Tag Archives: hand stitching

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.

Ponderosa Pine Applique

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

I have always loved the bark on the Ponderosa pines. It has great texture and the pieces that slough off look like puzzle pieces. Needless to say, I have a collection of those.

Here’s a photo of the Ponderosa pine bark. Not only great texture, but interesting colors and shapes.

Here’s a photo of the resulting applique I created based on bark. I used a felt background with inclusions to give more volume to the raised areas. I then added a variety of silk applique and stitched down with hand dyed wool thread in a variety of colors. I then machine stitched the background to flatten those areas and give the piece more depth.

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!

Online Exhibition/Meet the Artists

Posted on by under Announcements, exhibition, Level 3 Stitch

You are Invited to an Online Exhibition and 

Discussion with the Artists of the

Bachelor Buttons Level 3

Advanced Experimental Stitch Class

Join Tutors Gail Harker and Penny Peters at a free online venue 
Tuesday July 19– 10:30 am – 12:30 pm  PDT

Join us online  (no fee) to view our Level 3 Advance Stitch student’s exhibition of creative stitched artwork. It will truly have you dreaming of wonderful possibilities there are for people just like you.  

Each of our participating artists will have a chance to talk about their experience working through this coursework, in spite of pandemic conditions!  There will be time for questions and answers with the artists.  

The event will be starting at 10:30 am PDT (West Coast US Pacific Daylight Time) and run until 12:30 pm PDT. To convert to your time zone, go to: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.htm

Sign up here:

Click this link to go to the registration page.  

New Work to BACC

Posted on by under hand stitching, machine stitching, mixed media

I took a trip to Bigfork today to drop off some new work for the Christmas season.

I created three new smaller pieces (5″ x 7″) since those seem to sell quickly. This one is called Summer Dreams.

This one is Solitude.

And the last one is Autumn Dreams.

I also took this much larger one (18″ x 24″) called Overlook.

This water lily piece that is called Tranquility (12″ x 12″).

And this piece which is called The Trail of the Cedars (18.5″ x 15.25″).

Here’s a close up of the stitching.

So if you’re in the area and you’re looking for some great gifts, check out BACC in Bigfork, MT.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all staying safe and have a great holiday season!