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.

Working In a Series: Japanese Boro Stitching

   I have always admired artistic work done in a series. It is interesting to see where people started and what the initial impetus was,  where that initial piece of work led them, and what they gained from the experience. 
   I always seem to jump around a lot in the type of work I do. I am constantly looking, gathering ideas, being inspired, and wanting to try new things.
   But now, I really want to settle in and begin to explore things a little more in depth to see what I might possibly learn by working in a different manner. Instead of finishing a piece and instantly rushing into the next project on my design board, I want to slow down and more fully contemplate what value or lesson each piece holds.
   I think the biggest change over the years in the way I approach making my fiber art is to learn to completely enjoy the process.




I began with this one little sample of different fabrics appliqued onto a background of hand dyed navy and black fabrics. The linen patches are printed from hand carved stamps I have made. As I worked on this piece, I realized too late that I really liked the negative spaces without any stitching. My eyes beg for a quiet place to rest.







  So began my little series of four pieces. I will try to explore something different in each one. Maybe the next one will have only a few thoughtfully placed stitches in a very simple manner.

Japanese Boro stitching was common in 18th-19th century Japan as a way of mending worn clothes to make them last longer. It has become popular as an art form in itself these days.
   So, these are the parameters I used in setting this up:
- all pieces had to be the same size at 8.5" squares
- they had to be in 3 basic colors: black, red, and white but could include shades or tones of these colors
- the samples should include different textures and should include silk, cotton, and linen, but not necessarily all 3 fabrics in each piece
- I can only use one basic stitch: the running stitch.
   It is so much easier to prep all these pieces at once so I don't have to dig everything out again. That way I only have to clean up a big mess once. I am working on Sample #1 now. Sample #4 is finished.


    I have been doing lots of hand embroidery over the last four years or so. The funny thing is, the more hand stitching I do, the more I want to simplify my design aesthetic. The work is not at all about how complex, concentrated, or perfect the stitches are, but it is much more about the texture the stitches create on the fabric, the way they catch the light, and the way it feels in your hands.
   

Linen Tunic: My Garden

   A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and before you know it you have something wonderful, quite different, and really fun to wear. I have wanted to make one of the Japanese style aprons to wear as a tunic or top for quite some time. 
   My theme or story for this piece is my little front garden. It is quite wild and unruly, but it gives me a great deal of pleasure just to be there in the midst of the nasturtiums, ferns, and other growing things. Just as I no longer strive for perfection in my art, I have no desire to tame the great outdoors.

    After searching for ages, I finally came up with the closest pattern I could find to suit my needs; Simplicity #1133. This pattern had a huge dart along the side seam that I eliminated by pinning the edges of the dart together. I wanted to have one entire piece with no seams so I could freely paint and stitch away. It is made from the Natural Linen I carry in my shop.

   After sewing the garment together, my first step was to spray it with Jacquard's airbrush ink. After heat setting the ink, I started applying my nasturtium shapes and rectangular strips of fabrics. The flowers were glued on with a teeny bit of glue, and the rectangles were hand basted on. The last thing I want on a garment is a fusible that will be stiff and heavy feeling. 

 After machine stitching around the edges of the flowers and leaves, I painted in my moths with my Giant Moth Stencil using Neopaque and lumiere. Next came the really fun part as  I started drawing in the abstracted stem shapes for the hand embroidery to visually tie all the shapes together.

 I wanted to emphasize the edges of the garment, but I didn't want anything too fussy or exacting. I first worked a row for Cretan Stitch around the edges, then an irregular blanket stitch, and ended with short little stitches for just a little touch of added color. I found some beautiful old shell buttons that were just the right size for the tab closures at the shoulders.

  Detail of the stitching on the back.

   For the rectangular overlays, I used scraps of my hand dyed cotton. I love the way the fabric puckered up after washing to give it that beautiful bumpy texture. 

   Now I am getting ready to start another tunic. My next effort will be in black linen that will be cut on the bias, so it will be interesting to see how different the fit is. I am thinking rust tones,splashes of brilliant blues, and little bits of a lovely pearl gray hand dyed sateen. I haven't quite decided on a theme yet.

Thistle Journal Cover

   I am hoping that if I actually get caught up with the Christmas rush and customer's orders, I make the time to finish up a couple of my own projects. First of all, I would like to finish this journal cover I began probably three months ago.
   It never fails, what begins as a simple little project takes on a life of its own in no time at all. I always find it amusing that what some people consider to be obsessive attention to detail is to me absolute mindless bliss.

