Writing a book on thread painting and silk shading.

So, I have published a book.

It has been a long time in the making. In fact nearly two years of ' In the making'. This is not down to me being slow at writing or making, it is just how long it took me to plan, design, stitch, photograph, describe and edit the intricacies of thread painting and silk shading and as I am a perfectionist it took as long as it took!!!

Luckily I was asked to write a book by Crowood Press on my favourite embroidery subject, I am not sure I would have accepted or enjoyed 65,000 words on the history of English Smocking for example. That sounds a lot of words, when said out loud, BUT I could have written double that. I found there was so much to say and explain and point out, I wanted people to be totally sure on how to apply the principles of thread painting to their own projects.

I have to say I loved every minute of writing it, I am not saying it did not have it stresses. It did. One project which was to recreate an eighteenth century dandelion motif from a mans waistcoat took three attempts before I was happy with the result. I am glad I took the time to get the technique perfect so it is easy for the reader to replicate. 

The front cover of the book featuring the Japanese style project  describes a padding technique on the outer edges and uses flat silk floss. The background fabric is an antique kimono silk which added great texture to the cover.

The book covers everything you could possibly need to know about thread painting; inspiration, colour theory, setting up frames, what threads to use and then twenty step by step projects.
The projects are very varied, you can work a simple feather, stitch a London sky line or learn how to use real peacock feathers in a seventeenth century style project. 

The motif on this project is from an antique Chinese panel, it sits on a paper envelope of silk threads and uses french knots for texture. Although it is a very simple idea the motif is striking when contrasting colours are used for the petals. Again this project uses silk floss.


Throughout the book are photographs of historical and differing cultural examples of silk shading which I have sourced from The Royal School of Needlework and other private collections, the motif above is seen many times in antique Chinese embroidery to create a simple but effective flower shapes.  

A more advanced project, this sprig of hydrangea flowers is stitched over wire and then cut out. It uses DMC variations threads to create all those wonderful shades. 

This is the London Gherkin being worked in tapestry shading. It shows the lines of split stitch that are embroidered first before being covered in long and short stitch. This ensures a smooth edge.


 

The book is for beginners and advanced stitchers alike. Beginners will find every stage of long and short stitch and the projects fully explained and illustrated with step by steps. Experienced embroiderers will find lots of little tips scattered throughout to help them improve their thread painting and general embroidery and ways to use my designs to adapt to their own ideas.

 Please get in touch using the contact section on the side of this page with any questions or to let me know what you think of the book if you have bought it. At the moment it is available in the UK and USA on Amazon and later this year the rest of Europe, Far East and beyond. I hope you enjoy it. Click here to see and buy the book on Amazon.

Custom requests.

I love it when people have their own ideas for pieces of jewellery. Some can be a challenge, but who doesn't love a challenge? Here are some I have done in the last few months.
     The peacock range was made for the Royal School of Needlework shop to coincide with their Peacocks and Pomegranates exhibition. Details of that on their website. I have not made any pomegranate pieces yet but I'm working on it. I think I am much more drawn to the peacock colours , so they got first look in.

A lily of the valley silk ribbon and silk appliqué necklace. I really wanted to get the effect of the little flowers being like little round bells and quite three dimensional. I think I have achieved it.  

This large silk shaded brooch was done for a lovely mum on Mothers day. Her name ? Iris. Stranded cottons on a white silk backing. 5cms diam.

Close up of the colours, as the flower was so small I had to use stronger colours than I would use on a large project to enable me to get enough shading into a small amount of space.

Three necklaces with the letter G and two silk ribbon roses. Silver rococo thread and sequins make up the letter. 

 

The backing of this brooch is a silver lurex/silk mix which does not really show up in the photo, it really shimmers! Some fabric painting, sequins, beads and freestyle stitching finish it off.

Close up of a silk appliqué necklace with space dyed threads. 

Three peacock silk appliqué necklaces.

Silk appliqué and metallic threads bangle. 

Another initial , this one with three roses and a contrast colour on the sequins.

Close up of the silk roses and silver rococo threads

A freesia and buds in silk ribbon on a wonderful blue silk. 

A large brooch of two ginger toms. A little amount of fabric painting then alot of stripes. I had to do some editing to make the embroidery design simpler than the photographs I was given, but I think it has made the image more striking and therefore a better piece of jewellery.

Flowery work.

I have got to 'meet' such wonderful people through the power of the Internet. On my blog here and through instagram and facebook etc. One lovely lady bought one of my necklaces and then got in touch to suggest a custom order. The results of this are shown below and I enjoyed it so much that I offer this as a custom request in my shop. The pendants suggested were a violet and a couple of roses in some oval settings. They are quite large at 3x4 cm but at the same time seemed quite small when I wanted to put lots of detail in. The roses needed lots of petals to look realistic, but my original design had too many so I had to simplify it to enable enough shading. The mounting of them was actually the hardest part, hand cut ovals are not easy! The flowers are all worked in stranded cotton on various flat silks.  A link to the ordering details is here .

Close up of the sepals.

A silver rococo thread has been added to the frame of this necklace.

This particular rose is called 'Marilyn Monroe'

This rose is called 'double delight'.

Branching out.

Sorry I have not posted for a while. I have however been busy stitching. Before Christmas I had lots of work from The Royal School which used lovely silk threads, they catch all over your fingers but it is a treat to use them. I also had a lovely commission from a friend of four brooches. Two were ones you have seen before but here are the other two. Such original ideas, it was a fun job. Other pictures are brooches and a new idea of embroidered rings. These are work in progress. Enjoy.

