Wedgewood by Christine P. Bishop

In years past, fine china was essential in every respectable household. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, manufacturers of porcelain began to appear in England, buoyed by the newly discovered knowledge of china production that had been imported from the country of the same name.

We are still familiar with the names of some of those producers almost 300 years later – a testament to the lasting quality of the items they produced. Wedgwood is one of the most famous.

Wedgwood started out making fine earthenware, only moving into porcelain as the company grew in size. One particular style they were known for was ‘Jasperware’ – settings in distinct colour ranges, the most popular being white and a pale blue.

That distinctive colour soon came to be known as ‘Wedgewood Blue’

Even if Wedgwood settings aren’t used in every household today, the crisp colour combination is familiar to most. It is fresh and it is one of the things that inspired Christine P. Bishop’s latest reticella project from Inspirations issue #113, entitled ‘Wedgewood’ in homage to the Jasperware of old.

Wedgewood is a gorgeous stitching set comprising a drawstring bag with a matching pincushion and scissor fob. Stitched on stunning pale blue linen, the lacy reticella is worked in snow white thread to provide a fabulous contrast. The project was a rare one that Christine designed primarily for herself. The blue and white combination was one of her favourites, so it made sense for her to create a personal project in those colours. Luckily, she didn’t keep it entirely to herself, which means you can enjoy stitching it too.

Reticella is an embroidery style that combines counting, cutting and needleweaving to achieve an effect which resembles lace.

In order to achieve perfect results, it is important that you do all of the tacking to start with. This particular design asks you to work the reticella in a square rather than a traditional line.

With careful tacking and accurate working of the four-sided stitch, you can be confident that when you lift your scissors to start cutting the linen threads, you are going to be cutting just right.

Christine gives detailed instructions on where and how much to cut, as well as how to do the needleweaving successfully. Tension is a huge consideration for reticella. Too tight and it will buckle, but too loose and the shapes won’t hold. Fortunately, Christine is a master at this technique and the guidance she offers is impeccable. Follow her step-by-step instructions and you will soon succeed in creating this truly wonderful project.

Although reticella was originally a whitework technique, with white thread on a white background being the regular combination, by adding the blue of the Permin linen, Wedgewood becomes something really special.

Whether you’ve done reticella before, or if this is the first time, you’ll soon love the technique and will produce a stitching accessory set that will become as much a treasured item to you as it is to Christine herself.

Make Your Own Wedgewood

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Wedgewood by Christine P. Bishop is a stunning set of blue linen stitching accessories featuring exquisite reticella embroidery.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Wedgewood includes everything* you need to re-create this beautiful set of accessories: Fabric (unprinted), fibre-fill, curtain weight, embroidery threads and needles.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the magazine/digital pattern.