Laurel Gown Goldwork Process
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2014/05/laurel-gown-goldwork-process/)
Yes, I’ve been quiet, but I’ve also been slowly plugging away on a few projects. I now have time to update and share what I’ve been doing on two of them.
First up is progress on my Laurel gown that I am continuing to work on, even tho the main occasion occurred last fall. I still want to finish and eventually wear the fully realized embroidered gown, I hope by Costume College. But it may not be finished until 12th Night at the slow pace I’m going. Either way, it will get done.
I posted a photo of my last panel on FB, which I will share here as well. I know, I forgot to add in a ruler for scale, but roughly the lacing on one side is spaced about an inch apart.
1st bias panel for curved edge is complete.
When I posted this image, it brought up a variety of questions that I’ve attempted to answer, but really I do need to share more of the process in photos, so this blog post hopefully will cover that.
I did set up the slate frame with the silk organza, as I mentioned in this post. Also mentioned in that post was that I marked a guideline and traced my pattern directly onto the silk. But I forgot to mention what that looked like, or what I used. So this next photo has a little more details on that aspect, although the pattern is from the design I put onto the front of my gown bodice, not the simpler pattern I’m now working on.
Marvy white gel pen and yellow Clover pencil marks the pattern.
The above main motif is drawn onto the black silk organza. I marked the main motif with a Marvy white gel pen (archival safe) and Clover yellow fabric pencil. On the current project, I only used the white gel pen. These gel pens can be found at office stores, or the local craft store in the scrapbook section as they are used to decorate paper. But they do a darn fine job of marking the silk organza as well. I do put the pattern under the fabric to follow, but that is not shown in this photo.
With the pattern drawn directly to the fabric, and all the fabric on the slate frame properly, I put the frame into its floor stand holder. Then the fun, if sometimes long and tedious part of couching all the cord into place. For the gold cord twist, I bought 2 rolls of May Arts 1mm Wide Metallic Gold Cord
, which was quite cheap (I do prefer quality trims, but could not justify the cost of far more costly embroidery twist for the garment and the hundreds of yards I knew I would need). This image shows part of the beginning section.
Beginning stage of couching gold twist
The pattern remember is on the bias, so in this case I’m starting at the bottom left corner. I have one strand of the gold twist going along the first path of my pattern. The bit of tape is holding the twist so it doesn’t unravel until I’m ready to remove it. If you click on the image and look at the closer view, you can see that the beginning area has been couched closely for a short bit. This will hold the embroidery in place. The back is NOT plunged, as when I did a sample piece and did that, it distorted the fabric, was hard to tame on the back where it wouldn’t be visible, and caused a lump when the edge was folded under. This way it is clean and neat, even if it is a little visible. Once the whole thing is put into place, with each section butted to the next, it will be hard to see at any distance.
I do not pin my cord into place. I don’t glue it or anything, I just let the threads hold the cord in place as I stitch. I keep one hand under the frame, and one hand above to work the couching stitches. The cord is not placed on any sort of holder, except the spool it came on. My friends rigged up a chopstick system where the chopstick is in one of my holes in the frame. It is wrapped at one end with some duct tape to thicken it so it won’t fall through the hole. The spool is placed on the chopstick holder and allowed to unroll cord as I need it. I do the work in a near vertical position while sitting on my couch or chair, which is why you can see my knees in the above photo. The couching is done with golden yellow silk Gutterman sewing thread (CA02776) that I purchased at my local Joann’s store (a fabric and craft store for those who don’t know).
Progress showing 2 cords being couched into place.
In this next photo, I have completed two motifs with the first cord, and started using my second cord, following the second trail. I do not interlace them, meaning they do not go over and under the other cord. That would have been too difficult to do. The second cord is simply couched into place on top of the other cord at the intersections. My stitches are from 1/4″ to 3/8″ apart, depending on distance between intersections. I make sure to couch diagonally across each intersection to hold the cords together.
You can see that the beginning area has been trimmed. I have one cord slightly shorter than the other cord, both wrapped carefully for about 1/4″ at the beginning. If you click the image above you should be able to see the wraps. I will finish the same way.
You can also see in the closeup that I start or end the couching threads from the top, starting with a waste knot from the front, then taking 3-4 tiny back stitches along an empty pattern trail to hold the thread before cutting the knot off (which I do when I’m about to go over the area with another cord). This way the couching stitches are not visible, as they are under the cord. I do the same tiny back stitches when near the end of the couching thread. I will end the complete pattern with the last bit of couching thread by running them under the stitches on the backside, as I no longer have an area to hide them with back stitches. But that’s usually the only time I flip my frame, at the end of each section.
One motif repeat is finished.
This photo shows the end of one repeating motif section. Both starting and ending sections have been carefully wrapped and the cords are trimmed. When all is complete, I add in freshwater pearls and a single garnet to the center of the square shaped motifs, as you can see in the first photo above. Before I remove the fabric from the frame, I will finish the backside by applying a bit of fabric glue to seal the couching threads. The Japanese do this with a starch paste, but the fabric glue is pH neutral and acid free, and isn’t likely to attract insects. Then it will be on to the next frame full of fabric, for the next panel. I will take more photos of the process as I can, hopefully with detailed shots from my good camera as I hope to upgrade my computer soon and won’t have to rely on my iPad for photos.
If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.
Embroidery, Goldwork, laurel_gown, photos
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2014/05/laurel-gown-goldwork-process/. Comments can be posted here or there.)
