Needlework

New Life for an Old Story

Quilts are like stories told in fabric and thread.  I am not really a quilter myself, but I am so in awe of those who are!   My grandmothers, however, were great quilters, and they filled their winters with beautiful works of art that took shape under their hands.  They set a huge quilting frame up in the dining room, and they stretched out these vast pieces of material on the frames and stitched for months.  

In any event, it came to pass that an old quilt top was found in one of the many boxes left behind in my grandmother’s house.  I will say here that I have no quilting frame, nor do I have any place to put one.  So, it was necessary to quilt the squares individually, and that is what I did. 

 Finally, I sewed all of the squares back together again.  I didn’t use the sewing machine, as I’m just not very good with a sewing machine, but I think it looks pretty nice.  I think my grannies would approve, but then, they were like that.  

The quilt has come back to life.  It still has its battle scars and it’s a bit smaller now, but aren’t we all.  All the same, this quilt (like us) may have more stories to be told.  

In Favor of Hats

No one knows for sure when the first cave person plopped an animal hide on his or her head to keep warm, but ever since, hats have been very popular.  In the winter months, there is nothing better than to have a cozy, knitted hat to wear. 

You can make hats with crochet or knitted stitches, but I mostly make knitted hats.  I can assure you that no fancy yarn is needed.  Regular knitting worsted makes a fine hat, but if you happen to have a skein or two of really elegant yarn (which is usually the amount that I can actually afford) like that lovely alpaca or cashmere wool, you can make a perfectly fine hat out of that too. 

Perhaps the most popular knitted hat is the beanie.  I expect you can easily make these in crochet too, but I’ve never tried it.  Certainly, beanie-type hats are some of the quickest and easiest things to knit.  They can be worked in the round or just knitted straight and sewn together.  Most patterns are worked from the bottom up, using ribbing at the brim so that the cap fits snuggly to the head.  The lower edge can be folded up into a cuff--or not as you prefer.  So consider making yourself a hat.  You will be a warmer person for it.

Patches or Pins

If you happen to have a very plain jacket or shirt (or most anything else for that matter) that could use some livening up, a colorful patch might be just the thing.

Unless you are going to do the thing as a round patch, choose a picture that doesn’t have too many pointy edges.  The reason I know this is that I decided to do a Celtic bird and all those serrated feathers were a trial to stitch around.

First, I just cut out the motif and sewed a satin stitch around it, overlapping the satin stitches all the way around the edges so as to stop any unraveling of the cloth.  This works: it is long and tedious and tiresome, but it does work.  Naturally, I was soon looking for an easier way to get the same effect.

If you have a piece of felt on the back, cut to the size of the motif, it is easier to sew through the two pieces.  This gives the cloth more body and it is easier to control.  It is also possible to sew a pin on the back and make the patch detachable.  

Pet Project

Have you considered immortalizing your favorite furry friend in embroidery?  This is a charming and very popular type of portrait, and it can be done in a number of ways.  Of course, you might have an artist or an internet service do it for you, but it is less expensive to do it yourself.

This project is easier if you choose a pattern that shows the basic shape of the animal.  Then you can just make adjustments as needed instead of trying to start from scratch.  Differences in coloring can then be adjusted to suit your pet’s individual style and look by redrawing or re-coloring those areas.  

As for technique, you might want to consider a wide range of stitches for regular embroidery or just use cross stitch.  I prefer regular embroidery for this purpose, but there are a lot of cross stitch patterns available as well.  Many people like to frame these portraits in hoops instead of a traditional frame.  This can make a charming portrait of a beloved pet, for giving as a present or as a gift for yourself.

That Old Yarn Game

Do you always buy more yarn than is needed for any given project?  I think that most of us do. In fact, this is often necessary to make sure you have enough to finish that sweater.  But then, of course, there is left-over yarn.

What you have gradually (or not so gradually) created is commonly called a “stash.”  Now, a stash might sound innocent enough, but it has the potential to turn into an unwieldy proposition.  One answer to the stash is the ‘granny square’ crochet pattern.  The granny square is composed of several rounds of different colors of yarn.  

When you have a sufficient number of these squares, you can sew them together into an afghan, place mat, or other useful item.  There are hundreds of different configurations and varieties of granny squares.  

In addition, they are handy to carry around to work on in waiting rooms and traffic jams, and they all use small amounts of different colors of yarn.   You can find all sorts of granny square patterns on the internet, at the library, and at the bookstore.   

Abstract Embroidery

Have you considered making abstract art—not with paint, collage, or water colors but with fabric and embroidery?  

Most of the time, we have a picture in our mind about what our project is going to be.  We have either found a design or come across a pattern that really appeals to us.  Sometimes, it seems like the image is just perfect for embroidery on material or knitting (or crocheting) with yarn.  

This might be a picture of an animal, a landscape, a quote, or a symbol of some sort, or it could be a sweater, a scarf, or a pair of socks.  Whatever the project may be, it is usually a recognizable thing.  There would be no confusion as to what this item represents.  This is very pleasant, of course, but it is not always necessary.

There are just times when you feel it would be fun to experiment with different stitches and textures without any recognizable pattern or plan.  Or you might want to work with colors and shapes and see what develops.  This is perfectly okay, and it is especially easy in terms of embroidery.   Feel free to let out your inner artist, and try an abstract.