Creative
I’ve Discovered an Awesome Embroiderer on Instagram
/ Oct032018Once in a while I am truly inspired by another modern day embroiderer using traditional embroidery techniques, creating beautiful embroideries.
I discovered Eveline De Lange who lives in Holland whilst perusing Instagram. She stitches the most beautiful and unique pendant landscapes and portraits. She travels to different places for inspiration and to stitch what she sees. She uses a very fine thread, the stitches are tiny and the colour subtle.
I purchased the pendant below from her Etsy site AtelierVegvisir and after I purchased the pendant I received a lovely email from Eveline to let me know that the reason she started stitching the needle painting landscapes was that she had been inspired by seeing my needle painting designs on my website. She had found my website through Mary Corbet’s NeedleNTHread forum a very useful resource for hand embroidery.
Here are a few of her other landscape designs that she is selling right now on her Etsy site so if you would like something completely unique and beautifully stitched be sure to check out AtelierVegvisir
Her portraits are also very special, there are not many embroiderers who can stitch such beautiful faces.
Eveline makes her living through selling her embroidered art, maybe you would like to own one of these little gems AtelierVegvisir
Mary Corbets Cute Tiny Embroidery for Jewelry – Free Patterns
/ Sep212018I am a big fan of Mary Corbet’s NeedleNThread forum. She opens the world up to embroidery.
She has released some cute tiny embroidery for Jewelry patterns. This could be a way to get young people interested in stitching or something for the busy person to do when they have a spare minute in the day.
You can check out how she stitched them and free patterns on her forum, there is also a link for where to get the pendant and brooch kits to make your own jewelry, I think this would make great gifts for stocking stuffers or birthday gifts as little something special to go with gift cards and cash:
My Stitched Artwork is on Display at the Glenbow Museum
/ Oct082017I am very proud to announce that four of my stitched hand embroideries are on display at the Glenbow Museum in downtown Calgary from the 7th of October 2017 until the 13th of May 2018 in the Eye of the Needle Exhibition.
The exhibition features needlework from the past and present, traditional and contemporary.
One of the four designs that I have on show is the Blackwork Elephant. This piece took me a year to stitch, over 200 hours of designing and stitching and I am really proud of this piece as I believe it is a true piece of art in technical needlework.
The other three designs are my animal portraits in needle and thread. Each animal is stitched in a single strand of DMC embroidery cotton thread, blending a range of colours to create the realistic fur like effect. This technique of needlework requires hours of stitching experience to get beautiful results.
On Friday night I went to the exhibition opening with my husband Russ and we enjoyed looking around the different exhibitions and taking photos with me and my work. I feel proud to be among over needlework designers from the past and present.
I like to thank Mary-Beth Laviolette the curator for the Eye of the Needle exhibition for giving me this opportunity to display my work.
You can try your own hand at these embroideries as I have written very detailed instructions on how to stitch these pieces of art in needlework. My goal is to pass on my skills to keep these traditional, realistic hand embroidery techniques alive and active among stitchers today and in the future.
Jack Rabbit/Hare Needle Painting
Check out this Awesome Post on Stem Stitch VS Outline Stitch by Mary Corbet
/ Oct062017I often get asked in my surface embroidery classes such as needle painting what the difference between stem stitch and outline stitch is.
Stem stitch and outline stitch are the most commonly used stitches for lines on surface embroidery. They are worked in a similar method but can have different appearances depending on what thread you use. The main difference being the thickness of the line and the twist of the thread. As I mostly use just one single strand of fine DMC embroidery cotton thread in my designs it is not very noticeable to see the difference so I am not concerned if a stem stitch or an outline stitch is used but it is good to know if you are working on larger designs and using a heavy thread such as perle cotton.
Mary Corbet of NeedlenThread forum wrote this excellent article on stem stitch versus outline stitch which is well worth reading. There are also video instructions on how to work stem stitch and outline stitch if you are not familiar with the stitches.
Enjoy it is a great visual learning experience.
Needle Painting Class in Saskatoon, SK
/ Oct022017I had a very fun time this weekend teaching a needle painting class to a lovely group of enthusiastic stitchers at the Bridge City Needlearts Embroiderers Guild in Saskatoon SK.
Five ladies worked on the Red Fox embroidery and 6 ladies worked on the Clear Purple Pansy embroidery.
Everyone did really well with this challenging technique and some were absolute beginners.
Eileen worked on the Red Fox, this was her first time taking a class in needle painting, her passion is canvas work but wanted to try something different due to having a painful wrist from stitching with heavy threads on stiff canvas. She did very well, surface embroidery comes naturally to her and I hope it will be her new or alternative enjoyment in hand embroidery.
Pat was my host whilst I stayed in Saskatoon, she is so much fun and I am so happy to have stayed with Pat. Pat was also born in the united Kingdom and we have lots to chat about. Pat loves surface embroidery and has stitched embroideries by many different surface embroidery designers and is a very accomplished stitcher.
Susan only just joined the embroiderers guild to take my class and wow she amazed me at her speed and accuracy and almost finished the pansy in the two days class. This is very impressive as I would have a hard time in a classroom setting to complete the pansy in two days. She is also a beautiful stitcher.
Susan’s Clear Purple Pansy embroidery.
I hope that all the Saskatoon ladies continue with the needle painting technique and keep it alive.
If you live in or near Saskatoon and would like to explore the world of hand embroidery, the friendly ladies of the Bridge City Needlearts Embroiderers Guild would love for you to come and join them.
Tanja Berlin
Me with the samples 🙂
