Weekend Review: Expressive Embroidery

Expressive Embroidery / Chloe Amy Avery
Ramsbury, UK: Crowood Press, c2025.
144 p.

 

This was a fresh, interesting read! It's not about patterns, it's about learning the basics and then using stitch as expression of your own artistic outlook. Written by an artist, it starts from the design side of things rather than the technical, and it really is what is says -- all about expression in stitch. 

The examples and projects in the book are all Avery's distinctive work, very painterly. The projects are near the end, and are all small projects intended to teach a technique or method, not really a "project" project. Anyone who has been embroidering for a while will have to relearn, as the specialty stitches and techniques of traditional embroidery aren't the point here. We see a lot of straight stitches, overlapping, using colour as the primary focus. The pieces can feel like sketches, with many of them showing different techniques for finishing, mounting etc. There is even a short bit on machine assisted embroidery (freehand, not computerized). 

But beginners will be interested too. The book contains some of the basics of fabrics, threads, tools and techniques -- there are a handful of standard stitches shown but there's also an emphasis on freestyling. Plus there are chapters on design and colour, from an artistic perspective, including how to notice light and take inspiration photos for your own creations. A reader who is wanting to create their own designs and/or their own distinctive style will find this book inspiring. 

Stitchers looking for a new perspective outside of traditional embroidery, especially those interested in stitching as an art form, will want to read this one. I found it really engaging. 

BHMPD Challenge: Daphne Maxwell Reid with McCalls 9125

For my first project of the month, I made up the tunic from this McCalls 9125 Daphne Maxwell Reid design. It is also a project for the Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge! 

I picked up this pattern while thrifting a few months ago, and haven't been able to get it out of my mind. So I found a lightweight cotton in the stash and went for it. So, this also fits into the PatternReview Stash contest :) 

I chose to make the short tunic with longer sleeves for this project. The pattern includes two tunic views, a light over-jacket, pull on pants and a skirt, and a scarf. A whole wardrobe here! 

I had this lighter weight cotton with a great print, so chose a simple pattern to highlight it. The tunic has a rounded off squared neckline (a favourite style for me) and slits in the side seams. I really like the details in this otherwise simple pattern. 

I was careful to line up the centre fold along the middle of one motif so that there would be balance in the print. It was pretty straightforward! Front, back, sleeve and facing pieces. I did shorten both the body and the sleeve, by about an inch each. I ended up making a deep hem on the sleeve so I could fold it up in a little cuff, as well. If I did this again I would add a touch of width to the sleeve to allow for more room for a cuff. It works here but another half inch would make an improvement to fit. 

I gave the bottom a narrower 5/8" hem and feel that it worked out pretty well! I really like the colours here and the traditional print -- although the colour is hard to capture in these photos. I think that maybe it's really halfway between the closeup of the side slits and the large photos. 

Daphne Maxwell Reid is a former model, an actress, photographer, and fashion designer - including creating patterns for the Big 4. I have found a handful of her patterns from the 90s at my local thrift stores, and was really drawn to this one! I love this tunic and this fabric, and I still have lots of her patterns to try out! 

As styled on this still chilly day

Toronto Textile Museum Visit

I was in Toronto recently, and found time to make a quick visit to the Textile Museum, a favourite of mine. It is a small museum, so you can see all the exhibits in an efficient manner and also visit their reuse area where they sell donated fabrics, patterns, books etc. even if you only have a short time to make a stop. 

There were some items from their archives on display, and an exhibit called From Cloth to Code, which included some digital responses to traditional fabrics, some traditional pieces made non-traditionally, and some looking at queer fashion in the Philippines, just as a few examples. There were more items as well, it was really interesting. I'll just share a few highlights below. 

I came around a dim corner and saw this -- total jump scare!  

A lovely small sorochka from the archives of the Museum, which I hadn't seen before.

Also want to share a short video of the audiovisual part of the exhibit. I thought this was really effective! 

I also picked up a small piece of fabric and some great patterns from the Reuse centre! Lots of inspiration on this visit.

Weekend Review: Marking Time

Marking Time with Fabric & Thread / Tommye McClure Scanlin
Atglen, PA: Schiffer, c2024.
198 p.

Renowned weaver Tommye McClure Scanlin has put together a book full of textile time-keeping projects. From her own lengthy practice of daily weaving, to others who crochet, knit, embroider or quilt diaries of daily data, this book talks about many different artists and projects. I did find it quite focused on weavers, since this is the author's specialty. I can't knit and can barely crochet so those were fascinating but not things I'd do myself either. The embroidery or quilt focused ones were the ones I could relate to a little more. 

Still, the concepts were interesting for anyone intrigued by data visualization. There were climate projects, use of codes like Morse or Braille, emotion trackers, daily reflections and more, all personalized to the artist's interests. And so many beautiful photos of all the things talked about. It's really a book to flip through slowly and investigate projects one by one. 

