Category Archive: Embroidery & Stitchery
McQueen M’Quakes – Mind, Mythos, Muse, Minis
(Special display at NGV, Melbourne, April 2023) The blurb – “Alexander McQueen (1969–2010) is one of the most original fashion designers in recent history. Celebrated for his conceptual and technical virtuosity, McQueen’s critically acclaimed collections synthesised his proficiency in tailoring and dressmaking with visual references that spanned time, geography and media. Showcasing more than 120 garments and accessories, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse offers insight into McQueen’s far-reaching sources of inspiration, his creative processes and capacity for storytelling…” All true of course. And the NGV has put on a show for the ages; to see these works up-close is a great…
Continue Reading →Embroidered Garden Flowers by Kazuo Aoki
Roost Books (to be published in January 2018). In the twenty-first century, while the traditional embroidery styles sashiko (“little stabs”) and nihon shishu (ornate symbolic stitchery), have continued to enchant and engross stitchers, there has also developed a less-stylised kind of Japanese decorative stitching. This popular kind of embellishment is more varied than the darning-style stitching of sashiko and less painstaking than the fine satin-stitch of nihon shishu. One category of modern Japanese embroidery often features ‘kawaii’ figures in stem and outline stitch – animals, people, household implements – and is popularly used on children’s clothing. Another school focuses on the botanical – landscapes, plants,…
Continue Reading →Mollie Makes
If Mollie Makes were a woman she would own “Millie’s”, a quirky organic vegan café. The cafe, her house and her daughter Charlie* would all be decorated in a quirky retro, minimalist style featuring lots of polka dots and woodland animals. On Sundays Mollie Makes would dye her severe bob black or purple, pop on her quirky red-rimmed glasses and cycle with Charlie to roller derby practice. The magazine is as worthy as that – heavy on the Scandanavian look, white walls, foxes, deer, owls, recycled furniture and dots. The projects are usually at the easy skill-level. Of course beauty is in the eye of the needle, but to this crafter the Mollie Makes projects are too often offputtingly err……
Continue Reading →Floral Teacosy Instructions First Half.
Hello Everyone, thank you for visiting !! This is an update of my previous post about the floral teacosy which I made for my friend L. I posted a pic of the teapot on Attic 24’s Facebook page and many lovely people have asked me for the pattern, so I shall do what I can. Here are some photos. I don’t have a pattern as such, but I will do my best to explain how it was done! MATERIALS I mainly used acrylic 8 ply yarn and 8 ply cotton with 4mm knitting needles and a 4mm crochet hook. I did use…
Continue Reading →2015 : The Year of Teacosies?
Wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year. ♥♥♥AN UPDATE – INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS TEAPOT CAN BE FOUND HERE AND HERE♥♥♥ I have made a floral teacosy for my friend L – it was to be a Christmas present. But…..so now it will be a birthday present for February. The basic pattern for the teacosy came from Crochet by Raymond, a fabbie site (Raymond is a cat, BTW). I found patterns for the flowers and leaves from all over the place. For more SENSATIONAL teacosies, do have a look at my Pinterest board, “Crochet and Knitted Teacosies” (Should that be “crocheted”? …
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