Beginners Short Course In Crewel "Time Of Plenty"

September 15, 2018 1 Comment

Welcome to our short Crewel Work course, Time of Plenty is designed to be worked as a Crewel Work but it can be worked with stranded cottons on, Linen or Heavy silks. All the stitches used are surface embroidery stitches as well as Crewel and can be worked with different threads to suit your desired project.

What you will need : 6inch Ring Frame. Fabric, (Recommended) Linen Twill or a heavy cotton or linen fabric 25cm x 25cm. Chenille embroidery needle size 24.

Recommended wool colours are worked in Appleton Crewel Wool: 694. 987. 968. 904. 643. 542. 755. 607.

The Stitches: Long & Short. Padded Satin Stitch. French Knot. Stem Stitch.

Design Outline. 11cm x 11cm approx, to fit into a 6inch Hoop Frame.

Drag image to your desktop or copy and paste and printout. It might be a bit bigger then the recommended size please feel to alter the size of the image on your computer

Transfering your image to fabric. Prick & Pounce.

What your need is a Pestle and Mortar, Cuttlefish I picked some up from the beach at the weekend or a pet shop will sell it, Artists Charcoal, Fine paint brush, tube of gouache or water colour in your chosen colour, tracing paper and a roll of tightly rolled felt and stitched together.
Make your Pounce by grinding to a fine dust the cuttlefish (soft parts are best) and charcoal in the Pestle & Mortar to make a grey dust.

Trace the outline onto tracing paper.

Put the tracing paper on a soft padding and prick out the outline with lace making pricker.

Place your design on the desired fabric, weight down and rub the Pounce into the dotted lines, when finished lift off the tracing paper to leave a dot outline of your design.

Blows away any excess Pounce and then paint in the outline with the paint, use a grey or brown tone colour, I've used yellow ochre.

Order of Work and Colours.

Note: I recommend colours I've used in the picture, but please feel free to choose your own colours to suit your own tastes and style.

Order of Work:

1) Long & Short: work under areas first in 904. (1a) 904. (1b) 904. (1c) 904. (1d) 904. (1e) 904.

2) Padded Satin Stitch: 755. (2a) 694. (2b) 607.

3) Stem Stitch: 542. (3a) 542. (3b) 643.

4) French Knots: 694. (4a) 607. (4b) 987.

Eye: Work a few over stitchse or a french knot, depending on how bulky you want your eye to be, in 968.

How to finish the back.

Using a strong thread like what is commonly used for leather work, tie a knot and work a running stitch all around the edge about an inch from the edge of hoop. Gather the thread as tightly as possible and cast off. Cut off the excess, then the PVA white glue paint a layer over the edges to stop frying.