Stitching Idyllic
Summer Flowers
Hand-stitch recognizable Summer Flowers
Introducing Silk Flower Conversion and Funtasy Flowers
Ann Bernard, 2014
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
http://Stitchingidyllic.blogspot.ca
Copyright 2014 Ann Bernard,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 9781456626655
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
St Clare of Assisi, the patron saint of embroiderers
and to the stitching communities
Thank you to Mary Corbet and Sharon Boggon for creating these communities
which give us all incentive, space and a voice.
ANN BERNARD'S STITCHING BIOGRAPHY
Ann learned to stitch at her grandmother's knee progressing to win, at the age of 10, an adult first prize at the Cartmel Fair in Cumbria, in the north of England. From that point she was hooked permanently. Ann attended the Royal School of Needlework in the 1950s and went on to become an Occupational Therapist before emigrating to Canada. In later years, she treated those in need of specialized rehabilitation. As a member of the Toronto Guild of Stitchery, Ann worked on the Toronto Historical Embroidery and is a member of the Embroiderers' Association of Canada (EAC). Since moving to Guelph, she has joined the Canadian Embroiders’ Guild, Guelph. Ann is married, has three children and a grandson.
She has taught classes in Traditional and Contemporary Crewel Work, Contemporary Goldwork and Creative Surface Stitchery. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and the United States and she has been a recipient of the EAC's Leonida Leatherdale Award. Her greatest thrill is when her students try new techniques and when they win awards for their efforts.
Although a well educated and experienced stitcher, she finds computers and digital cameras a challenge but tried to be more professional this time. Writing a book is another challenge. She has done her best to establish clarity in text, diagrams and photos. The stitches are basic and the techniques are designed to be within the abilities of beginner stitchers while more experienced stitchers will find the material a starting point to even more creativity. Guidance in creating a garden that is uniquely your own is included.
Stitching Spring Flowers was accepted beyond her expectations and this book on stitching Summer Flowers is not only an extension of the seasons but also a technical sequel. It introduces a new stitching concept with Silk Flower Conversion. This leads to Funtasy Flowers which is a concept that textile artists will enjoy.
Please respect copyright and purchase a new copy for a friend rather than copying or lending yours.
Thank you,
Ann Bernard
Introduction to Stitching Recognizable Summer Flowers
Spring Flowers proved to be a stitchable project. Summer flowers presented all sorts of problems for hand embroidery. Summer is a time of profusion in the garden, farm, fields, and forest. This profusion gives us the bountiful harvests on which human life depends. Bless it forever. Look around your garden or at some photographs. You will notice that almost every plant has dozens of stems or stalks, often many dozens of flowers and hundreds of leaves. Summer plants are dense, colourful and profuse. Browsing the books in my library, I noticed that stitchers usually choose to depict a spray from a plant, such as can be cut and brought into the house and placed in a vase. Or, the flower is stitched as a botanical specimen. The flower is depicted in accurate and beautiful stitching. Satin stitch, Thread Painting and Long and Short stitch are the most commonly used for this though other techniques such as Ribbon Embroidery and Stump work are also used. These 'flower selective' results are gorgeous but they do not indicate the profusion that exists out in the garden. Other creative stitchers have created swathes and layers of coloured fabric for a vista. These are gorgeous, the colour is usually wonderful but the identity of the flowers is questionable or indicated in the text. Yes, I love these vistas of gold and purple, umber and green but they are not what I have been trying to capture with my needle and thread. My stitching mind has been seeking to find out how to produce recognizable plants and flowers in the profusion of a garden.
Before moving on to solutions, let me tell you that after 16 attempts with different stitches just to find a generic way to indicate stalks and leaves has led to frustration, procrastination and minimal success.
The border plants such as Alyssum, Impatience, even Portulaca, were not too difficult but these are all foot level plants whereas a summer garden has mid-sized plants such as Shasta Daisies and a lot of really tall ones like Hollyhocks. The form of each one is so different that on finally deciding on a generic stitch for all the greenery, I found that it was only appropriate for a minimum of plants. Look at the leaf forms of Hollyhocks and of Lupins. They have little in common and each one needs individual consideration. Unless the botanical form of a plant is accurately portrayed and the form and colour of the flowers and leaves is also accurate, the eye will not identify the plant. They become, 'loverly pink flowers but I am not really sure what they are!' Another problem arose in that flowers such as Oriental Poppies have very large petals. Yes, these are an ideal subject for Long and Short stitch but in profusion in a garden, how does one portray them in an identifiable manner without undertaking Long and Short stitch using a microscope.
Necessity and frustration led the way and the result is Silk Flower Conversion. This technique is appropriate for flowers with large flat petals such as Clematis and Hibiscus. You will find this technique in the latter part of this book.
The first part of the text
