Wednesday 6 July 2011

Whitework and Cutouts

Over the years, I've seen many embroidered pieces with fabric cut out.  Although, I found it beautiful, I was always too frightened to try it, I didn't have the confidence that the whole piece wouldn't just fall apart.

Last year, I had a go at hardanger, so when I saw this project using embroidery incorporating cut outs, I thought it was time to give it a go.

I was well in my comfort zone for the satin stitch bodies, leaves and antennae, but soon it was onto cutting the fabric.
 First up, were the little holes.  These were my favourites.  First a line of running stitches go around where the hole is to be, cut a hole, and then use over cast stitch to finish the edging.
The larger holes on the butterfly wing were worked using the same principle, but used blanket stitch edging rather than over cast stitch. The fabric in this case is cut away after the blanket stitch is worked. I need a little more practise on the corners but it's worked.

The scalloped edge is done in blanket stitch, then the fabric is cut close to the stitching.

As a first attempt, I am really happy with how this has turned out so I shall look forward to getting this finished into something useful

10 comments:

Donna said...

You should be happy with this piece. It is absolutely beautiful!

Amy said...

**gasp**
This is COOL!
This is AMAZING!
Oh wow....I haven't seen anything like this before. Two thumbs up!

Annie said...

That's an incredible piece! I can't believe it's your first one! It's scary to start cutting those holes.

Terry said...

That's lovely! Will you be doing more of it?

Maggi said...

A lovely piece and you didn't make it fall apart!

Gina E. said...

Jane The Jenius! You are so clever with your hands - this is fabulous, especially for your first attempt. When I saw the heading of this post, it was like de ja vu - I have just posted a heap of photos of vintage whitework on my blog. No cutwork in there though.
BTW, are you going to post your Skills Sampler blocks on Leila's Flickr site? I was looking at it earlier, and didn't see yours. I've done my new Churn Dash in two colours, and am very pleased. Photo will be posted tomorrow :-)

Rudee said...

I like the white on white. It's a really pretty piece.

Serena Lewis said...

Well done!! It looks fabulous!

Angela said...

This is lovely. You are posting so many lovely things,using lots of different techniques I wish I could get round to completing more things I just seem to have less and less stitch time at the moment

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful. It looks like a vintage French piece. You should be thrilled. It doesn't look at all like a first piece.