strawberry mini tapestry, in process #3

With my design transferred to fabric, my next step in the tapestry process was to pick colors. I chose a selection of reds for the strawberries, greens for the stems and leaves, cream and yellow for the flowers, brown and tan for the roots, and a chestnut brown for the lettering.

Colors in hand, I put my wool in the front and my muslin with the design on the back, and put it all in an embroidery hoop. As you can see, leaving them in the hoop shows, so I'm trying to get better about de-hooping the fabrics when I am not working. The transfer process happens from the back, using a stem stitch that creates an outline on the front of the design. I'm almost done with this step, and just need to fill in the additional leaves and stems once I get more light green thread.

I couldn't wait to try the actual embroidery stitches I practiced weeks ago, so I have worked on one little strawberry flower. I filled in the white petals with a Bayeux point stitch, divided them using a pale yellow, edged the petals with a whipping stitch, and filled in the center with French knots in a medium yellow. It is a pretty cute flower, although I'm not sure if it is as flat as it should be.

strawberry mini tapestry, in process #2

The next step in our mini tapestry project, after practicing stitches, was to create and transfer a design. The suggestions for the design from our group leader (who is an experienced embroiderer) were to stick to a relatively simple design, and to include a word in the font provided.

In terms of design, I was torn between the idea of doing something with flowers or something with fruit, so a strawberry plant (which has both at the same time) was a perfect fit. I also thought the texture of the flower petals, the roots, and the strawberries with their little seeds would all make for interesting stitching.

First, I looked at photos and drawings of strawberry plants and sketched my own plant and word. Then, I traced the design onto special grease proof paper, which looks like parchment paper but apparently has some magical difference, with a special wax tracing pencil. After that, I pinned the design on top of a square of muslin on my ironing board, and ironed it with a hot iron. Now I have a backwards design that is transferred in dramatic magenta onto my muslin, and am ready to learn how to transfer this design (through stitching) to the wool that will be the front of my mini tapestry.

strawberry mini tapestry, in process #1

I am part of a group at my Friends Meeting that is designing and will eventually be stitching a large crewel work tapestry. Right now the group is working on design ideas, while individual members also start our own mini tapestries to learn the steps of the process. The first item on the agenda was to practice the various embroidery stitches we will be using. I have a lot to learn but it was fun to try them all out. This is embroidery thread, but in the real thing we will use wool thread on a wool background.

swoon wedding gift quilt

Three lovely ladies and I worked together to create this quilt as a surprise wedding gift for two other friends. Fabrics were selected, each of us sewed three squares, and then one friend pieced all of the squares together. The quilt back is a solid fabric and a large pieced area, made from our leftover fabric. We had the quilt professionally quilted, and got to excitedly view it together before giving it to our newlywed friends.

swoon wedding gift quilt (my three squares)