Heirloom Tree Skirt Revisited Revisited

December 8, 2007April 20, 2011 Kate2 Comments

These photos aren’t much better than the last (the sun is still refusing to cooperate with me), but here are a couple more photos of the “Heirloom Tree Skirt” now that it has been finished-finished by my talented seamstress roommate:

Please note how the fringe I chose oh-so-many-years-ago exactly matches the fringe from the pattern’s cover photo (see yesterday’s entry for comparison).

And here’s a close-up with the lining showing:

It feels so good to be able to cross this project off my list that I don’t even care that you can see the lining showing through from the other side. My roommate wisely offered to put in a layer of batting or buckram of some sort, but I foolishly declined. So you can see slight shadows of the lining fabric’s holly pattern from the front of the skirt. Oh well, I can live with it. I’m not going to replace my former guilt over not finishing this project before my mother’s death with new guilt over not making the right decision about the lining. Live and learn.

I think my mom would have loved it.

Heirloom Tree Skirt Revisited

December 7, 2007April 20, 2011 Kate4 Comments

Finding and finishing (well, supervising the finishing…) of the “Heirloom Tree Skirt” pattern by Bea & Chris (anybody out there know anything about them?) felt kind of like a trip through time—an archeological dig into the deep, dark history of cross stitch design in the late twentieth century. As such, I thought now would be a good time to point out
some of the changes in cross stitch designs that this pattern highlights.

There are so many more colors of DMC floss now, not to mention all the overdyed flosses and silks and rayons –oh my! The color palette of this pattern is extremely limited, even for its time. For example, follow the use of that obnoxious orange used for the wagon wheel in “Santa with bag of toys on back” and again for the doll’s hair in “Santa with Christmas tree over shoulder.” This orange was also supposed to be used for the hobby horse head in “Santa with bag of toys open as if to offer toys to little children” but I couldn’t stand it so I frogged it and changed it to a rusty brown before I’d “allow” my roommate to sew the lining and fringe on. Nowadays, most designers, I believe, would go ahead and call for three different colors for these three objects, and none of them would be that obnoxious orange.

And, for a naturalistic piece (one that was attempting to make the Santas look realistic) the
juxtaposition of the colors, including shading, is so much more crude than it probably would be today.

In my own growth as a stitcher, I realize that nowadays I would have known right-away that I was never going to sew all of the skirt fringe and the backing together. If I bought this pattern today, I would go ahead and buy the pre-made Tilla Christmas Tree Skirt. I think it was $40 fifteen years ago, which seemed at the time to be an exhorbitant amount for someone on a grad student’s salary. Nowadays, I would buy the pre-made tree skirt and wouldn’t even think twice. I can’t tell if that’s progress or not. You tell me.

Heirloom Tree Skirt Finished!

December 5, 2007April 20, 2011 Kate2 Comments

About fifteen years ago (I’m guessing by the date of the copyright on the cross stitch pattern), I gave my mother a Christmas present of a tree skirt I had cross stitched. Let me be more specific—I gave my mother most of the makings of a tree skirt (cross stitched fabric and fringed trim) and promised faithfully to finish it for her by the next Christmas. Finishing would have involved buying some appropriately Christmas-themed fabric, sewing the fabric backing to the cross stitch fabric, shaping a hole in the middle of the cross stitch fabric, and attaching the fringed trim.

Needless to say, my anti-finishing bias held sway and my mother never got her completed Christmas tree skirt, in spite of a couple of oblique (and not so oblique) hints thrown my way. My mother passed away in 1997 of breast cancer, and while, fortunately, I don’t feel as if there was much left unspoken between us, that tree skirt has haunted me ever since, especially around this time of year.

But no more! Thanks to a trip to the JoAnn’s fabric store in Porter Ranch (mmmmm…..so suburban……) and to the sewing skills of my roommate, the tree skirt is done!

Here’s a couple of detail shots–I will try to have a complete picture tomorrow, with a look at the backing. First we have a close-up of “Santa with bag of toys on back”:

Followed by “Santa with bag of toys open as if to offer toys to little children”:

And, for the grand finale, we have “Santa with Christmas tree over shoulder”:

Work in Progress: Ewe & Eye Needlecase

November 28, 2007July 6, 2014 KateLeave a comment

Several years ago, I bought this Heart’s Content kit called “Ewe & Eye Needlecase” at the big spring sale at Needles & Niceties in Upland, CA. I have a weakness both for sheep designs and one-over-one stitching. I started this project right away, but was soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of doing one-over-one stitching on 36-count with a beige linen background with one strand of light beige DMC embroidery floss.

My eyes have yet to hit middle age, but after about a half-hour of stitching under these conditions, I felt like they had. I made a decision to work on this project only in the middle of the day and only under direct sunlight. Needless to say, that somewhat limits one’s stitching opportunities. My progress on the needlecase slowed to a crawl and eventually stopped altogether.

As much as I love this project, I must admit that it’s been sitting in my UFO pile for at least three years now. So, now that it’s winter and sunlight is a limited commodity, I’ve decided to pull it out and start working on it again. Logical, eh?

