You say, "Sure."
He says, "It's orange."
See why I stay confused? So Happy Whatever Day It Is Where You Are!
I asked The EGE to keep me away from the computer this weekend--No Working. And it's been going really well, with lots of stitching. But--but!--he went for lattes. Shhhhhhh. No one's here to drag me away (the cats are asleep and couldn't care less as long as I'm not vacuuming. Like that's going to happen.)
So here's what that jacket is looking like. Man, there's a lot of mending to do--I had no idea. I *think* I would have still bought it if I'd realized the extent of the shreddedness of some of these silk patches, but I'm not so sure. The good news is that I'm making good progress. Plus learning, slowly, slowly, how to work with little pieces of silk. Slimy little buggers. Hint: buy extra pins. Use them all.
So here're some photos. Before:
What I'm doing:
But maybe not. I get chicken that way because the book I have and love for stitches is, of course, for right-handed people, and so I have to translate, which I can do but which sometimes takes a little work. Like if I were going to do the Spanish Knotted Feather Stitch. That would take some major right-to-left translation.
Also Valium, I'm thinking.
(If you have A to Z of Embroidery Stitches, it's on page 68 & 69. Oh, my.)
Ooops! The EGE's home! I'm gone--
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11 comments:
Whew! ALMOST busted :)
(hey)Jude ...who absolutely loves this jacket!
So you are hand-stitching down the patches, then going to embroider over them as well? I like doing that kind of work. It is a good project.
We don't actually celebrate the 4th of July in Australia. We do celebrate the Queen's Birthday though, which I have yet to get my head around.
Hi fellow lefty! I am so glad to know there are others out there like me, who have always had trouble learning how to sew b/c either the people who tried to teach me were right-handed, or the manuals I consulted were written by righties for righties!
My junior high home ec teacher could never figure out why I kept getting my sleeve caught in the sewing machine, or why I kept sticking myself with the needles...maybe this had something to do with it?
Hey! Maybe that's why I stab myself with the needle so often! You think? I think I'm going to claim that as my excuse. It sounds SO much better than saying that I'm clumsy~~ XO
Are there instructions on the interwebs somewhere about doing fancy embroidery stitches left handed? I'd google it and check it out. Good luck. I did a similar project on a pillow a couple years ago, but just with machine stitched patches.
The new patches look great. Rhinestones are up on my blog today, just for you!
Darla
That's going to be a beautiful jacket.
My grandmother, who was a professional seamstress, used to make incredible quilts of velveteen, velvet, and heavy flannel. She used embroidery stitches like the stitches you're using (isn't one called the "feather" stitch?). Those quilts were like abstract pieces of art, and one hung on my office wall for years. Unfortunately, it was a casualty of my divorce. I still long for it...
Sure you celebrate the 4th of July--it's the day that comes after the 3rd, and every day is a celebration, right? That's why I deliberately didn't say "Independence Day." I'm not a celebrator of occasions--except Halloween, and that's because I love roasting pumpkin seeds. Or, well, the IDEA of roasting them. Actually getting them out of the pumpkin and cleaning them is kind of icky, but nevertheless.
Maggie, is there any way you could create one that reminds you of the one you lost? Not identical, but one that evokes the spirit of your grandmother's quilt? I think it would be a soothing process, piecing and stitching. I haven't done any embroidery stitching on this one yet--those are the stitches that were already on here. But I do have my book out and sitting on my desk, and I've been looking through it trying to work up my courage--some of those stitches are INSANE. Many, many steps for some of them. Yiiiiii.
there's a couple left-hander books listed here:
www.amazon.com/Handed-Embroiderers-Companion-Yvette-Stanton/dp/0975767739
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