 McClure Scanlin starts off by introducing her own artistic practice and how she got involved in daily fibre diaries, with multiyear examples. She talks about the power of daily practice, and the book also includes some creative prompts. Then we meet a bunch of other artists interested in this idea, as well. I'd say that these were all established, professional artists, so they have the time and experience for projects like this. And the ability to share and exhibit many of their works also. So in that sense it is more aspirational for part-time or hobby craft artists; I didn't find anything grabbed me personally as something I could incorporate in my beginner work. 

Still, a great look at a popular way of creating work, and I really appreciated the blend of science and craft in many of these data visualization projects. It's a nice collection, one I appreciated being able to check out through my library. 

Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge

 

Check it out on Instagram
or on the BHMPD website

February sees the returning challenge, Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge that I mentioned in my monthly sewing plans earlier this week. I've done this one for a few years, although I missed completing a project last year. But I love this one! I really want to participate again this year. 

And this year I have many options. I have looked through my paper patterns both new and old, and have found many, from a variety of designers, like Lydia Naomi, Khaliah Ali, Beauté J'Adore, Diahann Carroll, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and more. This is one I just thrifted recently and I really like it!

I also have some newer patterns from contemporary designers, in PDF, like Les Lubies de Cadia - I recently purchased a few of her patterns in a sale, and am planning on making one of them for the BHMPD Challenge, probably the Lysiane Shirt. Although I also bought the Girma Dress, which she's discontinuing -- I've had my eye on it for a long time so had to jump. But I have lots of choices which is great for a mood sewist like me! 

Lysiane Shirt

Girma Dress

This is such a fun challenge, and a great way to discover new pattern designers of all kinds - from sewing to knitting, quilting, bagmaking, fabric stores and more. Check it out!

February Sewing Plans

 

I didn't get as much sewing done in January as I had hoped, but I knew I would be busy so I'm not being too hard on myself. Still, I want to make some plans for February so I can stay on track! 

This month brings some new sewing challenges and some old favourites, too. The Stash Contest at PatternReview is still going to the end of this month so I'm still planning on sewing for that. But there is also a PR Contest "Feel the Love", to sew something inspired by something you've seen at PR -- I am hoping to make a blouse using some techniques I've seen reviewed there -- and using stash fabric! Right now I am considering Butterick 3895 as a possibility for this project.

February is also the time to participate in the Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge. This is one I've participated in previously and have always enjoyed it. More on my inspirations for this challenge are coming in my next post. 

February is also National Embroidery Month so I would like to finish up a new embroidery project that I've just begun. It's fairly small so I should be able to do it -- it's inspired by our Canadian Prime Minister's recent speech at Davos and I'm excited to share it with you. 

That's a full February and I hope I can get everything done that I'm planning for! 

Weekend Review: Birth Flower Embroidery

 

Birth Flower Embroidery / Amy L. Frazer
Beverly MA: Walter Foster Publishing, c2025.
128 p.

It's National Embroidery Month! I'm celebrating by trying to finish up at least one in-progress stitching project so that I can share it with you this month, and by sharing some of the embroidery books I've been reading lately. 

The first one is Birth Flower Embroidery - I found this in my library collection and thought I'd take a look. It's a great choice for the start of the year, as you can then plan ahead to stitch projects using someone's birthday flower -- unless their birthday is in January, then they will have to wait until next year ;) 

I thought this was a cute project book. The author gives an intro about the longish history of birth month flowers, and how there are at least two traditional ones for each month and sometimes even three. This means that there are 26 floral designs in the book, plus some extras at the end if you want to add some little bugs, worms or the like to your greenery! 

Each flower has a nice design, using different stitches, often in a spray so that the image is bigger and more visually interesting. Each one is shown completed, and then there is a chart of colours and stitches used for each design. She has included a glossary at the start of the book explaining her acronyms for the stitches she uses, and states that she is using DMC exclusively so those are the colour numbers included. (but you can find a conversion chart online fairly easily if you use another brand). 

The images are made for entry level stitchers - not too hard but challenging enough to keep you interested. Those newer to embroidery would learn some new stitches through the projects; while many are simple backstitch or satin, there are also a few more unusual stitches included. Instructions are pretty clear for each project. 

Projects are shown completed in the hoop and there aren't project instructions for other kinds of things, but there are suggestions as to how you might incorporate these patterns into other items than hoop art. 

The stitching examples and techniques are rough and modern; the author is an artist who uses stitch like painting, so the fine techniques of advanced embroidery aren't the goal here. They are designed to show the hand of the maker & to be fairly quick to stitch. 

The one quibble I had with it is her use of stem stitch. It's one of my favourite stitches for how fluid it can look, especially in lettering. I find her technique makes it visually choppy and it doesn't really look like a stem stitch in some projects, at least to me. But that's one small thing. Otherwise I thought this was a quick read, a creative guide to some ideas about personalizing embroidery projects, and I can see it being helpful in a variety of ways.