TURKEY - Gobble, Gobble . . . It's Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery!

Happy Thanksgiving to all -- and a Happy Belated Thanksgiving to our Canadian neighbors!  This little turkey, one of my Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs,  is stitched entirely with our Z-twist rayon floss and mostly cast-on stitches. The fruits and veggies are also embroidered entirely, except for the "grapes", which are size 6/o seed beads.

In my design description, I wrote about what a wonderful centerpiece this would be for your Thanksgiving table.  And think how happy the turkey would be!

Do you like the background? You can do that to your fabric, too. Using a stencil brush would probably be easiest (there are soft paints prepared especially for fabrics), but I did this background before screen printing the turkey design (because the ink we use for our lines washes out). I pinned a paper doily to the fabric, thinned some light sienna color acrylic paint to almost thinner than water consistency. Next, I put it into a mister bottle, or an airbrush and sprayed the paint onto the fabric. When I unpinned the doily, I had the beautiful lace pattern.
      You can try this with any textured material (as in rubbings), or spray paint over lace, or you can use a fabric brush marker or crayon (look for fabric crayons) to sketch interesting backgrounds or leaves, stems, fine growth, etc., onto your fabric. If you are stitching a holiday design, look for some of the sparkly white/silver paints.

Happy Holidays to all!

Rosalie

Designing for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

From time to time, I'm writing notes about designing for Brazilian dimensional emroidery -- hand embroidery with Z-twist rayon threads in several weights and featuring motifs that are mainly floral. (Cats and armadillos and hedgehogs have, however, occasionally dropped by to visit one, two or ten of my Millefiori designs.)

But many of our stitchers enjoy creating flowers. It's very easy to make your own using the tools in Microsoft Word or Publisher - or any other graphics app.
This is the command for shapes from the Microsoft Word 2010 toolbar:

You can see that you have lots of choices to play with. These shapes can be combined, distorted, poked, prodded and stretched to give interesting results.
See:

That donut shape, when you open it in a Word document (or Publisher) has a little yellow diamond (not shown). The diamond in the second top image has been drug to the center of the circle. Adjusting this shape will give you a flower center in the diameter of your choice.

The second set of shapes, the 8-point star also has a little yellow diamond that can be moved to the center for a flower with eight dividing petals. (Other circle divisions are available, up to 32 or more (if you copy/paste/group). Usually 3, 5, 6 or 8 petals on one flower are enough to make most stitchers happy.

The star in MS Word 2010 also draws into a 5-part division. You can see it has been used to divide a circle into 5 parts. There's also a handy heart shape in these "Shapes" and many other designs.

Mostly it's just a matter of playing around with shapes to give you something new.

OK, now for the designing part. Remember those leaves I suggested you play with here? [Scroll down] Open a new Word document. Drop in one of the circles or stars, or a triangle. Add a leaf or three (uneven numbers are tastefully artistic, according to "peeps who are supposed to know these things").

Once you have circles and/or leaves positioned where you want them, sharpen a pencil and start drawing other pieces and parts to fill out your design. I'll usually start with the circles or triangles, print the page, and then start drawing to add ideas for the rest of the design. By the way, templates also work just as well as the Shapes in Word, and you can find them in a variety of sizes at your local office supply or art store.  ...and an eraser. Don't forget the eraser! 

Trace your pieces and parts onto fabric, thread your needle and you're ready to go!  Don't doubt yourself. You are already an artist if you are stitching Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Just draw lots of pictures, write notes in the margins. If you see a flower or a stitch technique that you like and want to include it, contact the designer to ask for permission and always give credit. (If you clicked that link, you'll see that it goes to my own email. I'm always happy to share the stitches and techniques that I've been lucky enough to develop.)

Be sure to write notes - the floss colors you use, amounts, and notes about the stitches. Have fun. Let me know if you have some designing questions and I'll write more.

And if you are still with me after this long-and-windy post, here's a flower in Brazilian dimensional embroidery to keep you entertained. It's one of the flowers I used in my ABCs for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery book (cover shown above). The stitch is the Barbed Bullion I first described in my book Take A Stitch.

Your turn now!

Rosalie

Cuthbert, and a Brazilian Dimensional Embroidered Peony

This is Cuthbert. My cat. At rest. As usual.

