Advent Calendar 2023 – No. 4

By on 3. December 2023   /   Advent Calendar, blog, embroideries, tips and tricks   /   Leave a comment

Advent Calendar 2023 – Nativity Scene
Vessels for the Gifts

The vessels for the gifts are made with wrapped Chain stitches (coton à broder No. 20) and Blanket stitch eyelets (coton à broder No. 25).

as well as with Chain stitches and wrapped Back stitches.

At the end, the vessel body is filled between the fingers with Satin stitches.

Advent Calendar 2016
Advent Calendar 2017
Advent Calendar 2018
Advent Calendar 2019
Advent Calendar 2023 – Outline Designs
Advent Calendar 2023 – Prep Work
Advent Calendar 2023 – Hairstyles and Facial Features of Wise Men
Advent Calendar 2023 – Hands

Back to Top

Advent Calendar 2023 – No. 3

By on 2. December 2023   /   Advent Calendar, blog, embroideries, tips and tricks   /   Leave a comment

Advent Calendar 2023 – Nativity Scene
Hands

The hands of all three Wise Men are embroidered with wrapped Back stitches (coton à broder No.25). It makes sense to wrap from the inside to the outside on the way to the fingertip,

to lay the thread around your fingertip

and embroider the downward stitches from the outside to the inside.

Turn again at the base of the finger.

In this way you can achieve well-formed individual fingers.

If the hands are shaped so that the fingers lie together, work Back stitches up to the base of a finger and wrap them on the way to the tip up to the vertex. Then continue working with Back stitches. In the end, all that remains to be wrapped is the thumb, fingertips and the side of the palm.

Advent Calendar 2016
Advent Calendar 2017
Advent Calendar 2018
Advent Calendar 2019
Advent Calendar 2023 – Outline Designs
Advent Calendar 2023 – Prep Work
Advent Calendar 2023 – Hairstyles and Facial Features of Wise Men

Back to Top

Advent Calendar 2023 – No. 1

By on 30. November 2023   /   Advent Calendar, blog, tips and tricks   /   Leave a comment

Advent Calendar 2023 – Nativity Scene
Prep Work

My project should be used as a window picture/curtain. Therefore, the fabric must not be too tightly woven. 20 tpcm linen would work well, but I’m late with the realization of my plan and for the processing of very fine linen I need more time. That’s why I opt for the 13.5 tpcm linen (Weddigen #160). In order to be able to use filling patterns effectively in the detailed figures, I choose the larger motifs. The entire pattern strip measures 103cm X 30cm. My window is 128cm wide.

The curtain should span the entire width. A circumferential hem of 4cm width + 1cm fold is provided. Since there should be about the same distance between the embroidery and the hem on all sides, I cut the fabric to 137cm X 64cm.

The basic line and the longitudinal centre axis are marked with short Running stitches.

Since I transfer the drawing with an iron-on pattern pen, it must be arranged in a mirror image.
Of course, you can also use pens with water-soluble or heat-soluble ink.

I transferred the overall pattern in one go.

You could also transfer and embroider the motifs singly and build up the design gradually. Then it is advisable to start in the middle and work the way up to the edges. Thus, while working, you can decide whether you want to embroider just one or two wise men or just one or two shepherds.

Advent Calendar 2016
Advent Calendar 2017
Advent Calendar 2018
Advent Calendar 2019

Back to Top

Schwalm Tablecloth – round (3)

By on 22. September 2023   /   blog, embroideries, Stickereien der Blogleser, tips and tricks   /   10 Comments

Fascinated by the care and precision with which brubi creates her beautiful Schwalm tablecloth and the attention to detail with which she prepared the embroidery, I wanted to share it with my blog readers. To do this, brubi opened her folders again so that she could create the corresponding images – thank you very much for that.

First tests at embroidery: Coral Knot stitch in different thread thicknesses and types, Chain stitch, Satin stitch, Macrame stitch

Overview 1: thread allocation, thread weight and thread length to the individual objects, definition of stitch types.

Section 1 from Overview 1: thread length for the individual objects, definition of stitch types

Section 2 from Overview 1: thread allocation and thread weight

Overview 2: initially only numbering of the motifs,
later, after drawings and test embroidery, gradually determining the course of the pattern, the thread withdrawing, the embroidery direction and the embroidery patterns.

Embroidery samples: tried out various types of stitches, embroidered combinations of embroidery stitches.

