Tudor Rose Padded Pinwheel

Last year I did a stint as Stage Manager in a local production of Shakespeare.  It was an interesting and exciting experience.  In a conversation with the Director she said "You shouldn't remake a piece unless you have something to add to it."


Of course, she was speaking of theatre, but at the time I thought that the same could be said of designing.  It's that aspect - adding something of myself to the design  - that drives me to do it.


In that spirit I reworked the Quaker Pinwheels, reproduced so charmingly by Erica Uten.  I was utterly beguiled by the shape and diminutive nature of them.   They were knitted as were the originals.  Mine was to function as embroidery equipage, so it seemed more natural to embellish it with embroidery.


More crucially effecting my design was the fact that embroiderers use needles much more often than pins.  On a pinwheel, the pins are stored by pushing them into the edges of the wheel.  This is great for storage, but isn't practical as a resting place for needle/pin whilst using it.  I needed to alter the piece in a way that provided both storage and holder for pins & needles.

This was accomplished by padding one side of the wheel with 2 layers of wool felt.  The photo, right, shows the difference in thickness between the padded and unpadded sides.



Two felt wheels were cut using the same pattern used to cut the card backing.  They were whipstitched together then placed in between the card and the needlework.  I thought it might prove more difficult to lace the embroidery to the card because of the padding, but found it made no difference.









The needlework was then laced to the card.

I haven't included complete instructions for the assembly of a pinwheel because they can be downloaded free from Needleprint.




Here the flat side is being sewn to the wool felt spiral filling.


Erica instructs you to cut the wool strip, used for the spiral filling, to the same width as your ribbon.  For my padded pinwheel, the wool strip should be cut marginally narrower.  I cut mine about 1/16" narrower, giving me wiggle room to conceal the seam.  (When the padded side is sewn to the felt spiral filling, the padding makes the stitches slightly longer. )  

This side view shows how the padded side projects beyond the ribbon, and how the ribbon still conceals the stitches used to attach the needlework to the spiraled filling.




















It's a lovely little trifle that will add beauty to the Art of Embroidering.

Rambling Tudor Rose

"Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy..."

Shakespeare, Sonnet 33

Do you ever take your stitching on the road (rambling)?  On gorgeous spring or summer days I like to stitch in the sun - maybe pack an afternoon tea and blanket & head for the park, or somewhere more remote.  I find I don't need nearly as much magnification to do fine needlework in the sunshine - a good thing since you can easily start a fire with a magnifying lens!  




Here you see the Tudor Rose pattern done in speckling technique in shades of blue.  




The outline & hash marks were done in DMC Coton a border in color 799.










For the shading (speckling) I used 1 strand of DMC Mouline in colors 799 & 800.  I'd say 99% of the shading was done in 799, then I went back & filled in some of the darker areas with 800 just to give the shadow a bit more depth.




I decided to stitch the stamens in bullion stitch to give it a little more texture.  I'm very pleased with the effect.

I'm almost finished with the 2nd rose (same design), which will be used for the back of the pinwheel.

I had some difficulty finding the ribbon to trim my pinwheel.  This was because I didn't know the correct name for it!  I wanted to use the same ribbon Erica Uten used for the pinwheel featured on the cover of Tokens of Love.  After several sessions of searching for it online, I emailed Jacqueline Holdsworth  (of Needleprint ) for assistance.  As always, Jacqueline got back to me almost immediately, and with her information I was able to locate it.  The ribbon is called petersham ribbon & is available from Squirlgirl on etsy.  I really like the refined look this ribbon gives to Erica's pinwheel. I chose white rather than try to match my blue thread.  If you want the ribbon to match your embroidery thread, choose your ribbon before your threads because color selection is limited.

Now it's back to etsy to find wool to fill the pinwheel...

Lovers Of Blue & White - Free Embroidery Pattern

“Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows”

Johann von Goethe

What Inspires You?....Color? Fabric? Images? Or all of the above?  


I'd love to hear from you, so please share what inspires you!

 

Recently, I was inspired by a bargain I found at Marshall's, Blue & White bone china mugs.











They feature Elizabethan looking flowers & insects...  

Do they remind you of 17th c. engravings?












You may recall a project I started for a class I was asked to teach at Hand Dyed Fibers. The project was a Tudor rose on a pinwheel. Vikki, of Hand Dyed Fibers, cancelled the needlework conference she had planned for this year, so the class hasn't come to fruition yet.


I decided to re-work the rose pattern and embroider it in blue on white.  I will be making a pinwheel like the one pictured on the cover of Erica Uten's book.  Later I plan to make a matching sweet bag with a peony on it, and possibly some other embroidery accoutrements.  All the pieces will feature posies worked in Speckling technique.

