Textural Landscape Embroidery - a 6 week online Zoom course with Uisce (Malahide Community School)

This course is designed both for beginners and participants with some experience in stitching.

You will be learning how to interpret a landscape project with variety of stitches combined into structures. Different textures of stitches can wonderfully express different areas of a landscape: grassy hills, meadows, fields, water, rock formations and wisps of clouds.

You will work with a photograph of an Irish landscape as a reference and embroider lines and structures of stitches on a project drawn from this photograph. You will be taught to use flat and three-dimensional stitches to express a variety of textures according to how they appear in nature.

 

This is a list of basic materials which will be required for the class - PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY:

You will also need the access to a printer for printing a design in A4 format for the first class (black and white).

 

1) embroidery hoop size 18 - 20

 

https://thecraftyrock.com/products/embroidery-hoops?fbclid=IwAR3HHCq0OV-JQhG4S-I4qhJwqfArX_Bb9YwgfChGXrLDFt3i97UxkBvIyII&variant=32234096820301

 

https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/wooden-hoops

https://www.theconstantknitter.ie/Embroidery-X-Stitch-Tatting-etc/5038036300318

 

2) cotton or linen fabric (calico is the best) size 26cm or 28 cm, depending on the size of the hoop

 

 https://www.theconstantknitter.ie/Embroidery-X-Stitch-Tatting-etc/10983

 

 https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/bomull-fabric-unbleached-51725112/

 

 https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/calico-square

3) at least 5 skeins of cotton embroidery floss, colours of your choice (they don't need to match the picture!). 

 

You can buy your selection of threads here:  https://www.theconstantknitter.ie/Embroidery-X-Stitch-Tatting-etc/10643

To find the numbers connected to colours you want, you can search them in the  official DMC shop: https://www.dmc.com/us/six-strand-embroidery-floss-9003292.html

You can also buy an entire pack of various colours here:

https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/thread-packs

 

 

For your information, the list of threads I decided to order for my landscape embroidery is -BASIC 5: 3362 (green), 3012 (green), 3024 (light grey), 3860 (purple/brown), 519 (blue). I also decided to order some ADDITIONAL colours for more variety and shading: 471 (green), 3861 (purple/brown), 518 (blue), 3045 (ochre), 01 (very light grey). I ordered them from here: https://www.theconstantknitter.ie/Embroidery-X-Stitch-Tatting-etc/10643

PLEASE NOTE: the goal of our working on the project is to learn how to interpret a landscape photo with stitches using any set of 5 colours, not to make an embroidered copy of the photo. You can buy ANY set of 5 (or more) colours you like! If you want to make your shopping easier and your embroidery more adventurous and maybe even a bit surrealistic, you can buy any set of threads here: https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/thread-packs

4) embroidery needle (size 5 is optimal) and a Chenille needle (or a darning needle):

 

 https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/embroidery-needles-sizes-5-10

 https://www.bealice.ie/product-page/chenille-needles-multipack

 

 https://www.theconstantknitter.ie/Embroidery-X-Stitch-Tatting-etc/4002271255420

 

 

5) sharp scissors

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

6) optional: a threader and a ripper, metallic threads, wool threads (crewel work or similar).

 

7) Optional: carbon paper for transferring a pattern onto fabric, you can buy it in Mr. Price. You can also transfer your pattern using a window in day-time (please see details below).

 

Carbon paper method

Place a piece of fabric on the table and using a Scotch tape or masking tape fix the corners of it to surface of the table.

Place a sheet of carbon paper (staining part down) over the fabric. Place a pattern drawn on a piece of paper over the carbon paper, making sure that the design is adjusted exactly as you want it over the fabric. Fix the pattern and the carbon paper on the corners with Scotch tape or masking tape to hold them in position. 

Draw the pattern onto fabric through carbon paper, following the lines, preferably with a colouring pencil – this way you won’t miss any part of the pattern.

 

Light box method

Place the pattern drawn on tracing paper on a light box or window (day time!).

 Attach the piece of fabric over the pattern using masking tape or Scotch tape. Make sure that the fabric is placed over the pattern so you can see it through at your intended place.

Trace over the pattern using HB or B pencil, or a fine marker.