Tag Archives: hand applique

The First Leaf and First Light Framed

Posted on by under Announcements, applique, nuno felting

The framers have completed framing on two of my recent pieces. These will be going to 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula and should be available after February 14th.

Framed textile artwork depicting birch trees in autumn.
The First Leaf – 14″ x 18.5″ – Framed – Available – $450.00

This one based on birch trees in autumn, is called The First Leaf. I love the texture of the nuno felt against the smoothness of the birch trunks. The birch trunks are made from silk paper.

Framed textile artwork depicting trees at dawn with light coming from behind.
First Light – 13″ x 19″ – Framed – Available – $450.00

First Light is all about how the morning sun reacts in the forest. The color palette was an interesting change for me but I enjoyed the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Flowers Inspired by Rebecca Crompton

Posted on by under applique, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch, nuno felting

One of our assignments for Level 3 Stitch was to create a piece inspired by Rebecca Crompton. She was an embroidery teacher in Great Britain in the early 20th century. You can read more about her on the V&A site and see some of her work.

Nuno Felted sample with grey wool and red/green silk in woven pattern

As I was thinking about what to create, I came across this old sample of nuno felting in my stash. I was thinking of gardens and flowers (Rebecca Crompton has several garden themed pieces.) I thought this would work for a background piece.

Nuno Felt stitched with Kantha stitch in hand dyed wool lace weight threads.

I decided to add some base stitching. I used hand dyed lace weight wool thread with running stitch.

Applique fabric pieces applied to stitched surface of nuno felt.

The next step was finding different fabric for the flower elements. I cut out various flower shapes and tried them out in a variety of places on the background. I wanted the colors to move throughout the piece but for it to all feel cohesive. Now to stitch them in place. I could have fused them down but I don’t like the way fusing flattens everything. I prefer raw edges, a bit of fraying and texture.

Completed piece of nuno felt, stitching and hand stitched applique

Here is the final result. I added a few French knots and couched down a bit of yarn for the branch at the top left. This isn’t my usual style but I enjoy the movement and liveliness of the piece.

Updated Appliqued Portrait

Posted on by under hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

Now that my Level 3 Stitch class is finished, the exhibitions – in person and online – completed, I am going to show my work from the class.

The last time I showed this portrait, she looked like this. I was very unhappy with the angle of the mouth and she just didn’t look right. So what to do. I made this in 2020, so the obvious answer…

Add a mask! That takes away the bad mouth and definitely relates to how I felt about the pandemic. So here’s “Covid Girl”. I guess the moral to the story is, never give up. There is always a solution!

Applique Stump Rings

Posted on by under applique, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I am back from my Level 3 Stitch class. The class was great although the return trip was a bit of a struggle due to weather. We sat for two hours on one of the passes due to snow and crazy drivers. But we made it safe and sound.

I started this applique piece in class. It’s based on shapes and rings from stump photos. I have a bunch of those types of photos and this isn’t really one stump, it’s a combination of several. This has been basted down but I haven’t started stitching yet. I have to work out where I want the lines of stitching to go, what color and size of threads to use and what hand stitches to use. Lots of decisions yet before I jump in and start stitching. Hopefully, by next week, I will have made some progress.

Have a great weekend!

Making Slow Progress

Posted on by under Felt, hand stitching, mixed media

I have still been stitching away on the felt applique hand stitch project.

Here is where I was last week.

Now I have appliqued down all the felt pieces and all I have left is to couch down the dark maroon yarn. I am going to use a thin thread in the same color to do this as I don’t think I need to add much more “detail” in the thicker, brighter color threads. I don’t want it to feel too chaotic.

Here’s a close up. I used a variety of stitches to applique down the smaller felt centers of flowers. Once I finish the couching, I will need to decide how I am going to finish this. The felt background is pretty soft so I think I need to stretch it around a board or canvas. I do think a nice border might be nice but I’m not sure how I would stitch that on without it ending up really irregular and wavy.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.