Roses Hand Embroidery

For the moment my Gertie's Garden wall hanging is on hold awaiting the quilting stage but in the meantime I have been doing some hand embroidery in readiness for our Bredon Crafters' session.this month.

The plan is to try out different techniques over the next few months and these can be incorporated into all sorts of things.  Examples are: a cloth book, a notebook cover, a journal quilt and so on.

My own preference will be for 3D, raised or free-form embroidery, as well as a mixture of interesting applique techniques including dimensional applique. This suggests another range of uses including bags, wall art and domestic items such as a table runner. However the wishes and interests of my colleagues at Crafters and Quilters will influence where we go with this.

But as we work through the techniques I plan to include some of them in my Gertie's Garden wall hanging as well.

Today I chose to revise the Bullion Stitch and the Bullion Rose.  This technique doesn't need a hoop as the stitches are 'scooped'  i.e. not stabbed as they are when in a hoop.  So cotton fabric and stranded cotton embroidery threads were needed as well as a needle suitable for bullion stitches.  The best choice of needle is a Milliner's or Straw Needle as they are long and slender and have a slender eye which makes it easier to pull the thread through the wraps.

As I went on I did find that some fusible very light-weight interfacing was helpful too because the bullion rose is quite dense and can pull the cotton fabric unless it is interfaced.  The interfacing also helped to 'end-off'' the thread at the back as it provided a double thickness to tuck in the thread ends.

Here you see two bullion stitches starting to form the centre of the rose.  The long Milliner's Needle is shown too.  Bullion Stitch is created by scooping a short section of the fabric and wrapping the thread around the needle a number of times, then pulling the needle through the wraps and fastening them down by taking the needle through to the back of the work.
The rose is formed by making stitches is different colours which encircle the ones made earlier.

In this image you can see the wraps made around the needle.  Next the wraps are held with the left thumb as the needle is pulled through and then laid back on to the fabric to form the 'grub' shape.

In the next image some small leaves are shown which are simply Detached Chain Stitch.







 Bullion Stitch is so versatile.  I have a book, which illustrates many designs, called the A to Z of Embroidered Motifs - amazing what you can do with a simple embroidery stitch.  The book is published by search Press.

The Rosebud shown next to the two roses had a Fly Stitch calyx and a Stem Stitch stem - both very simple stitches

To add interest and to practice some more I went on to try an Aster flower with lots of long Bullion Stitches and which included a centre of French Knots - more good practice.

The Aster has a Stem Stitch stem (very appropriate) and a detached chain stitch leaf.

Finally, to bring it all together into a little scene I added some Fern Stitch grasses and some French Knots.

This will be made up into a page for a Fabric Art Journal (or Cloth Book) but it will need another page to back it and I haven't decided what to put on that page yet.  It might be some more different embroidery or it could be some applique experiments.  Looking forward to finding out!