Weekend Review: Things to Make and Mend

Things to Make and Mend / Ruth Thomas
London: Faber & Faber, c2007.
254 p.

For this last Sunday of March, dangling here at the very end of the month, it's time for a novel. 

Here's one I first read back in 2010 -- if that's possible that it was so long ago! I adore the cover, and it's quite suitable as it follows two school friends who grow into adulthood, Sally & Rowena, and what happens when Sally wins a needlework prize and is invited to present a lecture at an embroidery conference. 

They attend high school in Sussex in the 70s, and are inseparable until the age of fifteen when an unforgivable betrayal comes between them. The story follows each of them until they meet again, by chance, in Scotland.

Sally was not the best student, ending up leaving school and focusing on needlework which she had discovered a strange facility for while in Domestic Science classes with Rowena. Rowena, on the other hand, is quite brilliant, but makes the fatal error of getting pregnant at fifteen. She thus also leaves school, but later makes something of herself, becoming a French translator and marrying a nice Canadian man she meets at a conference. At the opening of the story, Sally has won a major needlework prize and is heading off to a conference in Scotland where she is to be a key speaker, the very thought of which terrifies her.

The story follows each of them in alternating chapters, allowing us a look at what exactly happened to these friends, from each point of view. Sally is really the main character, and I was absorbed in her story, wishing I could actually take a look at her bohemian, 70s style embroideries. A particularly nice touch was Rowena's opinion of the woman in the airport before she recognized her as Sally; as teens Sally had always thought of herself as awkward and overlarge, as compared to the pretty and witty Rowena. But when Rowena sees her as a grown woman, she wistfully thinks that she would like to be as colourful and artistic-looking as the woman lugging the portfolio.

The joy of this book was in the details of Sally and Rowena's lives, the way the little things of being a teenager were brought out, including the hours they suffered in Miss Button's needlework class together. The day to day living of being adults is also finely drawn; for example, the way Sally and her coworkers at a tailors shop form a kind of family while knowing that if one of them left they would disappear quietly and not keep in touch. Or the way in which Rowena has to acknowledge that her son, who is moving to America, will be distant from her from that moment on in both geographical and emotional terms. The small eccentricities of many characters who appear briefly through the story create a full backdrop, one in which it feels that a whole world is busily moving on and we are only catching glimpses of it.

It's a slow, meandering kind of read -- if you are looking for lots of excitement and clashing personalities and romance, look elsewhere. What I really enjoyed about this reading is the voice of the author: she has a deliberate style which I found appealing. As we get to know Sally there is a technique she has of putting things into lists, for example --

By that time, Colin had begun to occupy about eighty percent of her waking thoughts in any case. She thought of him every hour of every day. She thought about:

his sense of humour (surreal, sometimes slightly cruel)

his smooth skin

the scar on his left hand

his grey eyes

his off-hand manner

his reasons for loving her (she tried not to wonder about this too much).

This is reflective of Sally's need to keep everything organized, a way to keep hold of details, something she finds difficult. As she says near the beginning, she thinks she has become a needlewoman because "There is nothing more tangible than threads sewn through cloth. She is happiest with something that is stitched down, not given the chance to slip or unravel or change." 

The two girls are well drawn, with clear personalities as teenagers, then as adults both sounding a bit isolated, a bit lost. It is clear they really need to cross paths once again.

Unfortunately there were a couple of flaws which I did find a bit jarring. The listing technique which I so enjoyed in Sally's chapters appears later in one of Rowena's. This seemed to be an ill fit, as first off it doesn't suit Rowena's character or first person narrative, and secondly it blurs the distinction between Sally and Rowena too much, making the author too apparent. Still, that did occur only once.

The other problem I had was that the whole book was leading up the reconciliation of these two former best friends, and the revelation of the truth of their estrangement. When it came, it was at the very end of the book, taking place over just a few pages. It felt a little abrupt, and I would have liked to see more of an adult relationship developing between these two now quite different women. Sally (and the reader) is provided with the truth in what feels like a bit of a creaky plot move, as Sally runs across their old teacher Miss Button at her needlework conference. The facts of what happened are pretty clear to the reader much earlier than to Sally but I would have enjoyed seeing Sally and Rowena hash it out a little and come to a new friendship.

Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed reading this one. I found the voice of the author and the quiet lives of our two protagonists absorbing and learned a lot as well, about needlework and about England in the 70s. Also, the cover is really gorgeous, embroidered by someone who has obviously read and loved the book. Recommended to anyone fond of English women's fiction, or who has the slightest inclination toward the Domestic Arts.

(review first appeared in slightly different form at The Indextrious Reader)

A Literary Sewing Circle Project: Plume Dress

Once again I've waited until the last minute to get my own project for the Literary Sewing Circle posted! This time it's not entirely due to procrastination however -- I was so close to done last week, and was planning to get it finished and posted on my week off work. But. Then I caught the flu. Ugh. So it was all I could do to finish this over the whole week; the rest of my planned projects didn't even get a look in.

Anyhow! This glorious bright dress is done, and the day was appropriately bright and sunny for photo taking. I chose to make the Plume Dress by Louis Antoinette Paris, who are incidentally one of our sponsors for the Literary Sewing Circle this time around. I didn't choose to make this dress because of that though, it just happened to be one of the two patterns I bought at the beginning of the challenge because I loved the designs. (The other is the Vogue Dress, which I'd like to make up soon as well!)

A breeze catches the skirt...

I used this quote from the novel as my inspiration for this dress:

We take a moment -- Antoinette and I -- standing side by side, shoulders touching, and peering through the window in to the rue de Douai. Matilde holds a feather, rose-colored and magnificent with long strands of the vane wafting in the breeze.... She stops, abrupt, a few steps short of Geneviève and holds out her find. She gives it the little nudge that makes Geneviève understand, and she reaches for the feather, those wispy tendrils of love offered by her sister as a gift. 

I mixed the name of this dress -- Plume -- with the French pattern company that just happens to have Antoinette in its name -- and this bright pink rayon print that has been in my stash for probably a year & a half or so, to come up with this project.

The fabric is very soft and pliable, and I did find that it stretched & frayed quite a bit, so I had to be slow and careful with this one. One of the features of this design is the piped belt which is attached to the dress. I had some plum colour piping that matched well, and I also found a pink invisible zip in my stash. So this was almost entirely stash made, though I did have to buy some hot pink thread to match.

Needed to press the back a bit more! The only flaw is that my shoulder yokes are slightly mismatched, argh!

The pattern is available in English, though sometimes the translations gave me pause. The instructions are clear but fairly basic; I think you do need some familiarity with sewing to successfully make this dress. I had a long head scratch over how to attach the sleeves, and finally just used the illustrations and fiddled around until something worked. Of course that might just have been because I was sewing with the flu...

One of the features of this dress: a topstitched front facing, and a pleat at the top of the shoulder

I was uncertain about how this was going to turn out when I was halfway through, but just persevered and finished it. And I'm so glad I did. It is such a pretty fabric and a more delicate style than I usually wear. I really like it! It's intended to be short, and because I am so very vertically challenged myself it's only above the knee on me -- but I still find it a little bit shorter than I like. Something to be aware of if you try it and don't like super short skirts yourself.  I'll have to get used to it once I start wearing all my summer clothes again! And that's it for another round of the Literary Sewing Circle for me.

If you've made something for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle, don't forget to post your link! Deadline is Sunday! But if you make something later on, just add a note and link in the comments and I can share from there -- I hope you enjoyed your read if you were reading along, and that you've had fun thinking about the projects you could make even if you didn't finish anything this time. There will be another opportunity this year, most likely another round starting in late summer/early fall.

Weekend Review: Rebecca Ringquist's Embroidery Workshops

Rebecca Ringquist's Embroidery Workshops: a bend-the-rules primer / Rebecca Ringquist
New York: STC Crafts, c2015
160 p.

