Mounting In The Hoop

 

At the moment, I rarely frame anything in an actual square frame - I just don't have the space to properly frame all of my Stitchscapes, much as I would like to. For hoops that are intended to be kits and get dragged around for display at shows and events, they are definitely not square framed as it is so much easier to show people in a hoop, plus they can get a sneaky glimpse at the back. 

It's funny how many people get hung up on what the back looks like. Sometimes I can be fairly neat and you can see the image almost on both sides, but I'm not at all concerned about how it looks - I carry threads across, make knots at the start and ends of threads and still get myself into tangles a couple of times. If I put a photo of the back of a piece on Instagram I tend to get at least one comment on how brave I am for putting it out there! 

If I were embroidering a handkerchief or something that you will see the back of regularly then I will change how I work and don't make starting knots and hide all loose ends but for a hoop piece like this, what is the point?

At college I used to have to photocopy the backs of stitched pieces. I would spend ages working on a lovely embroidery or stitched piece of something and tutors would look at it and go ''yes that's nice but, ooo, have you looked at the back of this? Go and photocopy it in different colours or as a negative and see how it changes. It's so much looser than the tightly worked piece on the other side, so much more exciting." I suppose from then on I didn't worry about the back any more - although it didn't stop my work being neat on the front!! I wonder what those tutors would say about what I do now?

Anyway, as I had finished this piece I thought I would try and photograph my process for framing it in the hoop. I do have an actual tutorial on this already, which you can find here (oddly enough, made using the Mini Woollydale piece!) , but it doesn't hurt to go over it again. 

So, if you are framing in a hoop, firstly consider whether you are going to leave the back exposed or if you are going to neaten it and hide with a circle of felt (great for gifts or pieces where you might hang it so both sides are exposed - in a window or on a tree). 

If you are wanting to add a felt piece, before you set your work in the hoop properly, just pop out the inner hoop and draw around the inside of it onto your felt to get the exact size needed, then set your work back between the hoops, pulling and tightening all around in a circle until there are no bubbles at the edges of your fabric and it is really tight. 

If you've left enough backing fabric to do so, cut a circle around the hoop, about two inches all of the way around - if you haven't left enough fabric you might just want to round off the corners and remove any straggles of frayed edges. 

Securely knot a long piece of thread to the backing fabric, about a centimetre from the edge (sorry, I switch from inches and centimetres, does anyone else?). Here I am using a single strand of Coats Duet Polyester thread but you can use any thread really as long as it's fairly strong. If you are worried about the thread strength you can double up but be careful of any twists and tangles when you pull it later on.

Start making little running stitches all around the edge, keeping them as even as you can and an even distance from the fabric edge (whether you have a circle cut or not). 

 

I tend to make a few running stitches on the needle at once and then pull them all through, it goes much quicker and you can get into a rhythm with it - just be careful again here if you have doubled up on thread that both sides pull through evenly. 

Once you are back at your initial knot, the best side to pop your needle out on is the opposite side to where you are looking (as pictured). The fabric is going to pull into the centre so if you leave your thread coming out towards the back of your work you won't be able to knot it. (But don't knot it yet!)

Carefully pull your thread so that the fabric bunches up and draws in towards the centre. To help avoid the thread snapping, keep moving your hand to grasp the thread nearer to the fabric as it comes out so that you are not yanking a long strand from above your head! You might find that you need to move some of the fabric along the thread to help pull more. 

Once all of the thread is pulled and tight, try to keep the tension whilst you make some secure knots by passing the needle through a couple of strands of fabric to create a loop of thread, then passing through the loop. To help me keep the tension I will pinch the fabric and thread where it emerges from the fabric. 

You'll have noticed that I've only made running stitches around the backing fabric and not the fabric strips that I've used, and that's because I make two passes round the hoop. It is easier to work with the fabric layers independtly because you can take care to fold them over each other, trapping any trimmings underneath them and just making it as neat as possible, which you can't do when you've got the backing fabric all stitched up in there as well. So, once you've tied off your first knot, keep the same thread and just make a stitch under the fabric from your last knot, nearer to the hoop edge. 

Again start to make the running stitches, on the backing fabric if that's all that is there, but when you reach the first section of cotton fabric, fold this over and stitch through both layers. 

As you reach the next layer, fold this over and stitch through all layers, keep working around catching all layers one at a time, stitch through or over any trimmings as you come across them. You might find that your stitch here can't be so neat around the edge and you might need to move closer to the edge to catch fabric layers where they are shorter which is fine. 

When you've gone through all of the fabrics on one side, continue the tacking stitches on the backing fabric again as you will still need a continual circle of running stitches. 

Once you've gone all of the way around, again pull the thread as tight as you can, tension pinch and knot tightly. Now you can cut the thread! 

I like to go round and snip any larger bits of fabric so that they are shortened to a neatish circle between the two rows of stitching, and if you have any trimmings which you just couldn't work into the running stitches, these could be stitched down independently. 

