contemporary Hand Embroidery Workshop

Irene Brummer

 Last October, I taught my Hand Embroidery workshop to the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association in Santa Clara, CA. We had a packed class with 20 participants. The skill level ran the gamut from people who had been embroidering for most of their lives to those who had never done hand embroidery before.
   Everyone was remarkably patient and enthusiastic, and I was very happy to see all the finished samples entered in the guild's semi-annual show a couple of weeks ago.

Tracy Visher

  
   This piece was done by Tracy Visher of Sacramento, CA. Tracy made a whole set of pillows for her patio furniture, of which this is one. Tracy is a very accomplished stitcher who has been doing hand embroidery for years, so I was glad she enjoyed the class.

Mitsuko Sasaki

   This beautiful piece was done by Mitsuko Sasaki. She has done a marvelous job, and I love the additional edging she added to her piece.

Roberta Pabst

Betty Eastham

   I offer the option of doing this design in either the Bright or Neutral color palette. Roberta chose to do her piece in the neutral color palette. The neutrals really help you see the impact of values in your work. One thing that really makes mandala type designs 'pop" is the variation in value and the detail and scale of the shapes in each concentric row.
 

Sandra Crane

   And last of all, we have Sandra's lovely piece. I love the way everyone has put their own spin on this embroidery pattern. You can see what a difference the choice in colors and the variation in the fabric borders can make to the overall impact of the piece. Thank you everyone for sharing your work!
   I will also be teaching this workshop, Contemporary Hand Embroidery, at San Francisco School of Needlework and Design on August 24, 2019.