This is Cuthbert, aware that "someone" is disturbing his nap.

This is Cuthbert, delicately (he is a 15-plus-pound Norwegian Forest Cat) balanced on the very edge of the table.

This is Cuthbert, continuing his nap.

This is Cuthbert, pointing out the fact that he is "A Very Useful Cat" - multi-talented as a duster-helper.

And this is Cuthbert, trying to make sure I have all of the details of his biography exact, as I write this post:

And THIS is Cuthbert, from a while back, showing off his Total Magnificence, since he feels this story is all about him.

Thanks for stopping by to visit.

    

Oh, wait!  You were expecting flowers?  In Brazilian dimensional embroidery?

OK.

This is a Double Flowering Peony  from one of my Millefiori designs called "Drizzleberry Punch'. I designed the center dimensional drizzle/cast-on combination and have used the original technique on several other designs.

It was my interpretation of this double peony:

Rosalie

I Got Tired of Looking at the Cat . . .

So here's a picture of a Brazilian dimensional embroidered flower:

The hibiscus is from my book (Rosalie Wakefield) My LadyFlowers, and one of my favorite stitch combinations for petals that stand firmly off the fabric.

Rosalie

A Better Tail . . .

The tail of this kitty and the tail of the little mouse on the previous post were both stitched with Brazilian outline stitch (floss held below the line of stitching when you use Z-twist rayon floss). The stitches can "gap" away from the fabric, depending on which direction you stitch and which stitch you use.

Select the direction of stitch for the final effect that you prefer. Although this tail is outline stitched, I added a couple of extra stitches at the base. I also left just the slightest space between the kitty's paws and body to add definition. The entire cat is stitched with vertical satin stitch (except for the tail).

Draw a curved line on your doodle cloth and outline stitch, first from top to bottom and then from bottom to top to see the differences.  Repeat the curved lines and now stitch them with Brazilian stem stitch (floss held above the line of stitching with rayon Z-twist floss). Make notes on the fabric with your Micron Pigma pen and choose the effect you like when you stitch.

This design is a dogwood tree in which the cats have treed the dogs (I'll post a picture when I've finished stitching the design). It's another of my new Millefiori designs.

There's another kitty:

I added a bullion to pad this kitty's tail and then satin stitched over. I also padded the kitty's bun and am satin stitching over. The tail rests across a tree root and without the padding, it would look like it is actually slicing through the tree root.

Rosalie

I'm Having A Guilt Trip

...about the kink I stitched into the tail of this little mouse. I call it "The Eek Factor" because the little mouse is having a stare-down with an elephant in full bloom.
     It's one of my new Millefiori designs that I will have ready for everyone to stitch next spring.  The design is named "Toot".

I guess I could cut it out and smooth it.  I could probably move the little mousie eyeball to somewhere besides the back of its head, too.

Well, while I'm thinking about it, I will go on to stitch another of my new B.E. designs.  I just thought I'd write a note into this space in case anyone drops by.

New Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Flowers

Each year members of the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild, Inc. (BDEIG) stitch and assemble a beautiful art quilt. Tickets are sold and all proceeds are used to provide scholarships for our members. My contribution was a 6" design featuring lilacs and a gazebo (and of course, a kitten and some butterflies showed up as entertainment).  Here's a detail photo:

I've used this stitch technique on other of my Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs and also have the instructions in my book, An Artist's Garden. But I'll be teaching this little "Lilac Gazebo" design at our BDEIG Seminar next June. All classes will be posted at the website in January/February 2012.

And here's a sample swatch of the fabric each of the volunteer member/ stitchers received. This was great inspiration for choosing our colors and even for deciding what to design for the scholarship quilt project:

Here's the design I stitched for the quilt. I kept the sample attached to the embroidery to help me focus on color choices:

And now it's back to work in my Rose Garden. I'll post pictures as I finish. It's great fun to dream up these designs and I hope our B.E. stitchers enjoy playing with them.

Rosalie



Inspired yet? Designing for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

I'm going to try to embed this totally inspirational little vid that I saw here:
(If it doesn't work, click that blog link above and scroll down ... you'll be inspired.)

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

It's for those of us who love to stitch Brazilian dimensional embroidery, and would love to make our own designs, but don't quite know where to start.