So there you go!! Nice and neat. If you are going to be stitching a felt circle to the back, you can use blanket stitch or whip stitch (just catch a few strands of the backing fabric and the felt edge in one stitch, pull through, repeat all of the way around) to secure it to the back. 

There are other ways to frame in the hoop, but this I find the most effective, and if you want to change it later on, you can just cut those running stitches to remove the piece from the hoop which is super handy as I've done that a couple of times when ideas changed!. 

January Frosted Dew Drops ATCs

The first Stitchscape swap of 2023 is completed!! The theme was Frosted Dew Drops and I love how this has been interpreted in so many different ways. I've tried really hard to match the theme to the month/season so that there is lots of inspiration around at the time of creating the cards, near enough, and often wondered what ideas people would come up with for this theme. For me, I had these images in my head when creating my cards, of spider webs captured in the early morning light, glistening with the tiniest of droplets of water hanging on for dear life. Although, I also had old seed heads, slightly damaged and decaying, crispy but made beautiful by droplets of frost - you have to pick one idea and I stuck with spider webs. 

But, we also have slightly frozen looking leaves, snowflakes, snowy mountains beyond with glistening fences, and a really lovely abstract card which uses all sorts of fancy yarns and the waste foil from sequin making (I can't remember what it's called). 

I like to try and figure out how these miniature pieces have been made, but I did have to double check with Jenni about how her lovely branches were created. She used the sewing machine to stitch over strands of thread so the thread from the machine would lock and tighten around the strands, separating them out as she went for smaller branches. I've had a go at this technique myself but it was nowhere near as neat as how she has made it!! And it's so effective!! You can't tell in the photos but there is also some stitching on the leaf which has then been coated in something giving it a sheen across the whole leaf. 

There are just really clever techniques in these cards, and some fantastic spider web creations! The fence posts above look like they've been made with strips of pulled hessian strands or jute string, stitched together into a block and the wires between the posts made using a glittery tinsel yarn. The lace piece with the big stitched snowflake has been further stitched over using metallic thread which blends it beautifully with the background and adds another lovely texture. And that ombre blush with the little house card is beautiful with those fantastic stitched snowflakes falling through it. 

I like the use of chain stitch for a spider web, it makes me wonder what tiny embroideries made by spiders would look like - I suppose their webs kind of are embroideries! Wouldn't it be great though if different spiders used different shaped 'stitches' for their webs?

Sandra's piece is also very clever with the wrapped threads for the branches. She's cut into the card itself to secure these and presumably hide any rough ends (another piece of card is glued to the back), then stitched her webs into the card and added a sheer fabric over the leaves to make them more frosty looking. 

I learn new things every time a collection comes in, it's so inspirational to be the host of such a swap and hope the other ladies find it the same way. 

Starting Layers

I thought I'd quickly chat about how I start my ATC designs for anyone who might want a little advice on it. Personally I tend to start all of my cards in the same way. I have a little think about the theme, possibly a quick Google or Pinterest to make sure the ideas in my head would work and get some inspiration on composition or colouring, or confirm shapes, and then I pull out a large handful of fabrics from my stash that might fit with the theme. 

I have been enjoying making little motifs with felt and, although several of the themes imply a large scene, I prefer to zoom in on one aspect and kind of focus on it. In this case, for Snowdrop Carpet, I wanted one or two big Snowdrops at the forefront and felt would be the perfect material to use for this as it doesn't fray, is easy to stitch, provides coverage from fabrics underneath and is another texture to add in. You can also use it to add little padded sections.

I don't tend to sketch ideas first, or do any planning, but because I make multiple cards in case something goes wrong with the swap and we need an extra couple to send out, I will sometimes need templates. For the Snowdrops I have drawn around the ATC backing card for the size, then drawn my main motif onto that so that I can create templates for the pieces to be cut out. Initially my drawing had two Snowdrops on each card but in practice, after cutting out, one flower was better. 

The design might change as I'm stitching and looking at the cards, thinking about what I might add next so you'll see that later on I've decided to add additional stems as the single stem was just too lonely and it needed something else at the front to balance the composition. 

I've just started the next set of cards for the Morning Chorus theme and I know that I want to include a Blackbird in it as I've been working really hard to create a balcony garden in our new home (which was completely barren and boring) with pots of primroses, ivy, daffodils, hyacinths, rosemary, lavender, mint, hydrangea....not everything is up and at 'em yet and some of them might be a slow burner as it's windy and cold on our balcony (actually a posh fire escape we use as our front door), but there is enough to look nice for this time of year. For Christmas I asked for bird feeders to add which I have securely cable tied to the railings and the first bird we got to visit was a Blackbird! Who now comes every day with his missus to see what Little F and I have put out as an offering. We do also get a lot of Jackdaws so can't put too much food out at a time, but we are trying to expand our bird range and have little seed feeders too. In the spring I'll try putting up a trellis with a climbing plant to provide more cover to help attract the little birds. 

But I digress, sorry - I'm very excited about getting birds in my 'garden'! 

At the Ardingly Quilt show I collected some fabrics that I thought would go beautifully with the Morning Chorus theme, a little bit like the colours you get in the Pride & Prejudice film with Keira Knightly, you know the scene I mean, purples and greys with a touch of glowing orange. 