A silk shaded poppy brooch. The backing fabric was a beautiful shot black and blue silk from James Hare Silks. The long and short was worked in stranded cottons. A few french and bullion knots give some texture. 5 cms.

Brilliant idea for a brooch for my friends daughter. Beaded bun, silk lettuce, felt tomato and cheese, shaded french knot burger all on a silk gingham background. 5cms.

I am keeping this one for myself, satin stitch and beads on silver plated adjustable ring.

Embroidered rings. Space dyed thread used for satin stitch, metal thread embroidery for the centre and tiny glass beads. Silver plated adjustable setting.

A different style brooch, this one based on 17th century black/red work. This style was not geometric pattering but a seeding embroidery often worked in crewel wools with metal highlights. I have used wool, stranded cottons, silver spangles and silver rococo/ check thread. These silver threads will tarnish over time but hopefully not for a while yet.

Crewelwork brooch. Long and short thread painting and seeding on orange silk with stem stitch . 5 cms.

Jacobean style leaf worked with stranded cottons, stem stitch filling and french knots. 5 cms.

Silk shaded oak leaf. Stranded cottons on a flat silk.

Silk shaded oak leaf with silver passing thread.

Embroidered rings . Satin stitched in space dyed threads with antique beads on silk.

Blue tit silk shading.

 I am at home for Christmas I have taken a few photos of old work to share. This little blue tit was a present for my mum about 15years ago. I think it took about three days to complete. All worked in stranded cottons except the branch which was painted. Not the best photo as it is through glass but I thought it worth posting.

Brooch commission.

Not posted for a while as been very busy, with work luckily. One of my lovely students that I taught last year at The Royal School commissioned me to work a number of brooches for her. A very exciting project . A few of them are shown below. All of them with very tight briefs , which sometimes I think is much better. Exact colours of silk backgrounds were asked for, and as an embroiderer I of course have every imaginable colour in my stash!!! The holly design was the hardest to work as it was so small but needed lots of shading for it to look realistic. So thank you to S , I know you read this blog . I enjoyed every minute of working them for you.

The brief for this one was just, black and white. My vase embroideries are always popular so I thought a black and white one would be interesting to work. I used a black silk thread and tiny glass beads from Prague. 2 inches dia.

 Two Autumn leaves in silk shading. Worked on a silk dupion. 2 inch dia.

 The tricky one !!! Two inch size again but it needed three leaves to balance the design which meant small stitches. 

 Pansies are one of the best flowers to silk shade as there is not much of an angle change and lots of dramatic colour changes. 2 inch diam.

 Another leaf this time I made it a little more orange. 1 inch dia.

Bundle of brooches and 10,000 views.

Here is my latest selection of brooches. My needles are hot right now !!
       Before I make any more I am going to decide on my next large embroidery project. Although I would love to do another silk shaded giant embroidery I think it would be good to do a different technique. Either blackwork or appliqué. Watch this space.
      I am also thrilled to see I have had over 10,000 views of my blog. I know this is a very small amount in the world of blogging but it is huge for me. So thank you to everyone who follows me or just checks in every now and then. Also thank you to everyone who comments on my posts. It makes me feel that I am not just writing to myself.

Polka dot pansy. Silk shading long and short with a beaded background.

Beads and sequins.

Another oak and acorn crewel work . I just love doing them.This time on a floral printed background.

Drawing straight onto the silk fabric with my silk thread. No design on there just sketching away with my needle. Try it !!

No traditional colours here for this crewel work. Cerise meets lime and turquoise.

Wool trials.

This little ( 5cms) brooch was an opportunity to try out my new wools from the wonderful Hand Weavers Studio based in North London.

            I used four acid colours for the long and short stitching and a stranded cotton for the Portuguese knotted stem stitch. All the colours were named so I used a worsted lime and lemon size 28 which were my favourite to stitch. Next sunshine worsted size 16 slightly thicker and stronger. Finally tan was polo merino which was very soft and had a lovely sheen but not as strong. All these wools are very fine and I did just use one strand of each but it's nice to experiment with new threads.

           I added the knotted stem stitch in stranded cotton as it is one of my favourite embroidery stitches. I usually need no excuse to use it !

            The backing was a silk dupion shot with purple and turquoise.I love the contrast between the matt wool and shiny silk.   

Close up of long and short stitch and Portuguese knotted stem stitch.

Finished long and short brooch. 5cms.

   

Silk shaded beetle.

I like a challenge, I especially like to challenge myself ! So I did, with an amazing photograph that I found on Pinterest. Usually I prefer to design my own embroideries but I just wanted to do a photo realistic embroidery.
         I loved this beetle mainly because of the colour and I decided to do it justice by embroidering it the size of my palm. So quite big, especially in this technique. Long and short stitch in stranded cottons. The challenge for me was to get the shine on the body of the beetle to give it a three dimensional effect without padding it.
          I added a little specimen tag with my name and date in an aged look paper. I think I quite like this one!!
 

Long and short embroidered blue beetle. Stitched with stranded cottons on a silk dupion background. Total height of embroidery 15cms. 48 colours of anchor and DMC thread used.

Close up of body embroidery. I added the tiny dots of colour at the end.

I am a messy worker as this picture shows !! I never line my threads up in a row. All 48 colours in a lovely big bundle.

 

Silk shaded cat embroidery

Painting with the needle. This cat is embroidered in long and short stitch using a combination of Anchor and DMC stranded cottons on a dupion silk fabric. Traditionally this technique would be worked with silk but with the amount of colours I used the cost would have been huge.