Today, I’m sharing with you some fishy embroidery from Needle ‘n Thread readers.
Now, just so you know, fishy is not meant in any dubious way! I literally mean fishy, as in fish-related embroidery.
Since it’s summer here in the States and a perfect time to think of beaches, rivers, lakes, water, and sunshine, I thought I’d group these three contributions together in a fish-related theme.
First up, Cool Waters by Catherine Jordan, a member of the Gentle Pursuits chapter of the EGA in Richmond, Virginia. This is a dimensional embroidery piece, finished on a frame compact, which incorporates stitches learned through the how-to videos here on Needle ‘n Thread, particularly the drizzle stitch.
The project was inspired by the “President’s Challenge” of the EGA Oatlands Chapter. The challenge specified designing something orange, but not a pumpkin and not Halloween themed.
So, Catherine painted two pieces of stiffened felt and cut a hole for the pond, used the stitches to add dimension and growth around the pond, painted the mirror compact’s frame to match the piece (which is only 3″ round), and finally, painted some tiny fish onto the surface of the mirror pond.
I can’t believe those fish are painted!! They look like tiny three-dimensional glass fish, don’t they? Lovely outcome!
Aha! The blackwork fish! This was one of my favorite-ever, all-silk, any-stitches embroidery projects. It began as an exploration of stitches worked in various weights of black silk threads.
Evelyn Cheso did a great job on her own version, and in fact, she’s worked it twice already (this was her first fish) and wants to do it again. She said it was her favorite project.
I know how she feels – it’s a fun approach to embroidery. You have the “confines” of an image (in this case, the fish), and the “confines” of one color. But within that image, you have the freedom to explore all kinds of stitch and filling techniques, and within that color, you have the freedom of choosing multiple weights and types of thread. It’s fun!
And my fish is ever-so-happy to know he’s got a twin (or two or three) out there somewhere!
Janet Buhler worked up this stumpwork piece inspired by Salvador Dali’s Ship with Butterfly Sails.
She was looking for a thread to use for the embroidery. She wanted something with more sheen than cotton, and when I mentioned the silk embroidery threads from The Silk Mill, she was intrigued!
The result: all the embroidery in the piece is worked with Silk Mill threads, with the exception of the tree trunk, which is worked in Anchor stranded cotton.
The ship with its butterfly sails is striking, and the ocean and the sky background – they’re fantastic!
The ocean is dyed fabric (I think it’s silk organza?) from Stef Francis that’s been painted. Little silver spangles dot the waves.
Lovely, colorful piece, isn’t it? Oh, to see a coastline right now! And to frolic in those waves…
For those just joining in, this is a continuation of series of articles that highlights embroidery from the Needle ‘n Thread community, especially needlework influenced by information, tutorials, patterns, and so forth from Needle ‘n Thread. You can find a call for contributions and an explanation of the series here, and you can see previous examples of embroidery-related reader contributions here.