These backing fabrics tend to just be roughly wiggle cut to fit four different ones over the space of the card. Unless I need a specific shape for mountains etc, they usually just provide a pretty backdrop, much like a colour wash at the back of a watercolour painting. Each one will be different due to the part of wiggle that they get, or the difference in the pattern. 

I've shown before that on the back of the hoop I draw around the card backing so I know the space I'm working with. Once I've chosen my fabrics and they are cut ready to go, I layer these up on the front and hold them in place with my fingers whilst I make large tacking stitches around this outline so that on the front I can see the size of the card due to the rectangular stitched shape. It's a bit of hoop flicking to check front and back at once but worth it afterwards.

I think for the rest of the card I will do an upright log out of felt in a dark colour and then try to make the Blackbird mostly out of fabric as I have a really pretty one with little speckles on it (that's probably more like a Starling but never mind!). 

I tried a couple of compositions for the bird as you'll have seen above but decided I preferred the right one as it is slightly larger pieces of fabric needed for the shape which is less fiddly and therefore likely to fray less. 

I just have to figure out how I'm going to do the feet! And actually get cracking on proper stitching. 

Working in Grey

I don't think I've previously mentioned on this blog that I've been working on a new kit? The idea for it probably came over a year ago, the fabrics have been sitting waiting for their moment for nearly a year, and this actual hoop was started a couple of months ago! Everything seems to run in slow motion at the moment! 

I have been determined to crack on with it but unfortunately it's not really a kit you can work on in the evening when the light is dim, unless you have already picked out your colours and it's just a case of stitching. The different greys are so difficult to judge when there is dull or artificial lighting, even when using my day-glo lamp! So I've been mostly working on it during the day when I have the odd moment. 

On Tuesday The Mother kindly offered to look after Little F for me whilst I sat and stitched pretty much all day (utter bliss!) so I came on leaps and bounds! Everything is noted down in a little pad I have, the quantity of threads I'm using (cut at 60cm at a time), what stitches, the thickness of the thread, how many twists around the needle for any knots, any tips or tricks that pop into my head whilst I'm stitching. 

I could go really overboard with the number of thread shades I use in this, there are just so many greys! I have had to restrict myself a little bit, especially as I have been considering using a pop of colour somewhere to lift it. With kit designs I have to be more restrained because the more I add the more it will end up costing and the less people will actually buy it because it's expensive. 

The sheep are the most time consuming layer with all of those knots and the seed stitches (which are actually in two shades of grey, can you tell? It's hard to see the difference with only one strand.). I have tried to keep the other layers fairly simple, and they'll also change depending on the pattern placement you get in each kit. So for the layer above the sheep you go around the dark leafy swirls and work running stitch between the sections, with a whip stitch perpendicular to those stitches - this is still a little more involved, especially with the two colour bullion knots edging this layer, but after that it gets a bit simpler....maybe? Single strand back stitch around the big shapes of the batik layer and couching down a deconstructed strand of Stylecraft Bambino DK yarn (a slightly odd choice I'll admit but I've made a lot of blankets for new babies in the last year and I had a lot of the misty grey left!!). 

Above that it's just french knots to edge the fabric, using 5 twist, 3 twist and 1 twist knots to trail down into the layer as you like, and the top layer is just a single strand of blanket stitch at the top with a decorative running stitch at the bottom. 

It's all about the journey - each layer is a journey and has its own uniqueness to it. You can't rush this project and, if you were to buy it when I've finished, it will force you to slow down and just stitch and breathe. That's what I love about hand embroidery, you have to take time to yourself - if you rush it you will just end up in a pickle with your knots so don't bother rushing and enjoy the ride!

Which brings me back to my pop-of-colour-bullion-knot-flower-dilemma. I was initially going to do the knots in a metallic silver thread but, when I thought about it, that is not at all beginner friendly. Sometimes it's not even me friendly and I've done a few bullions in my time!! So metallic thread was a no (although I may add some little clear beads to the bottom of the reeds to get a glitter to match the sparkle in one of the fabric layers) and I wasn't sure that I wanted the entire thing to be grey, I have done completely grey pieces before and they are ok but they can get a little lost sometimes. 

I thought yellow would work well as a contrast, it's a well known colour combo (my sofa for one with mustard throw cushions on a dark grey sofa), but what yellow is the question? I had two I could try, a pale one and a brighter one. The pale looks too washed out and the bright one is possibly too much of a contrast and too bright?

So I opened it up to social media with the below photo and the overwhelming response was the brighter yellow, with a few saying keep it grey and a between number saying the pale yellow. Then there were the few who said to combine them! Which, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of the colour appearing at you out of the mist. I might cut off a few knots and try the bright yellow right at the bottom of the piece, with a mix of pale yellow and pale grey in the reeds behind? It's something I'll need to have a play with as I could also just mix the colours throughout. But then do I need to balance the colour elsewhere? Tiny little yellow knot daisies in the field somewhere? This is where I can get carried away.... Watch this space!!