And now for a modern book of embroidery all about the art and craft of contemporary embroidery, made accessible for beginners! This is a really neat primer to all kinds of freestyle embroidery. Rebecca Ringquist is known for her Dropcloth Samplers, an etsy store that makes pre-printed sampler kits. She's written this book as a slightly more involved instructional aid, and it even comes with its own little dropcloth sampler tucked into the back cover in a little envelope. So cute! And such a good way to be able to start something if you're new to stitching and don't already have suitable fabrics and/or transfer pens etc -- just open, press the folds out, hoop it and start! (assuming of course that you've also bought yourself some threads and needles already!)

She's very encouraging for new stitchers, showing the messy back of her hoop early in the book to reassure readers that the neat, knot free, nearly reversible back of lore isn't necessary with this style of embroidery. Even that back is quite beautiful in a modern way. And she shows a wide range of stitching knowledge, from the basics of how to make a stitch or transfer a design, to using more non-traditional kinds of threads or surfaces in interesting ways.

Something I have not seen in other current embroidery books is a chapter on machine embroidery. But here she goes over a very basic look at how machine stitches can add to your embroidery projects. She shows how machines can be used for thread sketching (free motion embroidery) and how machine stitches can meld with your hand stitches in a project.

And there are 20 neat, unusual projects including but also going beyond wall art -- like these brooches made out of vintage belt buckles -- such a fun, colourful idea.

This is not a book of patterns to stitch and hang in a hoop. It's a much more free-form, artsy, and as the subtitle notes, Bend-the-Rules kind of guidebook. It's bright, colourful, not twee in any way -- full of unique and creative projects, lots of encouragement for those starting to stitch and unique approaches for those who have been stitching for a while. I love this one; I've had it for a while and really enjoy flipping through it now and again for an encouraging refresher. 

World Water Day!

Did you know that March 22 is World Water Day? It's a UN led initiative, and they have a great page of resources for you to explore on the theme of protecting the universal human right to clean water.

There are stories to read, posters to share, activities to explore, and more. Water is such an important right!

Beyond fair access to water, I'm also concerned about the health of our waterways. Our library co-hosted a talk on plastic pollution recently, and I discovered that the freshwater Great Lakes are just as contaminated as our oceans, though ocean pollution is much more widely discussed. This was depressing! But they also talked about things to do to reduce your plastic waste as individuals, alongside requesting governmental and corporate change, of course, which was much less depressing.

One of the art projects I'm currently working on is based on a water theme. Looking at the vast amount of plastic pollution in our oceans, I discovered that all species are affected, from marine vegetation all the way up to whales and dolphins. So I chose a handful of particularly at risk species and started a project.

I've started embroidering from the bottom up, starting with red coral. Plastics do a lot of damage: they can smother coral reefs and encourage the growth of damaging algae, limiting the growth of new coral and killing the old.

This is the first panel, to be followed by a Loggerhead turtle, and then a couple of more species, and will be hung as one long piece. It's slow work -- I take the blue filmy plastic bags that newspapers come in, iron them into fused sheets (6-8 layers between large sheets of blank newsprint or parchment paper, ironed evenly at about a rayon setting until they are the amount of fused that you like. Wait til it has cooled down to try to peel the paper off). Then I stitch through the plastic. It's actually quite easy but does take a bit of time, so I have no anticipated end date for this project!

Cover Designs! #11

I haven't done a Cover Designs post in ages! Cover Designs is a feature in which I try to match up the outfit on a book cover with a dress pattern and sometimes even potential fabric matches as well.

Today's featured book is a forthcoming title, one that's sure to be a hit as a summer read! Written by Hazel Gaynor (a well established historical novelist) and Heather Webb, Meet Me In Monaco is set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s whirlwind romance and wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. Grace Kelly is a character only so much as she draws together the two main characters who also have to decide what they will do for love: Sophie Duval, a perfumier, and James Henderson, a British press photographer, are brought together by chance when Sophie helps out Grace Kelly. Summer sun, the Cannes film festival, the Cote d'Azur and Grace Kelly herself are sure to up the glam factor of this book. And the cover is lovely.

Look at that beautiful sea green

Now, to match this dress with a modern pattern, not a vintage one, I took a few little liberties. The dress I'm suggesting would need a little bit of oomph added to the skirt via a full slip/crinoline to be more exact, and the belt would have to be altered from a sash to a self belt. And you might need a corset to get a waist as small as that illustration!

