For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Sunday, May 3, 2009

3

I normally hate sundays, last day before work, ironing and stuff to do to get ready for the morning...not today! Off tommorrow, Bank Holiday, fantastic, a whole day of pleasure. The house hasn't had any quality time but who cares, maybe tommorrow, (probably not but we shall see!) I have been embroidering this piece of cloth all week for doll number three. Today was the day to put her together. I embroidered a whole row of these for the edge of her dress, could be a whole new theme, ''the edge of her dress'' I love how it sounds. By this morning these pieces were damp stretched and had that lovely crisp, clean feel to them. If you have ever damp stretched you will know what I am talking about, if you haven't I definitely recommend it.

Then I cut them all up and made little flaps, for you guessed it, the edge of her dress. If you have been glued to flickr all day like me then you will have seen these already. Today has been a succession of stitch, cut, assemble, photograph, post on flickr and repeat again.
Then they were pinned to the lower edge and machined into place. This particular process is so scary, turning it the right way round hoping it is all in place, nothing stitched upside down or caught in the seam etc etc. Fortunately it turned out o.k. No snags or upside down embroidery, phew! In all her glorious finery I give you doll number three , in the shop now with her delicate. femminine lace head band.
You all know I want to move permanently to doll world, in fact I am considering forming a support group for doll making addicts, ''doll anon'' or something, however, I have other stuff to do, nice stuff, good stuff, an order for a bridesmaid gift. That will be underway tonight and you will all see it first. Then I am going to make for July, but as has been pointed out, I could make dolls for July! Yay!!
I went blog visiting last night, it had been ages, I am amazed at how much I have missed you have all been so productive. I may not come often but I love the suprises I get when I do visit, here's a big ''aren't we clever and hardworking to each and everyone of you, oh and me too''!!
Monday 3pm. Work in the morning, I am so depressed!! I have been reading articles on etsy ''how to give up the day job'' They say you should list constantly so today I have listed this and this.
p.s. Miriam, I can't seem to comment on your blog, I try and try, sorry!

14 comments:

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Very beautiful stitching Karen.x

connie said...

Third time is a charm. She the best yet. I just love the way they look from the back with your ribbon. Such a classy lady she is....

Ulla said...

She is adorable!

Jane said...

Another gorgeous doll, the edge of her dress came out really well. Enjoy your day today, unfortunately, I have to give my house some quality time

Diane Cransac said...

These are so lovely. YOu seem to impart a bit of magic to everything you touch. Maybe it is this mysterious 'damp stretching' you keep talking about that is doing it ^__^ I say forget the doll-anon and go for it! Make as many as you want!

Art4Sol said...

I think these dolls are sooo beautiful; simple but elegant...another wonderful idea of yours. Enjoy you free day today.

Helen said...

You make such lovely things! If I had a paypal account I would be broke all the time! Have you ever thought about teaching? It's a shame for you to not share your incredible talents

Karen said...

Helen, I do actually have qualified teacher status. Unfortunately positions for embroidery teachers never seem to come up, I wish!!

zigzago said...

Hi, I'm Renata, Belgian living in Italy. You're embroidery is just fabulous!

Miriam said...

Whoaaa! Beautiful as always! What a cutie!:) Everything you make turns out super-duper!

Haha, I got your comment, I have this function where I have to approve the comment before it shows up on the site though! :D

Yes, it was the Christian March! They handed out bibles and seemed..nice, I suppose.:) (I didn't spend such a great deal of time there) The Cherry Blossoms are from a place called "Kungsträdgården", it's as most beautiful this time of the year.:) There were some 1:st of May demonstrations there, so I left quite early (not a big fan of crowds).

Have a nice evening!:)

Jackie said...

I like the way the 'spots' are smaller towards the top on this one.
I feel heartily sorry for you because I know that feeling so well, of enjoying your creativity and then having to put it aside for 'the day job'.I'm sure these will be a great success and you will be able to retire fro school very soon.

Cerejeira said...

Hi Karen!!!
Keep trying the right opportunity will come to you.

jude said...

your stitches just look like they grew naturally right out of the cloth.

anastasia said...

beautiful cut work! the circles and dots are so reminiscent of piped frosting. she's very lovely.