Start by making notes when you stitch -- the colors you are using, the number of floss strands you use, any ideas you have that will make a flower or a stitch more interesting.

When you are chatting with a friend on the phone, keep a notebook and pencil handy.  Doodle.  Draw circles. Draw leaves.  Leaves are just curved lines. Start with the center leaf vein ... a nice, gentle sweeping curve.
Now add a fatter curving line on the top.
And another on the bottom.
    That would be a leaf. See:

I do my computer drawing with the tools in Word (Insert-Shapes-Curve), and I also like some of the circles and other shapes. Other apps can be used but I got used to drawing with Word tools. However, you can purchase a circle template at the office supply store and start your designing that way.

Designing all starts with Step 1:  Pick up a pencil.

I'm periodically making notes about design because one of my fellow Brazilian embroidery stitchers asked for tips to start designing. I'll tell you what I do, and if it helps someone else, I'm happy.

Rosalie

New Brazilian Embroidery Flower ... and A Second Opinion

I'm busy thinking up new flowers for a Brazilian dimensional embroidery design.

Sometimes I get a second opinion. Cuthbert thinks it's just fine.
Emmy could care less:

    Here's a teaser, but I won't say more. It's for one of my new Millefiori designs that I'll teach at our BDEIG 2012 Seminar next June.

Mmm. Doesn't it look like someone squirted a huge dollop of pink whipped cream on top of a pie?
    I'm not sure yet what I will plant for leaves. Stay tuned.

Rosalie

Some Blogs Are Total Inspiration!

Break Time! It was time to see if anyone else is roaming around the Internet. I came upon this absolutely delightful blog "be yourself, everyone else is taken". The name itself was enough to capture my attention, and the photography on this blog by a lady named Beth is just awesome, and her writing most interesting.

So, before I go back to stitching, I'll entertain you with a flower from my own garden.

This is an Asian Pear Tree in bloom a couple of years ago in my garden. Some enthusiastic gardening birdie planted it for me several years ago and I had no idea what it was until last year when it was loaded with golden brown apples.
      I didn't know what it was and thought, "How sick can I possibly get if I bite into one?" So I did. I knew right away that it was an Asian Pear or Chinese Pear - an apple loaded with enough water to drown a house plant. --and I had enough apples to be able to give them away to almost everyone I knew -- and a few I didn't.
      The tree is 15' tall this year, loaded with branches and leaves and ONE apple. Just ONE.

One, poor, lonely little apple that is growing larger each day. A friend of mine told me that because this spring was so wet here in Oregon the bees didn't do all the pollinating they were assigned to.
     But it's ONE apple, and I know it will be delicious in a few weeks. Yum.

Rosalie

A New Flower in Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

This is a sneak peek of my newest rose, Heirloom (truly a lavender rose).

I was playing around with a stitch I developed a while back called the Piggyback Cast-on. I first wrote about it in my book Take A Stitch, and have used it on several of my Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs.

This is a variation. I'm making a rose for a Rose Garden design I plan to release next summer, and also to teach at our BDEIG Seminar 2012.  So I'm giving you a preview.

I used a different method to finish the piggyback cast-on stitches and I added more cast-on stitches plus a bead (I like beads!) at the center.
          This is a lavender rose called "Heirloom". I have one growing in my rose garden here at my home, but somehow this one is much prettier.

Do you like it? I was very happy with the way it turned out.  And because I was just stitching a sample to see if the stitches worked, I didn't add any greenery - with floss.

Instead, I pulled out my trusty fabric markers (you remember these - they were on one of my blog pages for most of this summer), and drew some rose leaves.

And since I'm in a flowery mood, here's a photo I took of the Marco Polo Rose (yellow) growing in my garden:

...and my embroidery supervisor, Cuthbert:

...and Cuthbert, looking cute:

Thanks for stopping by!

Rosalie

The NEW Pistil Stitch - A Request and a Knot

And here's another picture of my New Pistil Stitch, a little balloon flower that I wrote about in the previous post.

I want to write about how I made that little bow, but first, I have a request in the interest of copyright courtesy and "where credit is due".

      I hope you'll use this stitch often if you like it, and if you would like to publish it anywhere else, on your web logs or online or on one of your own designs for resale, please give credit and let people know it's from Rosalie Wakefield at Millefiori.  Thanks!