But I think this one is close. And if you made it from a lovely flowy green fabric, you'd fit right in at Cannes (if you were wearing high heels, of course...)

I'm suggesting Vogue 1554, an Isaac Mizrahi design.

It has the right shape: a fitted yoke, with gathers below, all the way around the bodice and skirt. There is no waistband, just the belt, so it's a little more current than the book cover, but gives the same effect. It would be a wonderful summer dress is a light colour/weight, like the lightweight crepe or challis suggested in the pattern. 

Maybe a fabric like this Carolina Herrera stone green silk faille, from Mood:

Or to give it a little more body, try this Kona cotton in Candy Green from Club Tissus:

Then grab a drink and relax with your summer read, in your matching dress! 

Weekend Review: Mr X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch

The Mr. X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch / Jamie Chalmers
Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Search Press, c2017
144 p.

And now for a different kind of stitching... I could not resist buying this book when it first came out. Partly because I don't know how to cross stitch -- I never learned, because the old fashioned pastel geese from my childhood never appealed to me. Plus I felt like it was a paint-by-numbers approach that was too rigid for my preferences.

But I found Mr X Stitch online a while back, and appreciate the efforts he's making to revitalize cross stitch as a contemporary art form, and one that can be very political and provocative. If you're interested in that side of things, check out his website and all of the info he has there.

As to this book, I was glad I bought it, as I have zero knowledge of cross stitch, and will likely never need to know more than the basics. I'm still not convinced that cross stitch for me. But I did learn quite a bit here: I didn't even know that there was more than the basic x and a backstitch used in cross stitch -- now I know that there is a half cross stitch to soften edges somewhat, and other tricks that stitchers can use. Perhaps there isn't enough in-depth info in here if you've already tried cross stitching or are more familiar with it than I was, but I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging I found it. And it's full of fun projects.

The projects are modern, bright, quirky, and fun. There are a couple of typography inspired projects, the colourful ones you can see on the cover, a couple inspired by art (like the Mona Lisa you can glimpse), and my favourites, some glow in the dark thread designs that reveal different images in light and dark settings. Then there's the coasters covered in a string of cartoon profanities (ie: &%$*@$)-- a project I want to try!

He also features ideas for stitching on alternative grounds -- metal, pegboards, fences etc -- and features "outliers", the kinds of public art and/or political stitchers featured on his blog, after each chapter.

Altogether it's a fun book and stands out from other cross stitch books for sure. I'm not much for the snarky/profane cross stitch trend, but I think I could see myself trying a project or two here. Will this be the book to push me over the edge into finally trying cross stitch? Only time will tell......

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: the Great British Sewing Bee Week 5

Great British Sewing Bee Week Five!

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle... this was my week on the Great British Sewing Bee! I would have cleaned up. I make a lot of things from scraps, by reusing/refashioning other garments, and by using home decor fabrics to make clothes.

I really enjoyed this week, and seeing the ways in which people used their own offcuts to make something new and wearable. It was quite shocking how many scraps they'd created over the first five weeks of the show: as Patrick said, home sewers waste about 30% of the fabric that they buy. Yikes!

I try to reduce the level of my scraps in many ways -- I use a lot of cotton in my garment sewing, which then goes into my quilting scrap buckets. And the dress weight fabrics go into my art quilt scrap pile! I like to use up bigger scraps in new projects for pocket bags, trims, bias, to cover buttons, as accents and so on. You can also use the right kind of scraps to make brooches, badges, and so forth. Fortunately my city now has a textile recycling program, so the tiny bits and thread ends and so forth go into a big bag under my sewing table -- when it's full, off it goes to the recycling bins. Of course, you can also use those tiny bits as filler for a scrapbuster like the Pouf from Closet Case Patterns! 

Another way I try to reduce my fabric waste is through upcycling fabrics -- a lot of my stash has come from thrift stores (including lots of sheets, duvets, pillowcases etc.. or gifts from older sewers clearing their stashes.

