Styna, Munchkin and Bones!

Styna, Munchkin and Bones!
Mischief Managed!

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Wedding Embroidery


A few weeks ago me and my Mr attended the wedding of two of my old school friends - I wrote about how much fun it was in my other blog. I wanted to make something a bit special for them (and I'm assuming I've left enough time for them to have opened it now, post honeymoon :) ) so I turned to blackwork. I first started to experiment with blackwork for a workshop at the craft club and I loved the strength of the patterns and the boldness of the lines. So, I had a hunt for an appropriately elegant embroidery pattern, and came up with this one, which I found at the awesome Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread, and which the Mr resized for me (me being technically impractical). Not your standard blackwork pattern, but I liked it a lot so I traced, outlined and sewed it (one thread of black cotton, if you're interested) on some 28 count linen I had left over from my big celtic knot design, and added some fancy lettering.




When I'd finished the design and sat back to have a look at it, it looked great as it was, and blackwork would have made it too busy, so I decided to blackwork the lettering instead. Big mistake! It was like trying to read a magic eye picture, so I settled for satin stitch, which worked really well. So in the end, it wasn't really blackwork (even though it's all in black), but what it turned out to be is pretty. It's funny how you can start out on a project with a clear direction for it and have it take you in an entirely different direction - and for such a small project this one proved to be a huge learnign curve in terms of design and balance. I think it turned out pretty well, all told.


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