Session 8: Georgian Flower II: Goldwork and Finishing

In this session we are going to look at some goldwork stitches and techniques, as well as finishing off the itself. I will be showing you how to work with ‘Passing Thread’, which is an historical type of metallic thread which can be used for different stitches to give variety to your goldwork stitching.

Passing thread was the main goldwork thread available during the 18th century when designs like this one were popular. It differs from Jap in that it is more tightly wrapped around its core, so it can be used to sew THROUGH the fabric in a way which is very difficult with Jap thread. You can also use it for all the stitching you can do with Jap, so I tend to use it most of the time!

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR THIS SESSION:

• or small frame • Embroidery • Completed work from Session 7: Georgian Flower I: Shading and stems • Needles: o Crewel needle, size 9-10 o Crewel needle size 6-7 (big enough to take the Passing thread) o needle size 22 • DMC Embroidery 552, 726, 904, 906 • Passing or Tambour thread, either size 4 or size 6, about 1.5 m (1.75 yds) • Yellow sewing .

READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS THROUGH BEFORE YOU START YOUR EMBROIDERY.

SETTING UP YOUR FABRIC:

Place your embroidery in the hoop and make sure it is taut. If you prefer, use a small roller frame or similar. Now you are ready to start stitching!

WORKING THE EMBROIDERY:

Finishing the cotton embroidery:

All the stranded cotton embroidery is done with TWO strands of cotton in your needle. The stranded cotton embroidery is not shown in the masterclass, but it is the same as you did for the crewelwork project, just slightly smaller stitches.

1. Start with the bud. Using the light green stranded cotton, stitch the base of the bud in plain . Start in the centre and work to either side like you did with the bud on the crewelwork project.

2. Now take 2 strands of the medium purple thread and work the flower bud, again in plain satin stitch.

3. Small leaves: work these in Slanted Satin Stitch in the dark green stranded cotton. Start at the base of the leaf, near the stem, and keep your stitches parallel.

4. Flower Centre: Fill the centre of the main flower with French Knots, stitched with 2 strands of yellow cotton. All the cotton embroidery should now be finished! Now we are going to do some goldwork stitching.

Courtesy of Alison Larkin for Immediate Live

WORKING THE GOLDWORK:

Some of the goldwork is , which you did in project 1 (Cornucopia) with the silver threads. However, we are going to try some older style stitching as well.

1. We will start with the knot of the posy, which is stitched in Interlaced Knot Stitch. It might help to try this stitch out (slightly larger) in the corner of your fabric first, using some of the spare Coton Perle thread from the Hardanger project.

2. Select a length of passing thread about 30cm (12 ins) long, and your larger crewel needle. Thread up the passing thread. Tie a figure-of-8 knot in the end.

3. FOUNDATION STITCHES: Bring the passing thread through on the edge of the circle. Start by making sets of three lines as shown in the diagram (blue lines). Work each set-in turn, stitching over the previous set, and leaving spaces round the edge of the circle between each set of 3 threads. When you get to the last set of three, take your needle behind the first set before you take it to the back of the fabric each time.

4. You should end up with a tiny ‘nought-and-crosses board’ shape, with the lines of three threads interlaced as shown in the diagram below.

5. Now take a fresh length of the passing thread, about 24-30 cm (10-12 in) long, and again make a figure-8 knot in the end. Bring your thread up underneath one set of three stitches, near the crossing of the 2 sets. Make sure you come up where the set goes UNDER the crossing set (see the masterclass again if you are not sure). At this stage you might find it easier to change to a tapestry needle.

6. Take the passing thread round the outside of the knot, working over and under each set of 3 stitches in turn. Don’t go through the fabric, just under the stitches. If you look at the diagram and the masterclass, you will see that the whole knot is interlaced over and under in turn.

7. Work around the knot 3 times, keeping the passing threads running parallel. The knot will gradually pull into the middle as you stitch. You can see the completed Interlaced knot stitch in the close-up image below.

Courtesy of Alison Larkin for Immediate Live

Completed Interlace Knot Stitch

Ribbon Chains: These are stitched in Reverse . This is very similar to normal chain stitch, but you are working in reverse: it is better if you are stitching with metallic threads, as the threads don’t go through the fabric so much. This means the metallic cover of the thread is less likely to break and strip off.

1. Take a 30cm (12 in) length of the passing thread in your needle and tie a figure of 8 knot in the end. Bring the needle through close to the Interlaced Knot stitch, on the upper end of one chain end. Make a short (about 2mm or 1.8 in) along the line (shown as a red star in the diagram above).

2. Bring the needle back up about 5mm (scant ¼ in) along the marked line, then pass the needle under the straight stitch and back down next to where it came up. Now bring the needle up again another 4-5 mm along the line and pass the needle under both strands of the previous stitch, then back down again to form a new chain loop.

3. Continue like this, following the line, until you are at the end of the line. For the last stitch, leave some space between the two ends of the stitch to make a forked end for the ribbon. Stitch the two chain loops and the other end of the ‘ribbon’ in the same way. For the loops, make the last stitch with the ends close together rather than separated.

4. Large Leaves: use yellow sewing thread to couch a double strand of the passing thread between the stem stitch lines on the large leaves. Take the ends of the passing thread through to the back using your large-eyed needle and stitch them down to the back of the embroidery using the sewing cotton.

Well done! You have finished project 4 of the masterclass, and you should now be getting used to stitching free embroidery with stranded cottons. I hope you have enjoyed this project.

Courtesy of Alison Larkin for Immediate Live

MARKING PATTERN:

STITCH DIAGRAMS:

*START WITH SHORT STRAIGHT STITCH

Courtesy of Alison Larkin for Immediate Live

COUCHING:

Courtesy of Alison Larkin for Immediate Live