Getting There

I still haven't worked out that stitch though......

Here is my practice piece so far. I've mainly used satin stitch.

Some research suggests the stitch I want is called Picot stitch so my next task is to have a go at that. Off to Jewel of Yorkshire Festival this weekend so it might have to wait until I get back.

Tuesday Inspirations

To keep me focused I've decided to post a new picture to my Inspirations page every Tuesday.

This week I was going through some pictures from my recent stay in Cornwall and found a picture I'd taken of Kelley's floor runner. I think she said it had come from Uzbekistan. The picture below is another example I found online.

Another gorgeous example of a Shyrdak

It is made of carded roving which is laid out in geometric patterns between two pieces of canvas. This is then felted by kicking the canvas roll up and down or dragging it behind a horse. The design is then embroidered for extra strength. This type of carpet is known as a Shyrdak and is made by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia who live in white felt yurts.

 The Shyrdaks are used as wall and floor coverings to further insulate the yurt from the harsh Steppe Winters.

I'd love to make a small scale piece like this. Hmmm anyone got a horse?

Stitch Confusion

I've just started working on a sampler to practice my satin stitch so it matches the one on my door hanging. Unfortunately the stitches used don't seem to be straight satin stitch.

If you compare the two the door hanging seems to have a herring bone effect down the centre where straight satin stitch doesn't, even when done on the diagonal. I've tried putting a long stitch down the centre and weaving into it but that just adds bulk

Does anyone know how this effect is created?

Can you see that each block of colour seems to be worked in towards the centre line. However on the back of the fabric there are no stitches in the centre.

My attempt to recreate the stitch. The white area was done with a long stitch down the centre to create a ridge but it doesn't have the same effect.

There's always more to it than you first thought

When I first saw my door hanging I thought I just needed to add a border and maybe do a bit of embroidery. Now I've had a good look there are lots of little bits which need doing. (See my latest post on my Restoration Project page for more details).

I got a sense of deja vu in a different context this week when I decided to tidy my craft room. I began by sorting the boxes of textile stash but then needed to move some books so I could fit them on a shelf. But then where could my books go? I ended up by having piles of books in about three different rooms and the question of whether I needed to buy more bookcases.

Then it entered my head that the dining room would make a good library (I never use it to eat in) but the decor was looking a little tired.........

So a simple plan to tidy has now mushroomed into decorating and refurnishing half the house!!

Maybe I should have left things as they were.

Heaven equals lolling on the sofa reading textile books

There are worse ways to spend a cold and damp evening. I've just been reading through my textile book pile searching for info on the wall hanging I acquired in Glastonbury. Check out the Restoration Project page for where I am up to.

Part of my growing collection of books on textiles.

My favourite resource books are:

Sheila Payne's Embroidered Textiles and John Gillow's World Textiles which has interesting sections on techniques.

The book I anticipate using the most for this project is Indian Textiles by John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard.

Ok I admit it I spend more time drooling over the pictures than reading. Then when I ran out of images to slobber on in the books I searched Google for some more.

I am such a sparkle junkie!

Welcome

Here it is, another Tribal Geek blog, this time to share my passion for all things textiles.

On this blog I hope to share my projects and things which inspire me and keep me occupied when I'm not dancing.

I got into textiles by accident. Having absolutely loathed sewing and the like at school I avoided anything to do with yarn or embroidery until my early twenties. Then a backpacking trip round Ireland introduced me to Irish crochet and I was hooked.

Sadly the ability to crochet left me when I crossed the sea back to England (weird! I know) but I still enjoyed messing round with yarn and took up knitting instead.

About 10 years ago I got involved with historical re-enactment and discovered that I could sew after all. Having made all my kit by hand I was overcome with the urge to decorate it, so taught myself to embroider and tablet weave. Then I decided that buying yarn wasn't authentic enough for me so I learnt to spin with a drop spindle and played around with natural dyes to get some colour into the yarns I was making.

Now that my life has been taken over by Tribal Bellydance I have extended my passion into ethnic textiles and I have learnt mirror embroidery, tassel making, beading etc so that I can restore or create costume pieces to add to my dance dowry.

There are so many things I want to make or recreate but sadly I have a butterfly brain and tend to flit from one thing to another. My craft room is full of unfinished projects and things that will be 'useful for something' so hopefully writing this blog will help me to focus and finish what I start.

So if you see me add another project page before the last one is done shout at me.