Historical Sampler – Some Vine  

Posted by MeganH in

I based the vine for my sample on a Douce Bible,

douce

It’s shown here at Plate 25, from Cyril Davenport’s “English Embroidered Bookbindings”, http://www.archive.org/details/englishbookbindings00davenuoft and it (the Bible) was published in 1583

The vinework has been manipulated by me – a section in the middle doubled, with one side of it reflected (reversed) to give me more “nodes” to hang motifs from.

I’ve been working on the vine lately, as a nice simple task to do while I haven’t been feeling well.

I’ve now run out of bits I can do, without encroaching into un-motifed territory, and risking my DMC/silk thread catching on the Lurex.

I was pushing it a bit by doing one side of each of two ovals, which will contain spiral trellis stitch buds.

The Thistle Threads blog was talking about vine width vs width drawn on the ground the other day - http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/a-gauge-for-the-stitch/

I seem to have had the opposite problem to theirs– even tho I was “keeping within my drawn lines” the vine somehow ended up a bit wider than drawn. Notice how close the blue borage and the pansy are to the vine? They weren’t that close to the drawn vine (and I didn’t go outside the lines, promise!)

The solution is obviously to stay a bit within the vines if I, with my two lines of Heavy Chain Stitch, seen to be a bit close to a motif.

Everything is a bit close together in general, I think. I’ve carried “horror vacuii” a bit too far. They aren’t supposed to touch each other and often motifs/vines are, drat it.

In terms of spacing, the only one I think I’ve got really really right is the googly eyed bug, half way down the left side.

Now – that’s half of the vinework done. The other half is exactly the same, except reflected. 40 or 50 metres of Lurex so far– I’ve lost count.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 1:55 AM and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

13 comments

Personally, I love it the way it is! I think there is great charm where almost every part of the background is covered. As you say, it might be more difficult to work due to lack of space now the design is progressing but I think it's delightful and not too regimented!

June 20, 2009 at 4:56 AM

I love it the way it is, too, although I know I'm looking at eRose's stitching through modern eyes. As a complete historical copy, perhaps it isn't perfect but the second piece will be much more authentic, don't you think? You are learning as you go, after all.

June 20, 2009 at 5:54 AM

Yeah, I look back at my earlier work and cringe, but as my daughter says it is all an adventure so I should be proud of it anyway. I love your sampler, think you will always be proud of it, the learning, the love that went into it. Your pearl rose is, as you know, my favorite. What size pearls did you use anyway? I am putting a pearled pinke on my coif and am trying to plot size and find a supplier as well.

And yes, spangles, of course. If you want to mix it up you could use both silver and gold gilt ones. Whoo hoo!

:)

June 20, 2009 at 7:02 AM

Pearls : For the big in the centre pearl rose, I used 5-6 mm rice pearls.

For all other pearls, I used 3-4 mm ones - for example the centers of various flowers, and the pearls in the flower on the right hand side there. Hereas known as "The Elegant Pearl Rose" coz it's been referred to that way a couple of times. It is one of my favourites.

June 20, 2009 at 9:43 AM

Megan, I have to remind myself how new you are to embroidery. Not only that, you choose to do your first sampler the hard way - designing it yourself. Just be proud of how well you have done. You could leave the spangles until all the embroidery is completed and then decide. Viewing from a distance is the best way to decide these things, I find.
From further back you will see were, if anywhere, needs a spangle to balance the spaces.

CA

June 20, 2009 at 1:05 PM

It's looking great, Megan!

June 22, 2009 at 5:38 AM

Thankyou all!

June 22, 2009 at 8:15 AM

Megan -

It's absolutely beautiful! If you get worried about the spacing, just remember it IS a sampler -- and a learning sampler at that.

All I can say is Wow.

June 22, 2009 at 6:08 PM

The overall pic of the piece is a STUNNER! Not sure if this will help but in Japanese embroidery whenever we have a vine or a cord, we only transfer one side of the vine....this is because the fabric changes shape when stretched on a frame. After your fabric is stretched, we then go along and measure the width of the vine from the one line and place the second line on at that time. Hope that makes sense. I know it doesn't help this time but it may help next time...

June 23, 2009 at 4:14 PM

That makes a lot of sense, and sounds like a good thing to do next project - drawing in the other half of the vine later.

June 23, 2009 at 6:31 PM

I think it works well with all the elements of the design close together - it gives an authentic Medieval 'millefiore' look. Definitely keep going the way you are!

July 10, 2009 at 12:53 PM

Your sampler is looking really good, and it's always so much more fun and satisfying making the design up as you go along.

July 12, 2009 at 3:58 AM

WOW Awesome embroidery!
The most beautiful of this sampler is the study you've done every step of the embroidery, Your work is splendid!

Hugs and love
Maria del Valle

January 12, 2010 at 12:10 PM

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