Section 1 from Overview 2

Section 2 from overview 2 with details 1, 2 and 3

Detail 1 large flower (in the straight of grain) flower center – sketched

Detail 1, 2 and 3 – finished embroidered

Embroidery samples:
small patch at the top left –
2nd pattern from above = embroidered in detail 10 (top petals).
small patch at the top right –
sample bottom left = embroidered in detail 3 (outer petals),
sample bottom right = embroidered in detail 2 (inner petals).
large patch below –
sample between middle and right cross, upper area = embroidered in detail 5 (large tulip inclined 22.5 degrees).

Detail 5 (a + b) – large tulip (inclined 22.5 degrees): determination of thread lines (sketched on tracing paper – so you can get the mirror image motif by turning it over.

Embroidery samples of the patterns in question

Detail 5 (a + b) – large tulip (inclined 22.5 degrees): design sketches and arrangement of the individual stitch elements

Detail 5 finished embroidered

For detail 6 (a + b) bud (slightly inclined), center of flower

“Diagoanl Cross filling – French variaton/”half” was sketched in mirror image

and embroidered.

For detail 8 – large flower (diagonal) flower center –

various filling patterns were sketched.

The left checked pattern was embroidered, the others were discarded.

Detail 8 embroidered

Sketches for patterns for detail 9 (large flower (diagonal) outer petals) – left side embroidered, right side discarded

Sketch for detail 9 – pattern run vertical – discarded

Sketch for detail 9 – pattern run horizontal – embroidered

Detail 9 embroidered

Detail 10 (a + b): large flower (diagonal) upper petals: sketches for star stitch

Detail 10 embroidered

large flower diagonally with details 8, 9 and 10 embroidered

Many people might think that so much effort for embroidery is excessive. But if you consider that these preparations only took about 40 days, but the final embroidery took almost four years (not including the interruption), the ratio is quite acceptable. And only with such an accurate preparation was such a unique result possible. The effort was truly worth it.

Thanks again to brubi for providing all the information. Hardly anyone will probably undertake the entire accuracy, but you can definitely incorporate some suggestions into your own work.

Back to Top

Needle-Weaving Bands

By on 10. March 2023   /   blog, embroideries, tips and tricks   /   Leave a comment

Needle-weaving hems and needle-weaving bands have a long tradition in Schwalm whitework.

They are available in a wide variety of designs, with narrow or wide pattern segments and in a wide variety of heights. In my documentation Schwalm Needle-Weaving Bands I have already shown 193 (!) different patterns . There are always new variants to discover. Of course, with a little skill, you can also create your own patterns.

The combined needle-weaving patterns, as you can see here in pictures 5 and 6, are also very interesting for me.

I found a very interesting needle-weaving band pattern of this category on one of my handed down collection pieces.
The middle band consists of a two-piece block pattern with spiders, the top and bottom bands are formed by a mirrored A-pattern.

(Information on the individual categories and detailed descriptions of the working methods can be found in Lesson #4 – Needle-Weaving Band Sampler.)

This needle-waeving band appears to contain an error. Although each of the three bands put together is worked in an even rhythm, the pattern segments of the middle part and those of bottom respective top part are of different widths. This results in mismatches in the overall appearance of the pattern.

If you pick out the individual segments – the pattern part that is constantly repeated – you will see that the segments of the upper and lower part each consist of 18 bundles, but those of the middle part only consist of 12 bundles.

Also, I noticed that the middle part was formed with extremely low units. Nowadays the height of a unit is usually set at 4 mm. Such fixed rules did not apply in the past. But I had never encountered such low units as in the middle part of the example shown here.

That encouraged me to try it out and combine it further. I was often surprised at how different the effect of the individual pattern combinations turned out. Eleven examples can be seen in my documentation Schwalm Needle-Weaving Bands. But there are many more.

I quickly embroidered a few samples. First I embroidered the pattern of the middle part with units reduced to 2 mm.

Then I placed an A-pattern, also reduced in unit height, but with only one row of holes between the triangles, next to it. I’m also considering whether to add a peahole or just a Four-Sided stitch to the finished needle-weaving band.

In another attempt, I stretched out the middle pattern a bit and worked a total of 14 bundles per pattern segment. Next to it I have placed a side part over the full unit height of 4 mm, but shortened to a pattern segment of 14 bundles and with two rows of holes; in such a way that the zigzag lines meet the spider parts.

By reducing the top pattern segment to 14 bundles, the base of the triangles extends over 8 bundles. I didn’t really like the combination with the below block of 12 bundles.
So I kept trying.

I will present one of the patterns that emerged in the blog post after next.

Didn’t you feel like playing with different possible combinations to find out new patterns?

Back to Top