Carolyn Pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui 8: starting with the front heart stems

I am currently stitching the Carolyn Pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui as a stitchalong project. This is what I’m going to make:

See the end of this post for all the information you’ll need to join in!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ***  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, at last we get to do some stitching! After all that cutting out of templates and fabric, and bagging things up for later…… I put my fabric in its ‘window’, and hooped it up, and actually got quite a bit of stitching done this week.

THREADS USED

I’ll name the threads I use for each section as I go, but please note that I substituted a lot of threads for this project from my stash, so where I’m using a substitute, I’ll say that!

NUMBER OF STRANDS

This is quite fine embroidery, and the magazine instructions say that most embroidery is worked with just one strand (i.e. one strand of Anchor pulled from the six as it comes off the skein, for instance) unless otherwise specified.

NEEDLES

There’s guidance in the magazine instructions about which needles to use. I like to use a ‘betweens’/quilting needle (size 9) for fine embroidery when it’s with one strand, as I like the way the needle is able to be manipulated, as it’s a really short needle – just over an inch long. For two strands, I use a fine crewel needle, which has a larger eye. For the stitches such as the Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch I use a tapestry 26. For bullions I use a milliners needle, as they are long and straight, hardly tapering at all, which makes neat wraps easier to do.

THE STEMS

First off is to stitch the wide swirling stems. These are to be stitched using Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch (using Anchor 266 substitute), which is a stitch I hadn’t done before. The Inspirations magazine number 95 does have process diagrams, showing you how to do it, but I found this video on the Needle ‘n Thread website by Mary Corbet which makes it even clearer what you need to do (Mary’s website is fantastic, if you haven’t come across it before!).

The stitch is like a double chain stitch, and makes a nice strong braided outline for the more delicate embroidery. It helps to stitch this using a fine tapestry needle (I used a size 26 tapestry), so that you don’t keep piercing the loops of the stitches as you weave the needle around them.

The line is outlined on both sides with stem stitch in dark green (Anchor 269 substitute) and then metallic copper (Madeira metallic 20 weight, shade copper 428 substitute, as I couldn’t find the Au ver a Soie anywhere!). When using the metallic thread, I found that although the thread itself is fine, and *could* be threaded through the betweens needle, the thread kept shredding – it’s actually a black core thread with copper foil-type stuff wound around it, which is not that strong, although this is sold as a machine embroidery thread. So, I switched to a large-eyed crewel needle, so that the needle made a large hole in the fabric with each stitch, and the metallic thread could then go through the fabric easily, stopping it from shredding. Keep your stitches short for this outlining, as coarse long stitches detract from the swirly effect.

This is one of the swirls, part-way through adding the metallic thread outline – the top edge is still to be done:

The fine stems are worked in whipped chain stitch  – make sure that your chain stitches start at identical points on each side of the heart (i.e the two curves at the centre top need to go from the wide swirl into the centre, from each side, to the top point, and not all the way across in an upside-down V), as even when whipped, that slight difference would notice. The inner edge of the thin stems are outlined in stem stitch in the dark green, and the outer edges in light green (after whipping them), giving a shadow effect.

Having stitched the basic outlines of the thin stems though, I decided to stitch the fine curly tendrils (using Silk ‘n’ Colors Pond Scum substitute), as the pencil outlines for those were starting to disappear, and I wanted to get them stitched while I could still see them! Then I went back to the thin stems and finished off the whipping and outlining.

The tendrils are worked in stem stitch, with really small stitches, to keep the curves nice and neat.

That little lot took me about fifteen hours! I’m really enjoying this – the stitches are interesting, and no one area has to be worked on for so long that I get bored with it. The next bit to stitch is the carnation on the left of the heart.

What do you think of it so far? Are you joining in with this? Have you progressed further on your own already? Comment below!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ***  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~INFORMATION~~~

The Strawberry Fayre design, plus the complete list of materials, appears in Inspirations magazine number 95. The publishers do sell a full materials pack  (not including the mother of pearl ruler though!), but it’s rather expensive, so if you can use your stash, and just fill in with bits and pieces, then so much the better! The magazine is published in Australia – if you live in the UK, as I do, it is cheaper to buy a back copy from Manor House Magazines, and save a lot on the shipping. 

To read about this project stitchalong from the beginning, start here. The post about which FABRIC to use is here. The post about the THREAD SUBSTITUTIONS that I made, plus WHERE TO BUY the threads and beads, etc., is here.

To look up all the posts in this series in the sidebar, see under the CATEGORIES list, under: Embroidery / Full size (others’ designs) / Strawberry Fayre heart etui, or use the SEARCH BOX at the top of the blog, and search for ‘Strawberry Fayre’ to get a list of all the posts (but it’s in reverse order, sorry!).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you interested in doll’s houses and stitching? Then why not visit my website, where you can buy doll’s house needlepoint kits to make all kinds of soft furnishings for one-twelfth scale dollhouses. There are over 280 kits to choose from, plus chart packs, fabric project packs, tutorials, and lots of eye candy to inspire you! Kits are available on 18 and 22 count canvas, 28 and 32 count evenweave, and 32 and 40 count silk gauze, so there’s something for everyone – from beginners to experts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Advertisement