I usually have one or two projects going simultaneously. This has nothing to do with multi-tasking or efficiency or anything. Actually, it has more to do with my woefully short attention span! Often, while working on one project, I’ll get a flash of an idea for another project and, before I forget it, I’ll get the basic design work down or even start the project before I put it down to return to the other project. I also just like variety. For better or worse, I am someone who likes change (of my choosing!) and having a couple of projects going at the same time keeps my attention. Finally, some projects can take quite a while to finish and I just need a break; so, I’ll flip flop back and forth until I finish everything.
When I first started my handicraft adventures, learning bobbin-lace making took up pretty much all of my free time. It is a traditional art that is not easy to learn. But, practice makes perfect! Well, almost; in the world of lace-making, achieving perfection is a life-long pursuit. I took a beginner’s course years ago and thought I had made some serious progress by mastering the basic stitches until I realized how basic they really were. Since then, I’ve taken several courses, each adressing either a specific set of techniques or a type of lace (there is not just one kind of lace, no sir!). And, I keep learning and/or re-learning. Like I said, a life-long pursuit.
Chicken Scratch was next. My hope was to unite both types of handicrafts on some pieces. What I love about Chicken Scratch is the use of gingham fabric. With that checked “grid” pattern, you can’t go wrong! My mother had an old book of Chicken Scratch patterns, which I discovered among her treasure trove of handicraft books during one visit. It is a great book to start with: The How-To Chicken Scratch Quilt by Rita Weiss. After trying my hand at that, I soon looked for new sources of ideas and stumbled across some books by Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath and Harry D. Hedgepath. While many of their designs are a little too “cutsie” for me (just my opinion!), there are so many ideas contained in these books, you really can’t go wrong. Plus, each book begins with a short tutorial. But, Chicken Scratch can also be an excellent way to create abstract, geometrical designs … which is my preference.
Then, while perusing Pinterest, the algorithym started offering other interesting embroidery techniques as potential interests. One struck me immediately: Sashiko. My favorite color combination is blue-white and Sashiko – traditionally – is an embroidery technique done with white thread on indigo fabric. Perfect! Plus, Sashiko tends to be very abstract and geometric; even the natural shapes it uses are highly stylized. I was hooked! Sashiko comes from Japan and is a technique that uses a running stitch. If you are interested in Sashiko, I heartily recommend googling Susan Briscoe. She has some very good books and helpful youtube videos. Her repetoire includes more than just Sashiko, though. So, if you are interested in Kogin and Boro, she is also a good place to start.
From Sashiko it was an easy jump to what I call “Drawing with Thread”. This is probably the wrong term but it expresses exactly what I do. I’ll come up with an idea (organic shapes and subjects, usually) and I’ll just sketch out a quick design and start stitching. I’ll pick the color combinations to start with but often I will add and remove as I go. I just started doing this kind of embroidery in 2022. So, I don’t have that many projects yet. But, I keep working at it!
If you are interested in any of the above projects, just click on the buttons at the top and you’ll be taken to the pages dealing with each type of handicraft.
The Garden. This is a hobby of mine that obviously has nothing to do with handicraft but it is probably the most gratifying of all my hobbies because it feeds us and saves us money! The Garden page is still in the works for now.
Claudia's Atelier 