Here’s my progress so far–stay tuned for more updates:

Ewe & Eye Needlecase WIP — “Ewe & Eye Needlecase” in progress

A Finish Twelve Years in the Making

November 25, 2007April 20, 2011 KateLeave a comment

“A Portrait of Santa” by Donna Vermillion Giampa

It’s finally finished! I can hardly believe it. When I began this project, no one knew who Monica Lewinsky or Britney Spears were or what an iPod did. Although the final result looks great (much better than I expected, actually, if I do say so myself), I must admit that my primary feeling at the moment is one of intense relief. Not only can I cross this project off my perpetual list of “things to stitch,” I have one of my Christmas presents done too!

This is where I was going to show you a close-up picture of the tremendous beating my friend’s pattern has taken over the years, but then I realized that it would be a huge violation of copyright. As a professional wordsmith and semi-professional designer myself, I have a great respect for copyright laws. Everyone has the right to be rewarded for their labors.

And, speaking of rewards for labor, I have to say that getting this Santa monkey off my back is quite a good one. As an added bonus, my friend has given me the pattern in exchange for the final stitched product. If anyone wants a completely beat-up copy of this pattern, let me know — I’ll even pay for the shipping.

Where Have all the Flower Threads Gone? Part II

November 24, 2007April 20, 2011 Kate2 Comments

Picking up where I left off yesterday–my heroic quest for the right color of flower thread. I offer in evidence this detailed photo of the bottom third of the sampler. To my eyes, the lightest green seems disproportionately lighter and mintier (bluer) than the medium and dark green (used for the lettering). What do you all think?

The mintier light green matches the star and hearts charms very well, but I still don’t like it. And you can’t make me.

The problem is that with the flower threads being discontinued, I have no way of finding out if there’s a suitable substitute so I can redo the lightest green (2369). You can see the called-for threads in the picture on the right. Ginnie Thompson has so far been unresponsive to my requests for a color card or even a conversion chart to DMC flower threads. As I mentioned yesterday, their site offers a conversion chart to DMC embroidery floss, but that’s not the same thing, is it? If the DMC flower thread 2369 actually matched the color of the DMC embroidery floss 369, as it’s ostensibly supposed to, I wouldn’t be unhappy with the color. The embroidery floss color is a little darker and less minty green–just what I want. Sigh.

"Sew a Fine Seam" DMC Flower Threads and Wildflowers 5004

The closest approximation that I’ve found is actually this Caron Wildflowers, #5004 (see photo on left). I tried DMC Perle Cotton and Medicis Wool, but they either weren’t the right color or they weren’t the right texture. Although the Wildflowers is a bit grayer than I’d like, and a bit thicker, I might just go with it anyway since it has that matte flower thread cotton feel. What have I got to lose? I’m unhappy with the sampler the way it is, and the situation can only get better, right?

Where Have all the Flower Threads Gone?

November 23, 2007April 20, 2011 Kate2 Comments

So, today I went to the closest local needlework shop (LNS), Sit ‘n’ Stitch in Toluca Lake, CA, in search of a substitute for the late, lamented DMC Flower Thread.

Many years ago (I’m guessing around 2000, if the stitched date can be trusted), I stitched this La Broderie sampler, “Sew a Fine Seam,” using DMC Flower Threads (La Broderie called for Flower Threads for most of their designs–is that why they’re not around anymore? sigh!). I have never been happy with the light green that the pattern called for–2369–since, to my eye, it’s too light, too “minty,” and has too much blue in it compared to the other two greens–2320 and 2890.

Pardon the rather murky photo, by the way.

As you probably are aware, DMC stopped making Flower Threads in 1999–December 31, 1999 to be exact. It’s like DMC decided they couldn’t begin the 2000’s with any matte cotton flosses in their repertoire. You can still find people selling their stash of DMC Flower Thread on Ebay and, surprisingly, a few needlework sites still have some inventory available, but nowadays the closest substitute is Ginnie Thompson Flower Thread (includes a conversion chart from DMC embroidery floss to Ginnie Thompson Flower Thread).

In case you’re interested, here is the link to DMC’s suggested conversion chart between the regular ol’ six-strand DMC cotton embroidery floss and DMC flower thread. What the asterisks and double asterisks mean is anyone’s guess (repeats? approximate substitutions?), so shoot me an email if you figure it out.

“A Quaker Study” Finished!

November 10, 2007April 20, 2011 KateLeave a comment

Ta-da!!

A Note on the final product: I decided not to stitch the square border around the edge that’s called for in the pattern. I just liked it better this way. I thought the border detracted a bit from the design. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last pattern I stitched exactly as designed. Hmmmm….

A Portrait of Satan II: Return to the North Pole

November 9, 2007April 20, 2011 KateLeave a comment

So, I’ve been making a lot of progress on “Portrait of Santa” — it’s like I’m possessed with the desire to get this pattern out of my life forever. As you can see, he now has a complete hoodie, eyes, eyebrows, and most of a forehead, as compared to here. He’s starting to look a lot less creepy.

Here’s a close-up of the upper right (Santa’s forehead and wreath) so you can really see the progress:

I almost hate to say it, but this pattern is growing on me. The colors–the deep reds and pinks in particular–are very vibrant and I especially like the contrast between the two–the bright reds and minty greens, with a little of the sage green of the mistletoe thrown in for variety. I’m one of those people who thinks it’s “sad” that the color combination of red and green is reserved for Christmas. Like the other classic “primary color plus secondary” color combinations–yellow and purple, blue and orange–these two colors bring out the best in each other.