Yes, I’ve been quiet, but I’ve also been slowly plugging away on a few projects. I now have time to update and share what I’ve been doing on two of them.
First up is progress on my Laurel gown that I am continuing to work on, even tho the main occasion occurred last fall. I still want to finish and eventually wear the fully realized embroidered gown, I hope by Costume College. But it may not be finished until 12th Night at the slow pace I’m going. Either way, it will get done.
I posted a photo of my last panel on FB, which I will share here as well. I know, I forgot to add in a ruler for scale, but roughly the lacing on one side is spaced about an inch apart.
1st bias panel for curved edge is complete.
When I posted this image, it brought up a variety of questions that I’ve attempted to answer, but really I do need to share more of the process in photos, so this blog post hopefully will cover that.
I did set up the slate frame with the silk organza, as I mentioned in this post. Also mentioned in that post was that I marked a guideline and traced my pattern directly onto the silk. But I forgot to mention what that looked like, or what I used. So this next photo has a little more details on that aspect, although the pattern is from the design I put onto the front of my gown bodice, not the simpler pattern I’m now working on.
Marvy white gel pen and yellow Clover pencil marks the pattern.
The above main motif is drawn onto the black silk organza. I marked the main motif with a Marvy white gel pen (archival safe) and Clover yellow fabric pencil. On the current project, I only used the white gel pen. These gel pens can be found at office stores, or the local craft store in the scrapbook section as they are used to decorate paper. But they do a darn fine job of marking the silk organza as well. I do put the pattern under the fabric to follow, but that is not shown in this photo.
With the pattern drawn directly to the fabric, and all the fabric on the slate frame properly, I put the frame into its floor stand holder. Then the fun, if sometimes long and tedious part of couching all the cord into place. For the gold cord twist, I bought 2 rolls of May Arts 1mm Wide Metallic Gold Cord
, which was quite cheap (I do prefer quality trims, but could not justify the cost of far more costly embroidery twist for the garment and the hundreds of yards I knew I would need). This image shows part of the beginning section.
Beginning stage of couching gold twist
The pattern remember is on the bias, so in this case I’m starting at the bottom left corner. I have one strand of the gold twist going along the first path of my pattern. The bit of tape is holding the twist so it doesn’t unravel until I’m ready to remove it. If you click on the image and look at the closer view, you can see that the beginning area has been couched closely for a short bit. This will hold the embroidery in place. The back is NOT plunged, as when I did a sample piece and did that, it distorted the fabric, was hard to tame on the back where it wouldn’t be visible, and caused a lump when the edge was folded under. This way it is clean and neat, even if it is a little visible. Once the whole thing is put into place, with each section butted to the next, it will be hard to see at any distance.
I do not pin my cord into place. I don’t glue it or anything, I just let the threads hold the cord in place as I stitch. I keep one hand under the frame, and one hand above to work the couching stitches. The cord is not placed on any sort of holder, except the spool it came on. My friends rigged up a chopstick system where the chopstick is in one of my holes in the frame. It is wrapped at one end with some duct tape to thicken it so it won’t fall through the hole. The spool is placed on the chopstick holder and allowed to unroll cord as I need it. I do the work in a near vertical position while sitting on my couch or chair, which is why you can see my knees in the above photo. The couching is done with golden yellow silk Gutterman sewing thread (CA02776) that I purchased at my local Joann’s store (a fabric and craft store for those who don’t know).
Progress showing 2 cords being couched into place.
In this next photo, I have completed two motifs with the first cord, and started using my second cord, following the second trail. I do not interlace them, meaning they do not go over and under the other cord. That would have been too difficult to do. The second cord is simply couched into place on top of the other cord at the intersections. My stitches are from 1/4″ to 3/8″ apart, depending on distance between intersections. I make sure to couch diagonally across each intersection to hold the cords together.
You can see that the beginning area has been trimmed. I have one cord slightly shorter than the other cord, both wrapped carefully for about 1/4″ at the beginning. If you click the image above you should be able to see the wraps. I will finish the same way.
You can also see in the closeup that I start or end the couching threads from the top, starting with a waste knot from the front, then taking 3-4 tiny back stitches along an empty pattern trail to hold the thread before cutting the knot off (which I do when I’m about to go over the area with another cord). This way the couching stitches are not visible, as they are under the cord. I do the same tiny back stitches when near the end of the couching thread. I will end the complete pattern with the last bit of couching thread by running them under the stitches on the backside, as I no longer have an area to hide them with back stitches. But that’s usually the only time I flip my frame, at the end of each section.
One motif repeat is finished.
This photo shows the end of one repeating motif section. Both starting and ending sections have been carefully wrapped and the cords are trimmed. When all is complete, I add in freshwater pearls and a single garnet to the center of the square shaped motifs, as you can see in the first photo above. Before I remove the fabric from the frame, I will finish the backside by applying a bit of fabric glue to seal the couching threads. The Japanese do this with a starch paste, but the fabric glue is pH neutral and acid free, and isn’t likely to attract insects. Then it will be on to the next frame full of fabric, for the next panel. I will take more photos of the process as I can, hopefully with detailed shots from my good camera as I hope to upgrade my computer soon and won’t have to rely on my iPad for photos.
If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.
Embroidery, Goldwork, laurel_gown, photos
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2014/05/laurel-gown-goldwork-process/. Comments can be posted here or there.)