Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Sunflowers - In the Garden and In Crewel Embroidery Stitches - Preview 1

Last summer, I worked on crewel embroidery projects while at the Tuesday Farmer's Market in Northampton. My stand is not very busy and I have to have something to work on or else I go bonkers. The first project I made was my Circles Sampler which I made into a kit which is for sale on my website here

My second project was a little more realistic and based on one of my favorite flowers - the sunflower. For years, I have been growing sunflowers. If you are a longtime reader, you probably look forward to seeing the photos in September and October when the sunflowers are at their peak. I thought it would be fun to turn the natural inspiration into a stitched piece of crewel work. The wool thread I use (and sell here) is the perfect texture for sunflowers. 

Today I am going to share with you one of the sunflowers I stitched hoping that some of you might give Crewel Embroidery a try. (I teach Crewel Embroidery on-line on Craftsy - link for 50% off on my sidebar. I am also offering an advanced Crewel Embroidery Class here at the farm in August. Info here.) I will continue the previews over the next week or so. I've also dug into my photo archives to share the natural inspiration. Let's start with a beautiful vase full of blooms from last September. 


Let's start with the smallest flower.... This flower was inspired by the bi-colored sunflowers called Strawberry Blonde and Pro-Cut Bi-Color




Here is the finished stitched flower.....


Petals were made of closely packed stem stitch as was the dark brown center. I used bullion knots to represent the multi-colored petals mixing two shades of orange in the needle. To create the puffy outside ring of the flower, I used more bullion knots over a multi-color outer ring stitched in stem stitch. Here is a close-up of those stitches.


I stitched the leaves in closely packed chain stitch. On the outside edge of the leaf, I worked an open buttonhole stitch mixing two colors of wool thread in the needle. Leaves of sunflowers are usually jagged and this stitch approximated the look. 



I teach Crewel Embroidery on-line on Craftsy - link for 50% off on my sidebar. I am also offering an advanced Crewel Embroidery Class here at the farm in August. Info here.) 

3 comments:

Auntie Shan said...

There's nothing worse than working your tush off to get ready for a sale/market and then end up just *SITTING-THERE*!! - Especially, if the next booth over is selling "crap" like crazy!
I *always* bring along my HOOK and some YARN! If only to keep making "product" in order to "lure" unsuspecting Customers...

A "TUESDAY" market..? Does it actually get a lot of "traffic" other than 20-Something-yoga-Veggan-iMOMS jogging by with their CABBAGE-KIDS between PLAY-DATES?

Anyhoo... EVERY time I see SUNFLOWERS, I *THINK* of YOU!
;-D

Janet L said...

Great commitment to color and texture. Love your work!

Maria McCabe said...

Oh I love the sunflower crewel embroidery piece! I have taken your Craftsy Class and it is the best class I have ever taken on Craftsy (and I have taken many) You explained everything so clearly and the demonstration of each stitch was great! I hope you get the chance to do an Advanced Crewel Embroidery class on Craftsy since I am to far away to take your class on the farm!
Maria

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