Here are just a few of my garments made from old sheets, a pillowcase, and a purple duvet cover. I still have enough of that to make a matching dress if I want to ;)

There was also a dress made from a tablecloth with matching cape from a variety of dresses cut up and reassembled, which I made for a local Refashioning fashion show last year, and which was modelled by a friend. It was a lot of fun. (You can see  full info plus this outfit in motion in my original post.)

I have lots of ideas to use up more of my scraps by making some pillow covers, and maybe a journal cover or two. Then of course I'll have to make a matching pencil case for the journals. If you want to use your dress weight fabrics for these kind of craft projects you can fuse them to some lightweight interfacing first, so that they act more like a cotton when you are piecing them all together. There are so many ways to reduce your waste. What are some of your favourite scrap busting/waste reduction projects?

Velvet Mash Up Dress

This is a love-hate kind of dress. Love because I adore the fit and the mix of two patterns which turned out just as I'd imagined, and I absolutely love the print & colours of this fabric. Hate because it's a polyester and because of the print I broke my rule about not buying plastic poly, and this fabric sheds fibre like the dickens. It's so bad. I feel environmentally shamed by it.

It's so bad I had to wear a dust mask while sewing it. And when I washed and dried it, I had SO MUCH lint to clear out, more than once.

Other than that confession, I do like the final product.

I used the bodice of the Colette Moneta dress, which I've made twice before. This time the fabric doesn't have quite as much stretch, so it is a little snugger than my others (but I like it). I didn't want any gathering on the skirt with this print, so I matched the bodice up with the skirt of Butterick See & Sew 5870, which I've made in bright magenta ponte and really liked.

They went together beautifully. I only had to square up about an inch all around in size differential. And the shape of this skirt really skims the body -- it's perfect for pear figures, I think. I did add pockets (of course) as I always do. This time I just used a cotton broadcloth scrap for my pocket bags, so they won't stretch out. There isn't a lot of vertical stretch in this fabric either, so it all works together.

After figuring out how to fit these two patterns together and cutting, this went together easily. It was a quick sew, with a turn-under-and-stitch hem at sleeve and skirt, and a neckband sewn on. The neckband actually worked fairly well on my first go this time! I used the formula that another blogger shared -- the size of the neckline opening minus 15% equals the band length. It is good enough that I didn't have to redo this one. Success!

The most difficult part of this project was (and is) the fabric. After all that, it is still shedding! I recall why I don't buy cheap poly velour often, and won't be doing it again. But I can still enjoy the beautiful colours of this, and the fit, nonetheless.

It's so pretty!!

Have you ever made something that you love and hate equally?

Weekend Review: The Readers Digest Complete Book of Embroidery

Reader's Digest Complete Book of Embroidery / Melinda Coss
Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest, c1996.
192 p.

And on the topic of embroidery 'encyclopedias', here's another collection of stitches for your library. I love this book despite its being a little older because it really goes into a lot of stitches (100+), and has clear and thorough illustrations, and lots of projects and motifs (75!) to trace off and make. You can get a look at the contents in this amazon preview, just click the 'look inside' button.

My favourite thing about it, though, is the stitch samplers it gives patterns for, to practice your families of stitches. Each family (Straight Stitch, Satin Stitch, Cross Stitch, Knotted Stitch, Looped Stitch and Laced Stitch) has a little garden parterre designed to let you practice and sample each stitch. They are all so pretty, and practical, and they haven't dated at all, being very classical. I really want to make them all as my stitch sampler.

There are over 100 stitches shown clearly, with projects for each, followed by some specialty techniques like goldwork & ribbon embroidery, though these last one are relatively small sections. There are a couple of projects there as well. And throughout the book there are traceable motifs for you to make your own projects and designs if you wish.

It also has a section at the end that I haven't seen in many other of these 'complete guide' books -- a set of monograms, both patterns and suggested technique for success. I can see the usefulness of these for many projects! It ends up with some tips for finishing your work, and a large thread conversion chart between DMC & Anchor cotton & wool threads.

It's very clearly laid out and explained well by the author, who designed her own needlecrafts and wrote many books on this topic. I feel like anyone could learn by starting with this book. The focus is on the stitches available to any surface embroiderer -- with applications for other styles of needlework, but of great use to the person who is most interested (like I am) in surface and/or freestyle embroidery.

