What Are You Stitching?

Bridget O’Brien

‘I am a member of the Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild, and we recently had a class on whitework that was based on Jenny Adin-Christie’s Fine Whitework book from the RSN. I made White Rose from Inspirations issue #100 and the Scabiosa button from her book.’

‘The colours represent Wedgwood blue and Wedgwood pink jasperware. I mounted them in a small box left over from a Portmeirion dish that I had received as a gift, and it is a perfect way to store, protect and display the buttons. I will be displaying them at our Guild open house.’

Bridget, your whitework buttons are divine! We love the thought and detail that has gone into every element of your final displayed work, the dish is perfect. We’re sure everyone at your Guild open day will enjoy marvelling at them, just as we have done!

Christine Tutty

‘I covered this box in Dupion Silk fabric with the embroidery I made from Diana Lampe’s series on Embroidered Garden Flowers. I use the box for holding my embroidery needs.’

This design is just lovely on an embroidered box, Christine! A very precious holder for very precious embroidery things…

Loretta Higgins

‘This project was stitched over the past several months during multiple plane rides back and forth between Texas and Ohio US, and hours upon hours of sitting in the hospital with my father while he was ill. The inspiration for upcycling came from watching the Great British Sewing Bee.’

‘Except the thread from DMC which I purchased, everything was left over from other projects or scraps of materials I found while staying at my parents’ house. I used, in addition to the recommended threads and beads, Chameleon Threads in perle, silk and cotton.

The project was stitched on leftover linen/cotton blend from a previous project. I wanted the bag to have a serious vintage and weathered look, so I let the fabric waffle intentionally (I know some stitchers somewhere just had heart failure and fell over). I then trimmed it – stabilized and left it with the raw edge look.’

‘The bag itself is a coffee bean bag from Primo Coffee’s (Houston, TX) that I upcycled – which I sewed together by stabilizing the burlap double stick interfacing and cotton fabric. The lace on the front is 120-year-old lace from a doily my great grandmother crocheted on her trip from Germany to Cleveland, Ohio in 1904.  The doily was damaged from years of neglect in a drawer, but I salvaged everything I could still use. I hand stitched it to the front of the bag as well.

The straps are similar colour strapping I had left over from another project. I finished the project just in time to take it with me to the Royal School of Needlework summer school in Lexington.’

We love the upcycled approach you have taken to complete your beautiful bag, Loretta! From the doily to the coffee bean bag, you have forged your bag with a rich personal history that your certainly can’t buy from the store. We’re sure you will get many years of stitching joy from your charming bag.

Have you stitched a whitework button? Do you have an embroidered box to store your stitching items? Or have you stitched a design for a bag?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com