That little bow and the streamers are just knots that you make in your strand of floss. We've all done them, accidentally or on purpose, and discover that a knot which suddenly appears in your embroidery thread stops dead, cold, at the fabric.  What a perfect opportunity to turn it into a stitch!!
       It's how I thought up the Knotted Turkey Stitch (lots of little knotted loops side by side -- perfect with Cire or Nova, lightly twisted floss weights that unwind to straight fibers and beautiful turkey work).

So, to use the Knotted Loop Stitch for half of the bow, bring your threaded needle up and tie a knot about 1" to 1-1/2" above the fabric. Go down and out right next to this spot and - OOPS! - knot stops on top of the fabric. 
    Wait a minute!  Even bigger OOPS!  --it made a pretty loop.

Make another for the other side of the bow. Add the streamers by coming up from the fabric, making a knot and pushing it right down to the fabric with the tip of your needle.

By the way, this stitch also makes very pretty little butterfly wings. Make a large Knotted Loop Stitch for the upper wing and a small Knotted Loop Stitch for the lower wing.  Add a bullion (or bead) body and a fly stitch for antennae. Very pretty. Sparkly thread (I like Candlelight, which is a Z-twist fiber) - even prettier!

      Oh, you noticed!   Yes, I make my butterflies starting with the fly stitch. The fly stitch is finished with a 10-wrap bullion as a tacking stitch, which then becomes the body of the butterfly.  (Two for the price of One is a Very Good Price!)

Rosalie

A NEW Stitch for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

This is a Pistil Chick:

and this is an example of a brand new stitch for Brazilian dimensional embroidery that popped into my mind a while back.

I'm sort of late sharing this stitch with you because I was waiting for our BDEIG newsletter, The B.E. Wrap-Up, to be published. It now is. If you aren't already a guild member, click the link, scroll to the bottom of the page, fill out a membership app and send it in. There's a free education project in the August issue that explains more about the New Pistil Stitch, and includes a freebie traceable pattern.

Now I'll tell you all about the New Pistil Stitch.

Remember the pistil stitches we use in Brazilian embroidery to stitch the original Geron Daisy (shown above)? They are also called long-tailed French knots, knot-on-a-stalk and other occasional names That-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned. (Yes, I read Harry Potter...), especially when you've taken your fabric bite, added the knot by wrapping the needle, and then going down and out?  ...and then to look at the finished stitch and see that it is loose and floppy and just not neat ...and you need to add a little tacking stitch like a bow-tie (or noose?) just under its chin?  Or you give it up and make a straight stitch and then add a French knot to finish?

Well, the NEW Pistil Stitch is MUCH easier.  The New Pistil Stitch begins by casting-on (not wrapping), and the needle comes up at the knot, not at the base of the pistil stitch. This will make a more secure long-tailed pistil stamen.
          This is my "Oopsy Daisy" made with all NEW Pistil Stitches:

Here's how:
>  Thread needle and knot floss.
>  Bring needle up where you want the knot of the pistil stitch to be [A].
>  Make a 1/2" fabric bite (or the length of your pistil). [A-B]
>  Bring the needle back up at [A] again and cast on with your left hand:

1 time with Lola, 2 times with Iris, 2-3 times with Glory. 

>  Wrap floss to the back side of the needle.

>  Pull needle through.

>  Sink the threaded needle into the fabric just to the right of the cast-on loop (the only place where you can), and if the pistil stem seems loose, just pull the "floss from fabric" toward you and the loops will slip down the stem a bit.

>  Pull needle through the fabric to back.

>  The Cast-on Pistil Stitch is finished!  Make more.

You can edge a leaf with New Pistil Stitches:

Whoaaa!  That's a BIG leaf!

     Well, just remember to come up on the outside edge to start your New Pistil Stitches.

Remember, the New Pistil Stitch is a cast-on pistil and is worked exactly opposite of the traditional pistil stitch, and it will make a more secure "at the fabric" long-tailed pistil stamen or petal.

Actually, I had so much fun that I was looking for places to use the New Pistil Stitch (Wait until I start with another infrequent stitch - the detached buttonhole!).  So I looked around for a flower with LOTS of stamens. I don't know where this stitch was back when we were all stitching the BDEIG Flower of the Year, the St. John's Wort:

I stitched this one but I used my Millefiori Knotted Turkey Stitch (different than the usual Turkey Work).