I've used this book quite often, and would recommend it to anyone interested in needle and thread. While it's not attached to a trendy style or name, it's a classic for a reason. Really practical and complete.

March Project Plans Underway

I have so many projects half planned for this month! There is of course my own Literary Sewing Circle to sew for, I have a project for Fabricville to work on, I noticed a fun sewalong for a pattern I just bought over on Instagram, and I have to finish fitting the vest for my husband that I intended finishing last month! And I have a couple of other ideas for projects percolating as well. I thought I'd better note some of them down so as not to forget them or get sidetracked.

First, my Fabricville project. This one is set. I've just received my fabric and pattern and have washed and prepped it. Now to cut and sew.

I couldn't resist this wonderful cotton -- it's a great shade of purple, covered with irregular dots and the dots reveal text beneath them! It's super, and very suited to my librarian's love of books and writing in every way. I'm planning on making View B of this pattern, the shorter blue one on the front.

And I have probably decided on my project for the Literary Sewing Circle -- I'm pretty sure I'll make the Louis Antoinette Plume Dress; I've even traced it already and adjusted the fit as much as I can so far. I just have to decide which fabric to use:

As for Instagram, there are always tons of sewalongs and challenges popping up. If you joined every one you'd always be sewing by someone else's choice! But I noticed this #SewYourView March challenge because it's a sewalong featuring one pattern -- McCalls 7906 -- which as it happens I just bought on sale -- I love the lines and I really need more basic skirts right now. So I may jump in on this one if I have enough time left this month. I really do need a solid colour skirt, black or grey or navy or something sensible like that, but the spring trends of bright yellow or green might come into play....

Added to all of this, I am also working on an art quilt project, starting with some fusible patchwork bits to use later. If only I could sew full time ;)

How about you? What projects are you working on? Are you thinking of joining in to the Literary Sewing Circle since the project deadline is the end of March? (I hope so)

Twisting & Tying with Burda

Meg of Cookin' & Craftin' proposed a Twists & Ties sewalong at the beginning of the year. It's a challenge to make up some of the many current patterns which feature, not surprisingly, a twist or a tie in their design.

I agreed with her when she noted that many of the projects in her queue had this kind of feature. I immediately put my hands on to at least 7 patterns in my long-term queue that have ties of some sort incorporated into their design (ie: not just a sash or belt attached afterward). I don't really have many twists but lots of ties. Nonetheless, I only got one of them finished by the deadline of the end of February for this challenge!

After I finished with the PR Sewing Bee after Round 3, I was all sewn out for a day or two. And then I needed something quick and fun so cut out this Burda Knotted Top from the 10/2016 magazine. (also found online here).

It was pretty quick, although as often happens with Burda instructions, I was left scratching my head over the step where one should attach the extra tie to the bottom of the shirt. I could not make head nor tails of it no matter how I tried. I looked online to see if anyone else had shared how they did it, and got a bit of help there, but in the end I just looked at the piece, looked at the top and figured out a way to do it which didn't leave raw edges. I don't know if it was the intended way but it worked and the ties sit properly and they tie, which is really all I can ask.

Here's how I did it.

The first tie is cut on as one with the front piece, with a facing. Easy. The second is a separate piece which must be attached to the bottom side. I fiddled around until I realized that I could sew the two tie pieces together, turn them right side out (leaving the section that would attach to the shirt unsewn and flat), then attach that through both layers like a band, and flip it into position. That way I could then fold under the remaining raw edge between the bands and hem it, topstitching over the tie part all the way to the side seam to keep the tie seam allowances flat as well. If I'd have taken pictures during the process it might have been more clear, though seeing as I was sewing on a dull navy I'm not sure how much you'd see of it anyhow!

Once again I had to do the neckband twice -- I can never get them right. I didn't follow the Burda instructions to put the neckband on before sewing up the second shoulder, I couldn't figure out why or how. So I left it to the end and attached it like a normal neckband, in my normal way, ie: badly. I tore it out (carefully to avoid stretching) shortened it and tried again. This time it is 'good enough'. I don't know why I have such a block about neckbands. Someday I'll get one put on well on my first try! At least I'm not on the Great British Sewing Bee and having to overlock one on in 5 minutes or anything...

