Diamond Tile Cyber Class - Lesson 1

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1 1 P a g e Diamond Tile Cyber Class - Lesson 1 By Alison Cole Embroidery All embroidery is worked with a waxed length of Gutermann thread in a #10 crewel needle. After waxing the Gutermann, make sure to run your fingernails down the thread a couple of times to remove any excess wax. If you don t remove the excess wax, the silk dupion will do it for you and you will get powdered wax on your background fabric. Be careful when handling the purl threads as they are fragile and can be easily stretched and squashed out of shape. Smooth Purl and Bright Check Purl are hollow and cut to length on a velvet covered cutting mat and applied as you would a bead. The exception to this is Pearl Purl which is stretched prior to use and couched on the surface of your work. When cutting the purls do not use your best embroidery scissors these threads are metal and will destroy your good scissors. Either use metal thread embroidery scissors or an old pair of scissors. Purls tarnish if they are over handled touch any thread that is labelled gilt as little as possible. Goldwork embroidery should be left in the hoop until it is finished. Preparation Place the Thai silk over the piece of calico and place them in a 10 hoop tighten until both fabrics are drum tight. My preference is a Susan Bates hoop as they do not lose tension while you are working. If you have not used a hoop with a lip before, the lip on the inner ring must face upwards then place your fabrics over the hoop and place the outer ring of the hoop. Tension the hoop, making sure that the lip of the inner ring of the hoop is sitting proud of the outer ring. Note: there is no need to bind the inner ring of this type of hoop.

2 2 P a g e Trace the base design onto baking parchment with a mechanical pencil using a ruler to trace the straight lines. Hint: tape in place so that it doesn t Move while you are tracing. Centre the tracing over the Thai silk and tape in place with Scotch Magic Tape (this tape does not leave a sticky residue). Slide dressmaker s carbon underneath the tracing carbon side facing the silk and place a support underneath the hoop to give you a firm surface for tracing. A biscuit/cookie tin lid or upturned pot makes a good support.

3 3 P a g e Retrace the design to transfer the design to the silk pressing firmly with a stylus or spent ballpoint pen. Hint: use the ruler again when transferring the straight lines on this design. Hint: Before you remove the tracing, lift to check that you have traced everything. Felt Padding Each of the leaves has a single layer of yellow felt padding. Cut the leaf shapes from your original tracing (or trace again) and pin or tape to the yellow felt before cutting out. Note: The leaf with the fold is cut into two separate pieces of felt to give the leaf a rise and fall. If cut out in a single piece, the finished effect will not look as good.

4 4 P a g e Before you start, don t forget to wax your Gutermann thread. If you have not done this before, thread the needle first and use the needle as a handle to drag the Gutermann across the wax. Once is enough. Next drag your fingernails down the thread two or three times to remove any excess wax. It is handy to be able to work hands free I use an Irwin Quick Grip clamp to clamp my hoop onto the table. This leaves me to be able to use both hands for stitching and manipulating the threads. Back to the felt When applying felt, always bring your needle to the surface through the background fabric and take the needle down through the felt at right angles to the edge. This gives you more accurate placement of the felt. Thinking of a clock face, begin by placing a stitch at 12 o clock, then 6 o clock,

5 5 P a g e 3 o clock and then 9 o clock. Next place a stitch at the halfway points between the first four stitches, And finally place stitches all around the shape 2mm apart.

6 6 P a g e Hint: if needed, you can place a stitch over the points of the felt from background fabric to background fabric to stop the tips of the points disintegrating. Large Scrolls Each of the large scrolls that terminate with a flower is worked in Gilt #1 Twist and then Gilt Pearl Purl #1 (which we will do in the lesson 2). Lay the twist over the scroll line, leaving a 2.5cm tail of twist hanging over the line. Make two stitches over the twist to secure. Couch the twist at 3mm to 4mm intervals.

7 7 Page Finish with two stitches side by side as you began. Cut the twist again leaving a 2.5cm tail to secure on the back of your embroidery. To take the tails of thread through to the back of your work, separate the plies a little at the end so that you can make them sit one on top of the other (flattening them out) and push through the eye of the #18 chenille needle. Place two fingers on the reverse of your work to stabilise the fabric and then pull the tails through to the back. Fold back behind the scroll and secure to the calico on the reverse for 1cm and then trim off the excess.

8 8 P a g e Tile Border The tile border is worked in three threads and while each is quite different in appearance, they are similarly applied. Gilt Medium Rococco is the first thread that we are going to lay for the border the other two threads will be discussed in lesson 2. Gilt Medium Rococco: This thread is started the same way that you did for the Gilt #1 Twist with a 2.5cm tail of thread that gets taken through to the back of the work once you have couched the border. Begin in the lower left corner making two stitches side by side approximately 2mm away from the corner to allow room to sink the tails. First two stitches (Note: in the following photos some of the lesson 2 work has already been completed.) Work around the shape making the stitches approximately 4mm apart for this thread you can place a stitch in every second crinkle.

9 9 P a g e When you get to the next corner, bring the Gutermann to the surface in the corner on the design line and hold it taut. Kink the Rococco around the Gutermann sharply and then open up to achieve a nice square corner. Don t be afraid to kink it right back on itself to get a nice square corner. If you are not happy with your corner, you can also pinch it with a pair of tweezers to sharpen it. When you have worked around the tile, finish with two stitches side by side 2mm away from the corner where you started. Last two stitches

10 10 P a g e To sink this thread through to the back of the work, you may want to remove some of the gilt coating to make it easier to thread through the #18 chenille needle. Support the fabric from underneath again as you pull the tails through to the back. Fold under the border securing to the calico on the reverse for 1cm and trimming off the excess.