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Bird Motifs (2)

By Luzine Happel on 11. May 2020 / blog, embroideries / Leave a comment

Bird Motifs (2)

While the bird representations in Schwalm whitework of the 19th century were mostly relatively large, often a little clumsy, and almost always very closely embedded in the surrounding embroidery, in the 20th century the same motifs became smaller with more balanced proportions, and they are more dicernible from the surrounding embroidery. Other forms were also gradually added.

At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, the bird representations experienced an enormous change. They became more diverse, playful, and closer to nature.

If you are interested in lovely balanced designs with birds, you can find them in my shop.

Bird motifs designed by the artist Gudrun Hartwig according to traditional models are included in the exquisite border designs Vertical Bird Border and Horizontal Bird Border.

At my request, the designer Christa Waldmann created two beautiful and unique patterns: a tree of life filled with birds – the Schwalm Bird Tree – extended and fourteen very different pairs of birds – the Schwalm Bird Wedding Designs

Schwalm Bird Wedding Designs

By Luzine Happel on 7. May 2020 / blog, Konturenmuster, new download products / Leave a comment

Schwalm Bird Wedding Designs

For me bird motifs in Schwalm whitework are particularly attractive and extremely interesting. So I asked the designer Christa Waldmann to create a design in which bird representations play a major role. She has accomplished a masterly feat and designed a total of 14 different pairs of birds – always in conjunction with other suitable motifs typical for Schwalm whitework. Since the birds are always arranged in pairs, I called the drawings “bird wedding patterns.” As in nature, there are small and large, inconspicuous and eye-catching specimens. You can easily use the individual motif groupings for things like table runners or pillows.

Because I had so much fun embroidering these motifs, I embroidered them twice – once as a “bird wedding sampler” and then as a border around a square cloth. Visitors to my exhibition will surely have fond memories of both pieces.

Now I offer the extraordinary drawings in my shop for downloading. In addition to the original size motif groupings, the layout and dimensions for a sampler and examples of the arrangement of a square and an octagonal cloth can be found there.

Finally, thirty-four photos of the embroidered motif groupings will provide you with a lot of inspiration.

Schwalm
Bird Wedding Designs
• line-drawn designs
• 19 pages, text: English
• 7.48 MB file size
• in addition 34 images with examples of different embroidered bird motifs
• 25.00 EUR (incl. 7.00 % sales tax)
(23.36 EUR for customers outside the EU)

shop

Global Schwalm Sampler – Update (4)

By Luzine Happel on 7. May 2020 / blog, Globales Schwälmer Mustertuch / Leave a comment

Global Schwalm Sampler – Update (4)

Two more contributions to the global sampler have arrived.

#4
Colette Bonnet from France is currently learning Schwalm whitework.

She wrote: “J´ai choisi ce motif simple justement à cause de mon inexpérience, et aussi parce qu´il symbolise pour moi les fleurs que j´aime tant.”
Roughly translated: “I chose this simple motif precisely because of my inexperience and also because it symbolizes for me the flowers that I love so much.”

She included a couple of elements of Schwalm whitework in her project including an openwork pattern and two Limet filling patterns. The small leaves turned out as did the forks on the Coral Knot stitch lines. Half-eyelet scallops round off the embroidery.

# 5
Ute Hogen from Germany is a bird lover, and so she has chosen owls as her motif. For this contribution, she modified a design by Elisabeth Baumgart.

The experienced embroiderer loves variety and likes to be creative when developing filling patterns. She combined Limet withdrawn-thread patterns and surface patterns and thus achieved an attractive contrast between the separate areas. Blanket stitch eyelets outlined with Eyelash stitches form the eyes of the owls. The branch on which the pair is sitting has been filled with Chain stitches.

One can find more contributions in Update (3).

Bird Motifs (1)

By Luzine Happel on 2. May 2020 / blog, embroideries / Leave a comment

After different pomegranate representations and various butterfly pictures, I now focus on birds in Schwalm whitework.

Bird Motifs (1)

Bird motifs have a long tradition in Schwalm whitework.

The early bird motifs shown here are often depicted very abstractly; nevertheless quite different bird species are recognizable. The complexity of the interpretations is also variable. The pictures show embroidery worked between 1800 and 1900. The Satin stitch bird (fig. 1) probably originated before 1800.

Global Schwalm Sampler – Update (3)

By Luzine Happel on 28. April 2020 / blog, Globales Schwälmer Mustertuch, embroideries / 1 Comment

Global Schwalm Sampler – Update (3)

The second and third contributions to the global sampler have arrived.

#2
Born in Sweden, Elisabet Vogt Pleijel once embroidered a lot of Schwalm whitework. After years of not doing this kind of needlework, she decided to embroider a project to contribute to the global sampler.

She wrote: “I tried to combine old and new Schwalm whitework in a mini sample cloth and to use as many variants as possible.”

This turned out well. She used the design of a flower and filled the center with a pattern of early Schwalm whitework. The petals were filled with simple and Limet withdrawn thread patterns (Wave, Rose, and Diagonal Cross stitches). In addition, the 2-pattern can be found as a Limet filling pattern and a needleweaving ornament as an openwork pattern. Half-eyelet scallops, Blanket stitch eyelets, tendrils, small leaves, and a piece of Peahole hem complete the embroidery.

#3
Gertrude Vorwerk from Germany submitted a very special contribution. She filled the entire background with a Satin stitch Limet filling pattern and scattered butterflies all over the area.

Regarding to the Corona crisis, she wrote: “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was going under, it became a butterfly.”

The simple butterflies stand out from the background. Coral Knot and Chain stitches shape the outlines of the wing; wrapped Chain stitches and Blanket stitch eyelets decorate them. Satin stitches form the body; the antennae were embroidered with Coral Knot stitches and French knots. Illuminated from behind this embroidery takes on an especially beautiful effect.