Anyhow, it turns out to have a cute shape and the ties are sweet, even if I'm not sure they entirely suit me or my figure. I'm pleased to have figured out this pattern in any case, and enjoyed a quicker sew than most I've made lately. All of these non-competitive sewalongs/challenges lately are helping me get some of my projects done. And speaking of non-competitive sewalongs, I hope you've all checked out the Literary Sewing Circle on this blog and have a project in mind so you too can sew with us until the end of March!

Weekend Review: Stitch Encyclopedias

February was full of thematic sewing: it was not only Black History Month, and a celebration of Menswear at the Sewcialists, it was also National Embroidery Month, at least in the US. I had to bump some of the stitching books I use to this month instead to fit them all in!

I'm sharing two books today, both called stitch encyclopedias -- one I have had for a while now, the other I just picked up the other day.

First, the new one. The Complete Illustrated Stitch Encyclopedia (New York: Crafter's Choice, c2001) is an oversized, well illustrated collection of stitches for a variety of needlework techniques. This is both its strength & its weakness. I'm only interested in a few types of needlework, so that there are many parts of this book I won't use at all -- although perhaps someday I'll suddenly want to check them out. Also, because it tries to cover so very much, it can only give an intro to each style of stitching.

Nonetheless, for such a book it does manage to cover quite a lot, and is well organized, with great illustrations and photographs demonstrating each stitch. It does make it more useful when you can see the steps clearly. It goes into the basics of set up, covers a large amount of cross-stitch & surface embroidery stitches (including blackwork), goes into needlepoint, and then gives a brief look at a variety of specialty techniques like bargello, ribbon embroidery, drawn thread, smocking, etc. It finishes off, suitably, with a section on finishing your items.

Each section includes a few little projects, from wall hangings to slippers to table runners and more. In any book of this type, I find that the projects date the most quickly, and some of these are a bit out of style now. But the techniques are solid, and the information in this book is wide-ranging and useful. It has a few stitches in it I hadn't seen before, which is always nice to discover.

So as a basic resource, I'd recommend this one. The illustrations and directions are clear and easy to follow even if you aren't already familiar with stitching. I found it at a thrift store so perhaps you'll be as lucky, or of course, check your local library.

Now for Stitch-opedia (New York: St Martins, c2009). I've had this one for quite a while now. I think that the subtitle, "The Only Embroidery Reference you'll ever need" is overselling it a bit though.

It's another lengthy and involved explanation of various sorts of needlework. The organization of the book is a little puzzling to me -- it starts off logically with a look at setting up, materials, framing etc., then goes into techniques. I'm a little stumped as to why the book starts off with a deep dive into stumpwork, surely a more obscure and specialty style of stitching (and to be perfectly frank, one I dislike generally). Then it covers Blackwork, Canvas Work, Crewelwork, Freestyle, Hardanger, and Pulled Work. There is suddenly a lot more author commentary in the Pulled Work chapter, so I'm assuming it's one of her favoured techniques. Out of these, the Blackwork and Freestyle chapters were of the most interest to me. 

After the technique chapters, there is a sudden index-like listing of stitches with pictures which seems like it would fit better at the end of the book. It's followed by a collection of projects covering all the techniques, three to six for each one. I wasn't too impressed with most of the projects, they seem either a little old fashioned or the samples are not done to a high level. But a few are interesting! And then there is a little gallery of photos of sample work by others in these techniques, which I found to be one of the most inspiring parts of the book.

There is some good stuff in here, but the scattershot organization and the focus on these few techniques make this a book that I don't refer back to all that often. The Blackwork chapter makes it worth it, for me -- it's hard to find in-depth info on blackwork, and this chapter is thorough and has some good designs in it. 

So this is still worth checking out, although it is definitely not the "only embroidery reference you'll ever need"!

Literary Sewing Circle: Finale & Project Roundup!

Today is already our final day of the Literary Sewing Circle focusing on The Painted Girls! I hope you've had the chance to read the book, and both the first and second inspiration posts, and are getting lots of ideas for a project of your own.

