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Okay so this is the stuff that is making me lose my absolute shit. I'm telling the story in the order I figured it out, so that you can experience the developing levels of HOLY SHIT.
So first off, there's this foot stool:
I was told it was A Character from the Canterbury Tales that my grandmother needlepointed. Which, neat I'll like that,so I put it in the "For Emily" pile.
In between here, someone else put the Work Box in my pile as well.
Weeks later (aka today) I'm poking around in the sewing closet (this house has so much stuff impressively crammed in crevices). I see a box. I have learned at this point that my Grams kept the coolest shit in boxes and I should definitely open the box. I pull out the box and I find this:
Fully drawn out and colored needle point canvases for more Chaucer characters in PRISTINE condition. But crucially, not started. Complete with the sizing up drawings. This tells me there are original small drafts somewhere. I also learn that my Great Grandfather REALLY liked Chaucer and was a good artist.
The coolness of the stool is Starting to Come into Perspective.
I bring the box and canvases home with me. OBVIOUSLY. And the rest of the Me Pile too.
I get home and start opening the hat box, only to find this:
So I have the original letter, the original draft art from my great gramps, the intermediate draft art also done by him, the canvases and a single finished piece by my grandmother.
4 generations in one project now including me.
I am losing my ever loving mind.
1. I am glad y'all appreciate this as much as I do 😭😍😢
2. For those of you that asked, I have absolute PILE of Appleton's tapestry wool on the way because Yes I Am Going To Finish this.
3. I don't normally work on canvas like this. Do I...hoop it? Slate frame it? A secret third thing I haven't thought of?
According to my Royal school of Needlework book, a slate frame (or potentially roller bars) is recommended for canvas work. This stuff doesn't do too well with being hooped, the creases a hoop cause are very hard to remove and the weave can warp.
Two pages from the book I got, I think this excerpt is small enough to be fine ethically to share, but still very helpful and informative.
Link to the book:
Link to the canvas work section of the RSN stitchbank:
https://rsnstitchbank.org/technique/canvaswork
I do recommend seeing if you can get a small extra piece of canvas to practise and sample some stitches on. Most stitches are not hard, but it can be hard to gauge the actual effect a stitch will have in a particular colour and thread.
Good luck with the project! I hope you will share your progress with us ๐
Ooooh thank youu. I ordered the book and a canvas stitch sampler kit they have so I can practice first. We're doing this RIGHT damn it.
The book is not just canvaswork, maybe I should have been clearer about that. I think they have a book just about canvaswork as well, but this one covers a variety of embroidery methods. From memory (because I am too lazy comfy right now to get up from the couch) it covers blackwork, canvaswork, goldwork, white work, crewel embroidery, silk shading and stumpwork. It gives a solid introduction on each, plenty to start learning and make some good work, but they have separate books that go even more in depth on one of these styles, including the history and stuff. For me, since I have trouble sticking to one style anyways, the variety is amazing.
Doing a sampler is a fun way to practice, I did a sampler-style piece as well, I'll add a picture below. I haven't gone back to canvaswork since, but I will probably circle around to it again at some point.
Mother of pearl, 4x6 inches without the frame, stitched in white silk thread. Not stitched on traditional canvaswork canvas, but on a more generic slightly finer loosely woven stiffened linen evenweave with 10 threads per cm.
Oh yes! I knew it was about everything not just canvas. I do enough other embroidery that that made it worth it anyway
Good! Enjoy the book, it is really interesting. The Royal school of Needlework does have a very high standard for what they consider 'good', they are basically all about technical perfection in addition to interesting designs, so sometimes when reading the book you need to be like 'yeah, I am not trying to pass an exam, I just want to make something beautiful and have fun, let's tone the expected perfectionism down a little', but that is okay.
My tapestry wool order just shipped and I'm having a fun time imagining the look on the HM Nabavian persons face when that order came up
never ask a woman her age a man his salary your mutual how late it is in her timezone when she starts posting about that bisexual man
can people stop saying insane things on this post
