I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I have still been hard at work on the hope chest. I finished this set of three Tunisian crocheted dishcloths for what I think of as the "Kitchen Utensils" set. (tutorial here) I also added this set of four brown-toned hand towels and a second set of dishcloths with a simple scalloped shell edging.
I painted a set of dishtowels as well, using the old fashioned tube paints. I remember these paints as being quite easy to use, but I think I need a little more practice.
I have a list of items that I want to include with this "Kitchen Utensils" set and I am now finished with all but a couple of the projects. Soon I can sew up the apron and a bag of some sort to keep it all together in the hope chest. I'll try to get pictures taken and posted soon. Promises, promises...
Very nice....I love them.....thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI am always so happy to see you post about more pretties for the hope chest. I love the edged dish cloths and think they'd make pretty face cloths. I also love the crocheted dish cloths and appreciate the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteThose are lovely! Your daughter will be delighted to have them in her hope chest :) Especially made by her Mom!
ReplyDeleteAll gorgeous, as always! I love seeing your creations, Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteLove your site!
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea of yours, and wonder if Miss Abigail is going to be adding any items that she makes to the hope chest. You are creating such a priceless heirloom . I love the embroidering of dishtowels and like you have made thesearch for somthing of quality. What i finally decided was to buy osnaburg and hem that with mitered corners . I made one for myself and have been using it as a sort of test run...it holds up quite well and gets very nice and soft with repeated washing. i washed the yardage first to shrink it and then starched it like crazy to make sure that the sewing would be easy. What do you do with the backs of your towels to keep the embbroidered threads from shadowing onto the front as you move from place to place in the design?
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a great comment, Katie! I think osnaburg is a great fabric for the dishtowels and I would think it should be thick enough not to show the threads from the back too much. What to do with these threads is always a topic from one embroiderer to another, I think. Obviously, the thickness of the towel makes the biggest difference in whether or not these threads are noticeable. So a good quality towel helps a lot! I was also taught to be very careful with the reverse of my embroidery and to fasten off the thread if there was a stretch of more than 1/4 inch, and begin anew. This can be a real problem if you have very many french knots scattered around as it is almost impossible to fasten off a single french knot. This 1/4 inch "rule" also requires me to plan ahead how to embroider my way around the design, so that I have as few of these kinds of stretches as possible. Finally, I have just trained myself to fasten off and begin again more than I ever wanted to when I was younger. Doing so just keeps the back neater. I take more trouble when the project has to be laundered more often, like dishtowels. Laundering increases the chances that something might catch on crossed threads, snagging or tearing them and causing the embroidery to come undone. I don't have a good answer, but keep asking needleworkers, because someone else might.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing I do with the threads. If I have a stretch that is longer than 1/4 inch but cannot or don't want to fasten off, I try to weave through the back of other stitches as I work over to the next part of the design, so that the loose thread is tacked down. I don't like to do too much of this though, because it adds unnecessary thread to the back of the project. In most cases, it looks better to fasten it off and begin again.
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