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....

Early 17th Century Block printing on Linen for Embroidery

I looked around a bit more on the Victoria & Albert museum site and found some other linen pieces that the V&A states were block printed.   I've listed the Accession no's below for your reference.

The very early pieces (14th century) were from Germany and Italy, although in the notes it states that by the last quarter of the 15th century this process was also being used in England.  I don't believe these early pieces were intended for embroidery.  They appear to be just decorative fabrics and remind me a little of today's Toil de Jouy fabric.  This is a small sampling, and in my mind, doesn't rule out the possibility that embroidery patterns were also being block printed ( V&A's term) onto linen for embroidery.  I'd need to research it further to make a conclusion.

The early 17th century pieces in my list are for embroidery, and they are from England.  The V&A is terming it "block printing" on piece T.174B-1931, although if you read the descriptive plate photographed with the coif, there it states that it was printed from engraved plates.  Curiouser and curiouser...

Here's the list of pieces at the V& A:

Acc No.         Title                    Origin           Date

1745-1888     Printed Linen     Germany     1350-1400
7027-1860     Printed Linen     Italy            1350-1400
T.21-1946      Coif                   Britain        1600-1629
T.174B-1931 Linen              England         Early 17th c.