I am finished Picking up the Pieces (I think) ...

At the start of September, I was so fortunate to join the lovely Christine of Gentlework in a days course entitled 'Picking up the pieces'. 

This is what our day was like as we spent the day using up little pieces of fabric The time passed way too quickly, as it did on the previous workshop I did a decade before in our county town of Shrewsbury. 

The whole idea is totally indulgent - the spend the day creating a panel for no reason other than to inspire us - how fabulous is that?  This is some of the completed details ... 

I had positioned all my fabric bits & stitched them down at the workshop & have since then spent hours adding in the details that I really like. Hand sewing is a meditative process where you just concentrate on adding in details. It is a very creative experience because you have to draw from your stitch knowledge to find the ones that  will suit that section. I have my favourite stitches & sometimes simple is often best. I am fortunate to have a good selection of buttons that came from my late mother in law who was a very accomplished sewer but always with a purpose. I have used some of her vintage buttons & silk threads in this piece. 

I like the pieces to have some form of continuity & so added similar colours or finished the shapes with obvious stitching that completes it - old & new evident.    

  I also like merging fabrics to create something new (on the triangles at the top left) and the square pink on the top right. The lace, buttons & beads were vintage. 

I fortunately had several cards of vintage silk threads that were used for stockings. I used them in various thicknesses. 

The soft colours of the vintage silk threads were the right colour to pick up the pinks & blues of the patterns & to provide continuity across the sections. 

I also used vintage & modern threads in the stitching. 

One thing I noticed 10 years apart - the blue fabric looks identical to the one I used on my panel I did in 2013. Do you agree? 

It is very enlightening that I used the same / a very similar blue & pink fabric swatch to complete both panels. Perhaps we are just drawn to certain combinations ... 

The cow parsley flowers are a new one for me - I looked it up & think they look perfect filling in the space from the lettering to the triangles - they just look right in their muted shades with the tall stems reaching in to the space... 

The final part was to add a plain backing fabric & to blanket stitch it to the edges to give a neat edge. 

I fortunately acquired this lovely set of Coats Mercer - crochet threads recently. The colours are so lovely & they are in various weights / thicknesses which gives lots of options. I used one of these threads for the edge blanket stitch. It was the perfect colour in single strand because it did not distract from the panel at all, yet it held it all together. 

I think it is done, though I know that I might be tempted to tinker ... 

These are the stitches I mostly used on this piece, stitches I am comfortable with & which blend together harmoniously. 

I will probably sew loops on the back  & hang it in the room where I have all my sewing things. How would you display it? 

This is the panel from the start (top & bottom left) to the completed one. I like the pops of pink & the hints of blue with light touches of green - I think the colours go well together. 

Thank you for stopping by & sharing this workshop  stitching. I hope I have inspired you to do something for the sake of the love of stitching & creating. 

Dee 🧵📍🪡✔️