New sewing & blackwork project
I realized I need a new smock. Specifically I need a new smock that will have blackwork on it, since my old blackwork shirt is old, sad looking, and was not good embroidery to begin with (it was my first attempt at blackwork using waste cloth). It will be a high-necked Elizabethan smock, to go with my MAAS kirtle & Gown. So the blackwork must be interesting since the gown front is partly opened. But I do not want to do an all-over completely covered smock. I just want collar, cuffs, and the opening slit covered in embroidery (and maybe eventually some narrow bobbin lace).
But there is a snag, I need the smock by next weekend - yes, I'm rather late on this, but I just couldn't get myself to start work on it until today. So I will be making one smock by machine, a trial run for the fit and all that, and later will do another by hand (if I feel so crazy). Meanwhile, I can work on the blackwork embroidery as I have time between other projects. If nothing else I can sew it onto the machine sewn smock by hand.
And since one thing I'm not fond of, is working out the shapes of embroidery patterns, I decided to turn to a friend's site, and get one of her hand blackwork embroidery patterns. Liadain (bwliadain) has a web site called Practical Blackwork, since she loves blackwork embroidery and creates a lot with it (all by hand). There she sells a variety of hand embroidered blackwork patterns. She has a few in her Spanissheworke section that I thought would work nicely. Katherina and Little Kate are cute and I like pomegranates, Cinquefoil was tempting as it is a rose, but I finally decided that I really liked Murano (#SPN13) the most. I must have a thing for the more complicated designs, but I wanted a fat shirt front design and it just calls to me, even tho it is an Italian design.
She offers them as printed designs mailed via snail mail to you, or you can get them as pdfs. She sent this to me as a pdf since I need to get some portion of it started before I get to MAAS next weekend to teach about embroidery. I printed the pattern onto card stock to help it last.
The pattern comes on two pages. I'd share an image of it to help explain, but it is copyrighted material and I won't infringe on that. She has on the front page a short description of the pattern, including what type of charts are available and their approximate design size both by stitches and by inches, as charted. There is a photo of a completed embroidery, like on her web site. Front page also includes the design set for a border - so you can do the square necked smocks and have the pattern turn the corner in a pleasing manner. There are also three different small motifs for something small, like maybe a scissors fob.
Page two at the top is a chart for front-opening shirts, smocks, etc, where there is a slit that has the design going down one side, across the bottom (placed on the right hand side in this chart), and back up the other side. The Murano chart has a slightly wider pattern for this. There are two charts for the bands for collar, cuffs, or stripes in the two sizes. And another small motif that is larger than the front ones.
It really is a nice little package of designs. I think all of her Spanissheworke designs are like this, with a square necked smock design, a slit-front design, cuff design(s), and various sized and shaped small motifs, designed to match.
There is only one aspect of the design I may change, and that is the little crosses in the center of the pathway. I may put in gold thread and change that area to a chain stitch to add in some gold thread to my creation. It is mostly because I am not fond of little crosses, as it reminds me of my cross-stitch days, and I'm just not up for that.
As to the smock pattern for the garment itself, I'm planning on using, but modifying Margo's Underpinnings pattern. I made the square necked smock using it, and there is a portion that isn't fitting me just right. I think I know how to adjust for my bosom, after having looked at Arnold's PoF4 and seen that the more fitted smocks have a curve out near the bosom.
So today, I've serged, washed and dried the yards of linen I hadn't touched since last year's Garment District tour. I've also sewn, washed, rinsed and pressed dry the 32 count Belgian evenweave linen I bought at Joann's tonight to do the embroidery on. I may starch it as well. This weekend I hope to sew as much of the new smock as I can, and get the embroidery started.
But there is a snag, I need the smock by next weekend - yes, I'm rather late on this, but I just couldn't get myself to start work on it until today. So I will be making one smock by machine, a trial run for the fit and all that, and later will do another by hand (if I feel so crazy). Meanwhile, I can work on the blackwork embroidery as I have time between other projects. If nothing else I can sew it onto the machine sewn smock by hand.
And since one thing I'm not fond of, is working out the shapes of embroidery patterns, I decided to turn to a friend's site, and get one of her hand blackwork embroidery patterns. Liadain (bwliadain) has a web site called Practical Blackwork, since she loves blackwork embroidery and creates a lot with it (all by hand). There she sells a variety of hand embroidered blackwork patterns. She has a few in her Spanissheworke section that I thought would work nicely. Katherina and Little Kate are cute and I like pomegranates, Cinquefoil was tempting as it is a rose, but I finally decided that I really liked Murano (#SPN13) the most. I must have a thing for the more complicated designs, but I wanted a fat shirt front design and it just calls to me, even tho it is an Italian design.
She offers them as printed designs mailed via snail mail to you, or you can get them as pdfs. She sent this to me as a pdf since I need to get some portion of it started before I get to MAAS next weekend to teach about embroidery. I printed the pattern onto card stock to help it last.
The pattern comes on two pages. I'd share an image of it to help explain, but it is copyrighted material and I won't infringe on that. She has on the front page a short description of the pattern, including what type of charts are available and their approximate design size both by stitches and by inches, as charted. There is a photo of a completed embroidery, like on her web site. Front page also includes the design set for a border - so you can do the square necked smocks and have the pattern turn the corner in a pleasing manner. There are also three different small motifs for something small, like maybe a scissors fob.
Page two at the top is a chart for front-opening shirts, smocks, etc, where there is a slit that has the design going down one side, across the bottom (placed on the right hand side in this chart), and back up the other side. The Murano chart has a slightly wider pattern for this. There are two charts for the bands for collar, cuffs, or stripes in the two sizes. And another small motif that is larger than the front ones.
It really is a nice little package of designs. I think all of her Spanissheworke designs are like this, with a square necked smock design, a slit-front design, cuff design(s), and various sized and shaped small motifs, designed to match.
There is only one aspect of the design I may change, and that is the little crosses in the center of the pathway. I may put in gold thread and change that area to a chain stitch to add in some gold thread to my creation. It is mostly because I am not fond of little crosses, as it reminds me of my cross-stitch days, and I'm just not up for that.
As to the smock pattern for the garment itself, I'm planning on using, but modifying Margo's Underpinnings pattern. I made the square necked smock using it, and there is a portion that isn't fitting me just right. I think I know how to adjust for my bosom, after having looked at Arnold's PoF4 and seen that the more fitted smocks have a curve out near the bosom.
So today, I've serged, washed and dried the yards of linen I hadn't touched since last year's Garment District tour. I've also sewn, washed, rinsed and pressed dry the 32 count Belgian evenweave linen I bought at Joann's tonight to do the embroidery on. I may starch it as well. This weekend I hope to sew as much of the new smock as I can, and get the embroidery started.