Here you see the design transferred on to 50ct white Kingston linen, ready to embroider.  If you would like to stitch this rose with me, here's my PDF Pattern.

When I re-worked the pattern, I made it like the Tudor rose that appears in this early 17th century block printed linen at the V&A Museum, Acc No. T.174B-1931.  I love the idea that 400 years ago someone printed this rose on linen for embroidery and today, I can transfer that same pattern on to linen and embroider it!  How's that for connecting with embroiderers of the past?!




Stop by later to see my progress....

Tudor Rose & Ladybug Pinwheel

I am designing a piece for a class I will be teaching at Hand Dyed Fibers in Williamstown, PA next year. Vikki Clayton (proprietor) has asked that I teach a class on making a lady bug like the one on my Elizabethan purse, shown right.  She's stitched using Spiral Trellis stitch making her three dimensional.  So now, what to put her on....

Recently, I came across the blog about Quaker pinballs and pinwheels made in the mid/late-1700s and 1800s (Needleprint.blogspot.com) .  I love the shape of the pinwheels and have been thinking about making one.  They're round, not spherical like the pinballs, about 2 to 3" in diameter.  They do have depth, about 3/8" to 1/2" typically, I'd imagine.  You match the depth to the ribbon you finish the wheel off with.  Ok, so now I know what I'll put my Ladybug on....

When I envision a pinwheel, I see it with an Elizabethan twist, of course.   I see a Tudor Rose in black threads as the backdrop, to make my LadyBug pop in all her Red, 3D Glory.

From what I've read the pinwheels were knitted. But, I want to stitch one.  I bought Erica Uten's book.  The book states that if you want to embroider the designs, you can make them into rectangular pillows which will be charming in their own way.  Apparently she thinks you can't make a pinwheel from a stitched piece.  Hmmm....  I imagine the linen would give you a problem when you wrap it around a cardboard disk.  It would have a tendency to bunch or gather at the edges that a knitted fabric wouldn't.   Mine must be embroidered, since it's for an embroidery class.  And because I've already envisioned it and creating it is the only way to get it out of my head!

So I tried a mock up using a scrap piece of the cambric weight linen I use for my scarves, see photo right.  (I didn't stitch the strawberry blossom for the mock up, it was an old test embroidery that I didn't care for).  It works!  The weave of the linen is a bit wonky, but I think if I starch the linen before wrapping it that will be enough to correct the "wonki-ness".  Also, I'll be more careful whilst mounting the finished product.

 Ok, now I have the fabric, but this throws a bit of a wrench in my plans.  I had planned to stitch a Tudor Rose using a different blackwork fill pattern for each petal.  Like the roses seen on the sleeves of women's smocks in Elizabethan portraits.  Cambric linen is 60 count so my class will probably not want to count threads!  I would love to see a Tudor Rose done in Speckling Technique.  Those curving petals would be perfect for shading!  Has it ever been done?

In researching, I found a coif at the V&A that includes a Tudor Rose stitched in Speckling Technique.  So now I have historical authentication.  (The Accession # is 21-1946 if you'd like to look it up in V&A collections.)  By the way, under the details for this coif on the Victoria & Albert Museum site, it states that the pattern had been block printed right on the linen and then embroidered.  The coif was made in early 1600s.   That's the first I've read about patterns being printed onto the linen, as opposed to hand drawn, in the early 1600s.  I found this on another early 17th century embroidered piece in the V& A:


"By the early 17th century, simplified patterns and outlines for embroidery were being provided by print sellers. Many of these designs were inspired by the illustration of birds, animals, insects and plants found in illustrated natural history and botanical books, which were very popular at the time.

This was a commercial provision for the needs of the amateur embroiderer; the print sellers not only provided books and separate sheets of embroidery designs but also patterns printed directly on cloth as seen here. The use by amateur embroiderers of prepared designs was known from at least the 16th century. Mary Queen of Scots, while imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in 1568, petitioned for 'an imbroderer to drawe forthe such worke as she would be occupied about'."

 I should address why I need authentication for the embroidery when I'm about to put an Elizabethan design on an18th/19th century pinwheel.  I'm not a re-enactor, nor am I reproducing Elizabethan pieces.  I want to embroider as authentically as possible because I love Elizabethan embroidery techniques.  But, I don't live in Elizabethan times, so I like to give them a twist that updates them to my time and makes them mine.

So now I have the embroidery stitches, the colors, and the finished project in mind.  Off to the drawing board to work it out in detail.   More later.....