1st Quarter Challenge Part 1
Lyn and Annie posted the 1st Quarter Challenge at the first of the year and I have been considering what I wanted to create with 1900-1909 in mind. Then I remembered the Antique Pattern Library. This is a free online resource that has PDF’s of interesting antique patterns and magazines. There are a lot of different categories to explore. If you haven’t checked it out before, you should take a look. There is loads of inspiration to be found there.
So I put embroidery in the search box and then looked through the options. I found this magazine from 1902-1903, perfect! If you click on the link, you can view the entire PDF. I had decided that I would use one of the patterns in this magazine to create a felt piece and then add free motion machine embroidery for the details.
So I chose the poppies. This was originally intended for silk embroidery in a traditional long and short stitch. I decided to use the photo for inspiration and go from there.
My studio is piled with stuff all over the place as I am working on a large wall hanging for my Level 3 Stitch course and I didn’t want to climb over a bunch of stuff to look through all my wool. So I used what I had already out. I can say I was challenging myself to a limited palette or it could be I was being lazy.
I used prefelt that was left over from Christmas ornaments and some other bits of green that were still out from some of my differential shrinkage projects. Hmmm…. perhaps I should clean up the studio a bit? Here’s the layout. I am planning on adding all the details with stitching after felting. I also decided to leave out the separate stem on the design and just go with two open poppies and a bud.
Here’s how it looks after felting. I didn’t full it heavily since it will end up being framed. I will have to use a stabilizer for free motion machine stitching as it is quite thin. It’s drying now and I will show you the added stitching in my next post.
15 thoughts on “1st Quarter Challenge Part 1”
Love the background mix – very subtle
Thanks Nancy, it’s a batt that I had that worked against the foreground colors.
What a find. Am really enjoying reading through the magazine
with my morning coffee. Its a link with crofters across more than a century
I’m glad you enjoyed the antique magazine. It is interesting to see the link from what we create now to what was created more than one hundred years ago.
What a fabulous resource Ruth! Been skipping through the Pattern Library to see what’s there – there’s so much!
Annie’s in the same boat as you – she has a massive wool layout in her studio and it’s taken over and is making it difficult for other projects.
Love the choice of embroidery and your felt is looking so good just as it is. Your layout of the red survived the felting process well! The background colour is just right for the period too.
Glad you are enjoying the antique pattern library, it is a fabulous way to find ideas from the past. And, yes, it is tons of information.
I hope Annie is able to work through her massive project. I know that mine is taking a long time but at least I’m moving forward with it now.
The red prefelt did hold up very well through the felting process. Hopefully, my addition of stitching will enhance the look.
Your piece already look great, Ruth. And I like how you’ve interpreted the image. It’s a good example of necessity being the mother of invention: if you hadn’t said you were using what you could lay your hands on, I certainly wouldn’t have guessed. Look forward to seeing part 2.
Thanks Lindsay, still working out how I’m going to stitch the piece. I was lucky I had the colors that I needed or the invention would have been quite different from the inspiration 🙂
Thanks for sharing the resource for antique patterns. Your piece is beautiful!
Thanks Marilyn!
the flowers had kept their depth and form really well. the stitching will be interesting to see. I am also curios about the big piece. I hope you will share it when its done. working large can be as big as challenging as working in miniature.
Thanks Ann, hopefully the stitching will be a good addition. The wall hanging is 18″ x 30″ and has taken a lot of work. I will show it once we have our exhibition. It will probably be in early 2022.
Thanks for the link to the antique library! Love your poppies!
You’re welcome Barbara, I hope you find it useful.