But I'd been there, done that.  Looked around for another stameniferous flower.  I found "Grandfather's Whiskers". Yes, it's a Cleome, and that's another name for this garden charmer.

And while the mood was hot, or the irons were in the fire, or the needle was in the fabric, I made another design -- little balloons decorated with the New Pistil Stitch, and little Baby Balloon Flowers growing nearby.

I printed these designs onto one fabric and am offering them for sale at my Millefiori website. (Look for #994 - Pocket Projects). These are three little 3" x 3" designs that work well on crazy quilts, wearable items and ...yes, even Pockets! 
          --and, of course, you all know how to embroider a pocket easily. Just undo the stitching, add the B.E. design, and stitch the pocket back in place on your shirt or Levi's (back side or knee patch). If you use a hoop, baste the pocket to a lightweight backing fabric.

Oh, yes -- one other thing.  That little Pistil Chick up there at the top?  Well, very soon I'm going to write about how I think up designs. Hopefully, some of our creative Brazilian embroidery stitchers will want to make their own. I'll tell you what I do and you can then do what you do. It will be fun, and it doesn't hurt a bit.
       If you look at that little Pistil Chick, you'll see that it's really just a rolled rose with a few modifications. I added my New Pistil Stitch for the little Pistil Flowers and made a pistil Mohawk hairdo just for fun.  It's not every day you see a chicken with a Mohawk.

The next time I write, I'm going to tell you about something interesting I discovered about the lazy daisy stitch.

And maybe if I wrote more often, these posts wouldn't be SO long.  But I hope you have fun trying my New Pistil Stitch.

Rosalie

Bad-Hair-Day Dahlia

OK, so it's not Brazilian embroidery ... although I have designed a few dahlias for my Millefiori projects using all sorts of stitches and combinations. This dahlia just looks like a bad hair day and was too interesting to leave to wilt.

      And as I'm looking (make that admiring this flower...), I'm thinking #135, #159, maybe #134 ... oh, yes, and bullions.  But FUNNY Bullions, a few wraps tightened on a #3 needle, then a cast-on stitch for an "elbow"  (you didn't know dahlia petals had elbows, did you?), more wraps and maybe a cast-on stitch at the end. I might even make some of those bullion drizzles that I had in my book, Take A Stitch. (Look for the Boyer Bullion Drizzle.) 

       I don't know if it will work; have to stitch it out to see. You just never know what will come out of that needle.

Speaking of designing, I had a request a few weeks ago about getting these inspirations out of our heads and onto paper and then fabric. I think I'll start writing here and there about what I do to design for Brazilian embroidery, and maybe inspire others to give it a try. I'll write about what I do and if it helps someone else, that will be a good thing.

Bad hair days sometimes have GOOD things going for them, too!

I'll be back SOON with my NEW STITCH ....you'll love it.  I promise.

Rosalie

Back to B.E. . . .

I don't know about all of you, but I've been pretty tired of looking at that picture of my fabric pens for all this time!

     Well, I decided it's time to get back to sharing. I have some new stitches to share with all of you and my newest stitch will be the next thing I post.

    Meanwhile, here are pictures of some of my flowers to entertain you while I get it all together. This is mallow.

This is one of my roses: Cl. Royal Sunset. It's a 3-day rose. This photo was taken on Day #2. (The first day it's just lovely, and starting to open. By the third day, it's all flat and not so pretty any more).

 And THIS lovely flower is one of my dahlias (absolutely gorgeous colors in bloom now and until first frost):

We've had a lovely summer here in Oregon and everything is still blooming and beautiful - and I'm inspired to draw more pictures and stitch more flowers! This is a dogwood design I've made for a fellow B.E. instructor. It's a variation of my "Madelon" design that was an Educational Project in our BDEIG Newsletter, The B.E. Wrap-Up. My embroidery is on blue fabric and I used the shiny white "Candlelight" fiber (lovely stuff - it's Z-twist just like our Lola).  And, of course, I added beads and other shiny things.  See that little bluebirdie?  There are two of them flitting about amongst the flowers, and I've named this design "Twitter".

Rosalie