faux cutwork button

This button is finished!!!!  I used silk for the foundation fabric and used perle cotton thread for the button hole lace around the central motif. The rest of the embroidery was done using single strands of hand dyed silk thread.  The stitches used are button hole stitch, french knots, spider web roses, stem stitch, seed stitch and chain stitch and probably some I have forgotten.   When damping the piece down for damp stretching I added some colour to soften the background fabric which looked too harsh.  The button is 4.5cm across.

stitched gardens

 I have quite a love of knot gardens:  I have created several and I thought I would show them to you today.

This first one is stitched on hand dyed fabric using silk threads and lots of french knots and turkey stitch.

I particularly like the colours in this one.

This one was my first attempt and I was helped with stitch selection & colours by Bev Tully.  It took many hours of concentration.
Again I used silk threads.  It is lovely and soft to touch and is on the top of a round black box. 

I stitched out this heart pattern on my embroidery machine and then filled in the gaps (hearts etc) with different threads and stitches.  It was a kind of a 
sampler, and looks prettier in "real life". 

I have mounted this one on top of another box which I have covered with an interesting paper.

I use this one in the sewing room for bits & pieces. 

Another of my designs:  I found it difficult to deal with the idea of it being divided into 3 sections.  I do like symmetry. 

This tiny one was lots of fun to do: it is a little pin cushion set in a shallow wooden bowl.