The project linkup will be added to the bottom of this post: as soon as you are done your project, just pop a link to your post into the linkup and we will all be able to visit your blog/instagram etc. and explore your creation -- remember, it can be sewn, or knitted, crocheted, embroidered... any textile art that you practice.

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

Today's post also gives us the chance to talk about our reading experience a little more. If you haven't yet had a chance, check out our first discussion post for some specific questions and feedback from readers -- also take a look at the interview with Cathy Marie Buchanan and see if it raises any questions for you.


Did you enjoy this novel? Did you have a favourite character? Was there a theme which particularly resonated? What part of it stood out for you as your inspiration for your project? Was there anything you didn't like about this novel? Had you heard of it prior to this readalong? Did you recognize any of the character quirks in the story? What did you think of the mix of real people/history and fiction? Do you think that the role of art in any form was clearly defined in this story?

Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash

Here are some of my thoughts on this novel.

I read it first some years ago, and enjoyed my second read. I have a soft spot for stories featuring three sisters, especially when the middle sister has a starring role! (can you tell I'm a middle sister?)

But seriously. I appreciated the way that the author fleshes out all the sisters in this story, and delineates their relationships. Each sister has a distinct personality, and a different essential driving purpose. It's the sisters who keep each other going, since their mother has her own issues to manage.

There is a lot to consider in this novel, from the power of art, to the effect of critics (thanks to Sara for pointing this out in the last book discussion post), to relationships whether sibling or so-called romantic ones, to discussions of what the right thing is in a fraught moral situation. Is gaining an abonné in the ballet any different from working in a fancy brothel, or does it just depend on your options? What opportunities did women have in this era? I think the sisters show a wide range of life choices, both workwise and romantically. And there are men as side characters who are important mostly for their role in Antoinette or Marie's lives -- I appreciated how the story focuses on the women and their inner lives, their relationships, but also investigates their place in the wider world, ie: how they will make their livings.

I'm not generally a huge fan of real people as fictional characters but I thought that Buchanan was able to take what was known about these characters and spin it into a respectful and well-considered fiction. She didn't attribute unfounded or horrible character traits to any of the real people, which is something I have seen in other historical novels and found uncomfortable. Rather she makes a compassionate, probable guess at them and so the characters are sympathetic and complex at the same time.

I also liked the focus on art via Degas -- painting studios, casting bronzes etc, all the discussion of the actual process of art -- and the focus on ballet as a discipline. The scenes in the studio show the work and the ambition driving the performers, and the joy of performance also comes across when Marie or Charlotte get to take the stage. I feel the same of joy in process and routine when I'm stitching or garment sewing, and can only hope to reach that joyful state of flow now and again.

As to my project inspiration...I had many ideas as I was going through the book. The setting really spoke to me, and the idea of clothing fostering movement and lightness took hold. But as I read over the final few pages again while pondering my responses to this book, I was struck by this image of sisterly connection between Marie's daughters:

We take a moment -- Antoinette and I -- standing side by side, shoulders touching, and peering through the window in to the rue de Douai. Matilde holds a feather, rose-colored and magnificent with long strands of the vane wafting in the breeze.... She stops, abrupt, a few steps short of Geneviève and holds out her find. She gives it the little nudge that makes Geneviève understand, and she reaches for the feather, those wispy tendrils of love offered by her sister as a gift. 

Thus, my ideas are now floating toward a feathery dress, and I know the perfect one: the Plume (Feather) Dress by Louis Antoinette (there's even a nod to Antoinette there). I'll be looking through my stash to see if I have appropriate fabric there, and will share my full plans once they are set. Although, in our last Literary Sewing Circle round, I did change my project completely between plans and project so who knows! If you are making plans, please share them in the comments, I'd love to see them.

Photo by Esther Ní Dhonnacha on Unsplash

What project have you made, inspired by your reading of The Painted Girls? Share a link to your project post here! Links are open until MARCH 31 so you have lots of sewing time to finish and share.

Don't forget that any finished project shared by the deadline will be eligible for a draw for a free pattern code from one of our sponsors, Orageuse or Louis Antoinette. Get your projects in!