Bullion wraps

I was wishing I had nabbed some of those before they disappeared in the local stores

I had taken the pic down from rctnp but have now put it back in my album. As you can see, I already used red and blue in crewel and those pillows consistently get oohs when people come into my livingroom. I am just about to start work on two more for that room, an all green and an all brown, slightly smaller though and maybe with different piping round the edges.

I would argue that they do not look particularly great grandmotherly. They please me anyway which is all I ask of any work I do.

Those are beautiful.

I have several completed pillows that are put away until DS stops eating in the living room.

Cheryl Isaak ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Crewel is very hardy - I wash mine from time to time and they bounce right back. Sometimes my cat would do more damage by snagging a thread with a claw, but I would simply replace the thread when it was off for washing, no big deal.

The one large crewel piece I have framed (the other stuff is pillows) is an Elsa Williams kit. It fits into the Chinoiserie category since it is an enamel vase of cranes filled with lovely flowers -- orchids and the like so very Asian looking. It's ages old tho' -- close to 20 years now since I started it! I love to do crewel too, and I agree with you -- most of it is stuff I don't care for -- not into the Jacobean designs at all. I would much prefer Chinoiserie designs as I have Asian style furniture and home dec stuff. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

I also used to enjoy crewel, and, in fact, I think it works up faster than the same size piece in CCS, but all I was finding was Jacobean, which no one in my family likes, so I'm not going to make them something they don't like.

When someone starts bringing back some variety to the genre, I'll go back to crewel.

I am not sure what you are looking for really because any design, picture whatever that you like can be traced/drawn/sketched on to linen and worked. The 'crewel' part is simply that traditionally it was worked all in wool but I often add some silk, or cotton floss, overdyed whatever it is that I want for some effect.

Same thing with needlepoint, you see every kind of thread these days and every kind of surface stitch on it.

I have nearly finished this Elsa Williams kit and I am never doing another one simply because I can't be bothered with having to pay heed to which thread to use in case I run short. After this is complete, it's back to freehand drawing and using what I feel is appropriate at that particular moment in time. I don't even start knowing how I shall do it, apart from colour. The two pillows I put up, I used a transfer for the design but after that it was up to me which stitches and what colour threads I used.

True, but I have visual problems that make my tracing horribly inaccurate, and trying to get anyone else to do it for me results in a lot of foot-dragging. For an EGA class, I did finally resort to doing my own tracing when everyone I asked for help still hadn't found time a month later, and I was chastized and marked down substantially because my own effort was so dreadful.

Then there's the problem of finding crewel wool; I don't know that I've ever seen it sold loose in a shop, only as part of a kit.

And it's not like I'm lacking in SABLE to the 3d power in CCS to keep me occupied.

I have "The New Crewel" and will do something from that sooner or later. Sometimes you just want the kit to make the decisions for you

EXACTLY!

Linda

Karen C - California ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

The single easiest way to do a tracing is to use a piece of tulle. Take a softish pencil - lay the tulle over the picture and trace it. Then put the tulle on the linen and go back over it, remove tulle and voila, pattern on linen.

I have done all the other methods, including pounce, and tulle is by far and away the easiest, most efficient method.

This presumes that I can draw accurately.

For me, it doesn't matter if I'm tracing on paper or tulle or with pounce, I don't get the lines in the right place. One of the issues with my EGA piece was that she had nice full round leaves; mine wound up narrow and straight, and after half a dozen tries, I had a mess of pencil marks on the cloth, but nothing even remotely resembling the leaves she had drawn.

The problem is, my good eye is on the opposite side from my good hand, so I can't actually see what I'm tracing. Compounded with, I can't draw a straight line even with a ruler.

Karen C - California ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Trust me, you need to try that method. Too easy, a child can do it, you certainly do not need to be able to draw at all to do it that way.

Sounds nice. The shop in VA where Donna & I stitch on Thursday a.ms has quite a bit of crewel. And much of it is not just Jacobean designs, or are some really nice not just Tree of Life designs. When I'm there on Thursday, I'll take a look at who the designers are. I'm 99% sure I've seen a crewel piece with a little dragon in it.

Ellice

They're gorgeous. The silverwork waves are really interesting - your own design? Couldn't tell from the picture, is that beading along the bottom right? Anyhow - very nice, different kind of piece.

ellice

I've been trying for two days now to remember who might have been the designer of a crewel dragon I did many years ago. So far I have no clue. Of course if and when I remember, the chances are that the pattern has been out of print for skatey-eight years.

Although I see the subject was changed a little later in this thread, I'm just getting a chance to respond now.

some random thoughts: I've always liked crewel and surface embroidery. The more stitches that were called for in a design, the better I liked it.

The advantage of kits is that the kits have good color combinations. When I 'kit' an iron on or other project, I'm apt to substitute what was suggested or merely use what I have on hand.

The kits almost always have directional lines for filling spaces printed on the fabric.

lewmew ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Well I have found the dragon transfer and taken a rather rotten pic of it and put it up on rctnp so you can get the idea.

You, or anyone else, is more than welcome to have it - the moment has passed that I was going to do it. Shame to waste it. They are the best transfers one can get, way ahead of anything else sold this side of the pond and unfortunately the company who bought them out just seem to sell off the existing ones and do not care about that side of the business.

If anyone wants it, I can be reached in my tomb at snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com lol

Sheena

Well, Donna & I for sure frequent an LNS with a wall full of crewel wool! But, to be honest, I believe that it's going to be re-displayed (1 of a color) to make room for more stuff. That's what happens when I start working at an LNS (as of yesterday). So....let me know. This shop has a website, but I don't think the online shop link is quite up yet - it's being worked on (not by me).

You're not?????

ellice