embroideries

It makes my day every time I view this very special table runner.
The excellent design is from Barbelies Schäfer. The design incorporates traditional patterns and was part of adult education classes. Irmgard Mengel embroidered it perfectly.
On the very fine linen, the “old” filling patterns, in combination with the raised whitework, are especially effective.
Although early Schwalm whitework does not include withdrawn-thread patterns,
the variety of filling patterns in this appealing technique is considerable. Many surface filling patterns can be found in my publication Early Schwalm Whitework.
In addition to a couple of looped stitch patterns and interlaced stitch patterns,
there are Chain stitches in many variations and Satin stitches.
Most impressive are the evenness of the stitches (in early Schwalm whitework stems and outlines are made using Stem stitches instead of Coral Knot stitches)
and the perfection of the leaves.
This is an absolutely thrilling pattern that has been turned into a truly spectacular example of excellent needle art by Irmgard Mengel!
If you would like to try your hand at this technique, you can get this design printed on linen by Irmgard Mengel. Please email me with your request.

In the Schwalm designs often include birds; sparrows and doves are usually depicted. The sparrow represents fertility, and the dove represents freedom. However, the dove is less prominent in Schwalm designs than the sparrow.

Looking to many traditional embroideries, I found a lot of other bird shapes which are neither sparrows nor doves. I came across a stork, hoopoe, swallow, rooster, woodpecker, wren, duck, and peacock; in addition, there are others not so easily identified.

Now and then I show such bird motifs on my website. My readers have seen a bird shape from 1826 in this previous article; other birds were seen here and here, or in the Schwalm Bird Tree.
There are more birds hidden on my blog; simply do a search to find them.

I asked the artist Gudrun Hartwig for border designs with traditional Schwalm bird shapes. She combined the bird motifs with special tulip designs we found in old Schwalm embroideries. In the end, she created two beautiful border designs – one is horizontal, and the other is a vertical. Both are made containing single parts; so it is no problem to shorten or lengthen the borders.

I used the vertical design to work a curtain.
Always a tulip and a bird – combined with leaves and other small elements of Schwalm whitework – constitute one part.
The border has a width of 10 cm.
Using all four design parts, the border has a length of 75 cm in all.
Natürlich kann man das Muster auch etwas vergrößern oder verkleinern. Aber die vorgeschlagene Größe eignet sich gut, um sowohl verschiedene Flächenfüllmuster Of course one can enlarge or narrow the design a small bit, but the provided size is pretty good for using different filling patterns and also for embroidering the leaves very well.
I used the horizontal design to make a wall decoration. Unfortunately, it is not finished, but you can imagine its beauty by viewing the pictures of the unfinished project.
The border has a height of 10 cm.
It is made with five single parts that can be combined in any order. So the length can vary according to personal preference.
It is made with five single parts that can be combined in any order. So the length can vary according to personal preference.

If all five parts are used, the border will have a length of 1.12 m. Mine – mirrored in the middle of the fifth design part – has a length of 2.14 m.

One of my customers wanted this design for a long narrow table runner. So, she narrowed the design a little bit, and she was very pleased with the result.

Both are very special Schwalm designs created with old traditional shapes that give the borders their distinctive appearances.

My graphic designer transformed the hand drawings of both designs to computer graphics; these are available now.

Of course it is also possible to get these publications as printed booklets for the same price (15.00 EUR each) plus shipping charges. This option is not shown in my online shop, so please email me with your request.