Searching for color-Jacobean Symphony

Enduring the winter storms and snow and sleet, I must admit that I’m a bit tired of seeing white everywhere. As much as I love the color white, there are times when it can become a bit boring. A bit of rebellion made me start creating something that used bright colors and lots of them. Now, I’m an extremely finicky person when it comes to too many colors in an embroidery design but when it comes to anything Jacobean, it is all about color and the more the better. Jacobean art was a mixture of Elizabethan and Renaissance era where motifs and drawings became more free flowing and a definite blend of the east was to be found.

When I started on the collection I had envisioned florals mixed with birds and animals which is a typical blend of the Jacobean art. However, with time and looking at the number of designs, I had to rethink the size of the collection and create the Jacobean Symphony with only florals. Somehow the renaissance era designs kept popping up so I blended the designs with cutwork which is designed in such a manner that it can be also used as applique.

When one thinks of Jacobean, one immediately has the vision of florals with lots of color, curved vines, etc.  In my mind I had this vision of a large cushion for my guest room with lots of colorful designs. Using black faux suede, I stitched out two designs, alternating them so they formed a circle. I decided not to do the cutwork areas at all, rather leave them as embroidery. Eight hoopings later, I was indeed tired but impressed with the look of the cushion. My only concern, although it looked nice, somehow the black material tended to make the cushion cover look rather small. So I brought out some light champaigne colored Dupioni silk and embroidered the same design on it. Placing the two cushions side by side, I realised that although I had used the same colors in both the cushion covers, the lighter cushion looked much larger and also made the designs look a bit larger, whereas the black cushion sort of made the designs look smaller. What a difference color makes!

Wanting to test out some of the cutwork designs that are built into the designs as well as some of the cutwork edgings, I decided to test my abilities in creating a large 20″ centerpiece out of linen. This was not an easy task and one which definitely required that I pay strict attention to my markings. I liked the methods that I had devised for the cutwork edgings and the cutwork and they worked out extremely easy. One major thing that I made a note to myself….when creating edgework cutwork, it is imperative that the same top thread be used in the bobbin otherwise it does not look nice! I was impressed with the new cutwork technique that I have devised and the amount of less time that it uses in its creation. One of the most difficult items to create is an uneven curved edge. I found this out when I was creating Arabi 2 collection several years ago. If one is not careful, one can develop a sort of loose edge where the threads sort of roll around the edge of the fabric.

Next month I will be travelling to Florida (ah…I can almost smell the warm temps and the sunshine!) and while working to think up of ideas for a hands on class, I  decided to use the Jacobean Symphony designs to create a linen doily. The doily itself is about 10″ in diameter and uses the cutwork and the multiple hooping techniques. For my sample, I deliberately used lighter colors  to give the doily a sort of heirloom look.

Using the same edge cutwork design, I then  used bold colors for the edge as well as the inner design and was amazed at the look of the difference. While digitizing, I tried my best to give the impression of different shades using the same color threads. My first encounter with this phenomenon had happened in my birth country of Pakistan when I had visited a friend’s carpet factory and had been totally impressed by the hand weaving of the famous persian carpets. One of the things that had made an impact on me was the change of color of the same thread when viewed in different directions. Silk thread and rayons have a much higher tendency to reflect different shadings as compared to polyester. I put this theory to test and was surprised that indeed polyester threads do not give that much of a difference as compared to rayons. As you can see from the doily above, some petals give out a darker shade than the others. All petals are created using the same threads. So, to new budding digitizers, give yourself a little tip and keep it in mind when changing directions of your embroidery objects. Most of the times, this creates a wonderful effect but it can be disastrous at other times especially in designs of people etc.

Tempted by several friends to create some designs that could be used as patches, I decided to test out another technique. So many times, we want to embelish items that cannot be hooped easily or are too thick to allow delicate designs to be embroidered on them. Coming up with an idea where the designs can be embroidered onto fabric and then the fabric can be applied to another item as a patch. Using a black linen tea towel from allaboutblanks.com (btw, these are the best black linen tea towels that I have found anywhere) I applied the technique using off white linen as my embroidery patch. The result was stunning and has given me some ideas on what to do with some of the very plush towels that I intend to give as Christmas gifts!

Speaking of Allaboutblanks.com my favourite tea towels are the pastel polka dots. Some while back I had done a class using these towels at the AEC and the class had been a huge success. Finding some of the left overs I decided to use them for some samples. The results were stunning. As I mentioned earlier, the linens I have purchased at Allaboutblanks.com have never ever disappointed me. They do not shrink, or go sideways as some inferior quality lines will do. Do make a point to visit Susan Mars’ website and look at the unbelievable linens that she sells.

The heart shape is a cutwork design but as I mentioned earlier, the cutwork designs are created in such a manner that they can be used as applique. So I decided to use the heart as an applique in the pink dotted towel. I was impressed with the look, very different. The blue dotted towel, I went ahead and embroidered as cutwork, either way works great!

While I was working with all the colorful designs, I kept envisioning a shawl using the designs. Now the last time I  had this idea, I ended up creating fringe for it as I wanted something matching for the edges. Well, I didn’t exactly come up with fringe again but decided to finish up the Tambour Lace Edgings collection that I had been working on for quite some time…a long while.

Several times I have been tempted to find edgings that are not so wide, ranging from 1/2″ to 1 1/2″ or 2″. Creating such edgings is not an easy task as one must realise that these will be used on delicate items therefore the edgings must be delicate themselves. While I had been working with a dear friend this fall on a “surprise” (hopefully early next year), I had started to create freestanding laces that were as delicate as threads yet were sturdy enough to last a lifetime. Using some of the same techniques I revamped the Tambour Lace Edging designs to where they are sturdy yet delicate. The edgings are openweave yet with a definite different look at the bottom with pearl or bead like trim. These can be embroidered using any color thread to match your fabric. Using another one of Susan’s linen tea towels, I added one of the trims to it using a simple zigzag stitch. The effect is indeed stunning. Another technique that I had been working on and I’m pleased to say that it is indeed working out great is a sort of insertion type blocks. I’m rather tempted at the moment to add onto the insertion blocks to give them more of an heirloom look.

Meanwhile the Jacobean Symphony designs are almost completed and I hope to release them on my website in late January. I will be doing two shows in Florida, do have a look at my schedule page: http://sadiasews.com/schedule2008.html  and will be introducing the collection there.