Vintage Floral Embroidery

Regular readers will know that I have a large collection of vintage embroidered linens. I have been cutting these up and using them to make things like notebook holders and cushions for a while now.
But, inevitably, I’m starting to use up all the best bits. And some of the bits are just so gorgeously stitched that I really can’t bear to cut them up.
Like this table cloth below.

So I’ve been trying to design my own, updated versions of the embroideries, partly to preserve the techniques and partly to widen my available stash.

When I studied this exquisite embroidery above I realised that all the flowers were made up of beautifully executed and very long bullion knots.
Below is my version (of the profile, rather than the full frontal flower). Nowhere near as lovely as the original, but if you don’t put them side by side it looks ok!

Here is another very pretty flower, worked mainly in stem stitch. I really like the use of black for the French knots in the centre of these flowers. It’s such a striking contrast against the bright colourful shades.

Here’s my version. I’ve used mostly back stitch and changed the design slightly but it still looks remarkably the same.

I’ve stitched 4 little motifs. They were quick and easy to do.

The nice thing about making my own ‘vintage embroideries’ is that I can make them the right size and scale for a specific project.

Here’s a sneak peek at a new version of my Cathedral Window Pillow (scroll down the left hand side of the page to see the original) that I’m making for another magazine project. I’ve been able to design that purple daisy above to fit perfectly into the ‘window’.

Apologies for my blog posts being so far apart at the moment. I am busy with so many projects, but hardly any of them are at the right stage to share.

Here’s one little finish. I was teaching my Peekaboo Quilt Workshop the other day (my version of the Porthole Technique), and wanted a quick project to help demonstrate.