Embroidery Part 1

Embroidery is both a surprise and not a surprise. It's not harder than I thought it would be, but it does take longer. Like I kind of expected to be about a third or halfway done with my pattern by the end of our drive home on Sunday, but I had, mm...maybe a sixth of it done? Maybe? Slow going! Now part of that may, I am willing to entertain the possibility that it might, have been because of the bumps and grinds of the road. But. Even taking that into account, not quite as fast as I expected.

But the stitching isn't hard, and I think my execution is as good as I could hope for. My design is (and this is another surprise) very obviously mine. I adapted some pictures of embroidery out of my Kyoto history of fashion tome, only because my domicile of guest abode had no internet--unexpected event--so I couldn't access any of the patterns I had found online. What I adapted looks so much like the way I always painted flowers in high school art it's uncanny. I guess I have a solid vision of the world, artisitically speaking, and it's still the same ten years later. I don't know whether to be pleased or dismayed. At least my drawing style translates decently well into basic embroidery shapes....

I'll post pictures after I'm done of the pattern, the pattern transferred onto the fabric, and the finished version. I don't want to jinx anything in the meantime, though. So no pictures for now.

Embroidery Conundrum

I know I haven't gotten around to telling you all about making my chemise. I am like 80% I'm remaking it and that thoroughly demotivated me to talk about the trial version. I am about to embark on my embroidery journey. I am fairly confident this will come easily to me. I have always done well with abstract graphic designs in art classes and such, and I know the basic stitches and principles already--blew through a book on basic stitches in about 20 minutes because it was all "yes, I know how to do that."

Honestly, the bigger questions I had were the most simple of all:

how to thread the needle--by which I mean, does the embroidery thread run doubled or just with a tail at the top but leaving only one thread in the fabric (one with a tail up front)

do I knot the ends (mixed messages on this so I'm going with the Victorian site that said yes)

do I unwind my double-helix thread (if I want it thinner, which I do, then yes, I can)

So once I got those questions answered, it was time to decide what, exactly, I want to embroider. First embroidery project is the red dupioni silk that will cover my stays, because I can't find any black lace that does not look cheap and plastic to sew on as per my original plan. I have to embroider the fabric before I can cut it, and I am going on a road trip this weekend and expect at least one of the 6-hour drives to be in daylight and thus prime time to work by hand.

I was looking at styles of embroidery today, and I found two styles that I like, and I don't know which one to use.

Blackwork Embroidery

Con - It is not period appropriate (it was popular in Elizabethan times but had fallen out of use by the 18th century)

Pro - It would mimic the lace-covered look I wanted originally

Con - It works better on gridded fabric, which mine is not

Pro - It is essentially outlining patterns rather than "drawing" with thread and filling them in, which is harder to keep looking nice (case in point 99% of the embroidery how-to books on the market)

Con - Its pattern would be exceedingly difficult to transfer by hand (and since my fabric is not on a grid it would have to be traced onto the fabric)

Pro - It is a graphic design style of repetition and interlocking that I have worked with and enjoyed working with on paper

Satin Stitch Embroidery (AKA regular filled embroidery)

Con - It would not give me the lace effect I wanted originally

Pro - It is period appropriate

Con - It will require an original freeform design

Pro - It is the kind of embroidery I'll have to use on his waistcoat so this would be good practice

Pro - It would be equally easy on non-gridded fabric as it would be on gridded

Pro - The pattern would be easier to transfer onto the fabric than a blackwork interlocking repetition pattern

Sigh. I think I just talked myself into the free-form satin-stitch. It's for the best, really it is...and I would be disappointed, I think, whichever way I chose. One path cuts off the other, simple as that, and I want both right now.

So. Now I just need to find a pattern that is appropriately dramatic, suited to the space and shape it will go, and work-able in a monochromatic design (black silk on red silk only). Maybe my artist mum can help me with that this weekend....

Here's some thoughts of things I like but why this exact pattern wouldn't work:

Middle section only - still too wide

The part on the coat - has no centerpiece

Would not work in black only but isn't that utter gorgeousness?

Up Next: Embroidery

Every time I turn around there's something else I have to learn how to do. Sew with a machine. Sew by hand on a grand scale. Design the patterns myself. Sew boning tunnels. Sew in three dimensions for my hoops ("Yeah, well, I only see two!" "That sounds like a personal problem."). And now, fucking embroidering!

What?

Exactly. That was what I said. But there's two things happening here. First, I was trying to figure out how to decorate my stays, and the fact is that finding acceptable black lace might actually be more work than just embroidering something on the front panel would be. Second, he watched Amadeus again now that I've finally started sewing in earnest and pointed at the embroidery on the waistcoat and asked for it so sweetly that I just couldn't say no. So now I get to learn to embroider, too. Awesome.

At least, since I know how to sew by hand, this shouldn't actually be too much of a stretch--many of the stitches are similar, so it's simply a matter of having a different end than attaching two pieces of fabric to one another. Not such a leap that I can't handle it. (I can leap thick craft-books in a single bound! Ha. I am so making up a super-heroine/domestic goddess costume!)

According to my project bible, embroidery would have been done on the material before it was cut. So I'll have to trace the pattern onto the material and then add the embellishments before I cut it. Which pretty much means that if I cut it wrong, he ain't getting no damned embroidery, after all. No way am I fucking with that twice. I'm less worried about the cuts on my stays than his waistcoat. Also the embroidery would be on a much smaller scale--1 panel as opposed to along the entire edge of...well, along the entire edge.

In the meantime, I am blessing the internet for its troves of old-fashioned embroidery patterns. I love the free exchange of information. So much better than having to check out 100 books from a library!