Konturenmuster

In the article Handwoven linen (F I) in the Test I embroidered a small Schwalm motif.

The heart was filled with pattern No. 554.

The tulip has been decorated with Honeycomb Darning stitches.

The bird’s wing was embroidered with wrapped Chain stitches and Straight stitches, and the bird’s belly was embroidered with interlaced Herringbone stitches.

I am providing you with the outline design as a hand drawing for download.

In previous posts, I’ve chronicled the evolution of tulip motifs over the centuries.
Now, as luck would have it, hundreds of different tulips have bloomed in my garden.

Pointed in the bud,

star-shaped,

large and small,

filled

more rounded, or

with pointed petals.

The splendor gave me the idea to create a tulip sampler. Unfortunately, I have no talent for designing. But perhaps you’d enjoy such a task. To make it easier, I’ve compiled various tulip outlines. You can pick the ones you like best from the selection and create a pattern with some accessories like small leaves, spirals, etc.

I look forward to seeing such designs someday.

Poppy motifs as a wreath design

In our region the poppy has just started to bloom. The beautifully lit fields, visible from afar, attract thousands of visitors every year. There is something magical about poppy flowers. Maybe it’s the impressive play of colors, but probably the entire interesting plant that provides insects with plenty of food.

I am also fascinated by poppy flowers. The orange-red appearing poppy fields,

the scarlet flowers of the Turkish poppy, the pink ones of the opium poppy or the tones of the new varieties – they all have something special.

Poppy is one of the oldest cultivated plants in Europe. However, it has not yet played a role as a motif in Schwalm whitework.

To change that, I commissioned the designer Christa Waldmann to design a wreath motif with poppies. She has succeeded in doing this exceptionally well: be it the massive outflow of the petals that are “wrinkled” together when the buds burst open.

Be it the delicate and ever-so-perishable petals of the opened flower,

the numerous fine stamens with their threads and sacs, which are grouped around the pistil

or the majestic appearing seed capsules.

She skilfully put everything on paper with sweeping lines and recorded it as an outline drawing. The delicate leaves are also present.

The wreath has a diameter of approximately 54 centimeters. It will be my next larger embroidery project. With its rather playful motifs, it is a completely different design than the Schwalm Band pattern.
As with all designs for which you don’t yet have a template, embroidering them will be a nice little challenge. Sometime later I will share the results with you.

Delicate Poppy and Noble Linen
Tablecloth for all Seasons – June: Poppy Flower

Not everyone has the aptitude to come up with and draw their own designs. Usually, when embroidering Schwalm patterns, already existing designs are used. This saves you a lot of work and allows you to choose the right one from the wide range of products that now exists.

But how are such drawings created?

First you need an idea. The typical Schwalm designs should contain larger elements such as areas suitable to embroider with filling patterns and small surrounding and connecting ones such as stems and leaves. Of course, the pattern should also differ from existing designs.

After the idea, a rough sketch is made and then gradually developed into a balanced pattern. What size should the pattern have? What form should it take? In what proportion of size and at what distance should the individual motifs stand from each other?

What kind of leaves should be added – pointed or rounded, divided or undivided? How many should there be? At what angle should branches of stems take place? How often should tendrils twist in? Which enhancing embellishment should the motifs get – half-eyelet scallops, knife points, 2short-2lang? ….. and, and and.

Once the sketch has finally matured and the pattern appears balanced, a thin-line final drawing is usually created by hand with the help of pencil and eraser, drawing board, ruler, triangle, protractor, a pair of compasses and various drawing devices or stencils. (Computer drawing programs have so far only been used extremely rarely by the mostly older designers for Schwalm whitework patterns.)

In order to move from the idea to a coherent, sophisticated and precisely drawn Schwalm outline pattern, a lot of work and time is required to create a design.
In most cases, the designers only charge a very small amount for their services, and many of the designs are only redistributed in very small quantities. So the wage for the hours of painstaking work is rather meagre.

Therefore, it should be self-evident that the copyright of the designers is respected.