Visiting the Embroidered Past

I am fascinated by Society Silk embroidery. Society Silk is the modern name for a style of embroidery that was popular at the end of the 19th century and lasted through the beginning of the 20th. It was known as Art Needlework in its day.

Society Silk designs typically consist of florals which can be incredibly realistic or very simplistic. There are other designs, but from what I've seen florals dominate. The finished pieces overall tend to be table linens.

Vintage Society Silk centrepieces

The Sampler is Finished

The crewel sampler is finished...at last! The final motif was a rose in the lower left hand corner.

The centre of the rose--the green buttonhole stitching--is not symmetrical. It is drawn that way. In fact, the entire piece has the feeling of being hand drawn. If I had thought about it I probably would have adjusted the centre a bit to make it more symmetrical, but it's fine as it is. I kind of like the fact that the design is a bit informal.

A Starter Bird

When it comes to thread painting it seems to me that most designs/kits are floral-oriented. I would venture a guess that the second most common theme is birds.

I have stitched a handful of birds over the years and I definitely have more planned for the future. I find that birds can be a bit more tricky to stitch than flowers, but once you embroider a few birds they become easier. I wouldn't, however, start with a bird as my first thread painting project, a simple flower is probably a better choice.

The first bird I stitched was Robin on Blossom Branch which is a kit of an American robin designed by Tanja Berlin. I had thought about starting with a bluebird by Trish Burr, but didn't think I was quite ready. I wanted a simpler bird.

Good Things Come in Threes

At last! I've made decent progress on the crewel sampler. I finished the last of the three large central motifs.

Slow Progress

I am slowly plugging away at the vintage Elsa Williams crewel sampler, emphasis on slow! I finished the largest of the motifs, the one in the centre.