   I began with a beautiful blank piece of linen that was prewashed. I lightly marked the center spine area of the cover, the perimeter, and then a few circles that I wanted to leave open except for the stitching.

I painted the images with my Thistle Stencil and began working the hand embroidery around the outside of the circles. I photographed the piece, printed it out, and then began drawing on the image with pencil to help me decide what to do next.

I really enjoyed every minute of working on this. There were many evenings when I couldn't wait to settle into my old chair, surrounded by wisps of brightly colored thread and needles poking out everywhere, and watch a good film. I finally realized that I needed to stop stitching on this piece and begin something else before every speck of linen was covered up!

Tuesday Drop-In Class

This is a linen bag that I am making. The hand embroidery is still in progress. It has been hand painted with my stencils, and it will be machine quilted after the embroidery is finished.

For the past few months I have been teaching a drop-in class at Eureka Fabrics in Eureka, CA. It is always interesting to see who will turn up, and it is never boring. I love having a roomful of people, but I also enjoy having just  a handful of people that I can give my undivided attention to.
Although the focus is on quilting and fiber art, we basically cover whatever it is people need help with.
Starting August 1, 2015, we are starting on hand embroidery where I will be teaching most of the basic embroidery stitches, and then we will move on to make a journal cover utilizing what we have learned. The class info is listed below, and you can sign up here: Eureka Fabrics.

For the first two weeks we will be working on a variety of hand embroidery stitches, and the third week we will be making a journal cover using some of the techniques and stitches you have learned. The journal covers will be simple projects you can finish in one afternoon.

Schedule:

·       Tuesday, August 4, 2015:: Hand Embroidery Basics, 1-4 pm

·       Tuesday, August 11, 2015: More Hand Embroidery, 1-4 pm

·       Tuesday, August 18, 2015: Journal Covers, 1-4 pm

Supplies:

For Hand Embroidery:

·       White or light-colored fabric, 4 10” squares

·       Embroidery needles in assorted sizes; my favorites are size 5/10.

·       Embroidery hoop, anywhere from 5”-7” will work best

·       Embroidery thread in 2 colors that contrast with your fabric

For the Journal Cover:

·       You will need to bring a journal or sketchbook with a cover that is not too flimsy.

·       Fabric large enough for the outside, and you will also need fabric for the inside of the cover.

·       A button for closure if desired.

·       Embroidery threads and other items for embellishment.

·       Batting if you wish to machine quilt the cover.

Note: The fabric needs to be large enough to cover the front and back of the book plus enough for seam allowance. It will be easier to embroider if the fabric is not cut to size yet.

When deciding which images to use for this bag, I wanted to use something I had not worked with before, so the moths were perfect. This particular species is known as the agrius cingulata (pink-spotted hawk moth). The actual moth is more pink than red, and I found it in the book Night Visions by Joseph Scheer.

This is the other side of the same bag. It will be embroidered differently from the front of the bag.

It All Started When......

      When I was very young,I learned to do hand embroidery from my grandmother. I always loved doing the handwork, and I spent many enjoyable hours working side by side with my grandmother learning new stitches and embroidering things that have long since disappeared to who knows where.

      Many years ago, in fact so many that I can't remember, I bought this old kit in an antique store. Someone had purchased the kit, embroidered one teeny little flower, and shoved it right back in the envelope.
      Every once in a while, I would get the urge to do some handwork and pick the piece up again. I would do a few little stitches, and then put it aside and forget about it.
     A couple of months ago I once again picked up the piece and commenced to actually finish the embroidery.
      I can't explain what it was that happened, but I fell in love with the process as well as the fabric. That beautiful old linen was like butter in my hands. The embroidery thread was not quite so delightful; it was really old rayon that tangled incessantly and caused me a whole lot of grief. I persisted and finished all of the embroidery,and now only the edges need to be finished.

The main part of the fabric has the date stamped on it: 1927. I think this must be longest running UFO. When I work on something old like this, I always wonder who the person was that purchased the piece originally.

The interesting bit is that I could not wait to do more work with this incredible fabric. I procured more linen and better thread; now I am totally hooked and I can't seem to stop.

Here is an almost finished corner. The kit also came with 4 napkins that are supposed to be inserted in the top of the lantern. The lanterns were embroidered on the gold linen first and then sewn to the background using the needle turn appliqué technique.