Exploring Hand Stitching

I have been enrolled in Karen Ruane's 'non-class', Simply Stitch 3, for the past few months. With no set course requirements, it has been a perfect venue for me to learn a bit about hand stitching. Through the wonders of video, it is as though you are sitting on Karen's shoulder while she stitches her own projects and shares her thought processes. It is a gentle way of learning and I have thrived.  Karen is ever so willing to answer questions readily via email. In addition, Flickr is used as an online venue where you may post photos and receive feedback from Karen and the other 60 'students' located across the globe.

Early on, I decided that the best tact for me was to pick a project and work on it. I decided to create a 'pouch', as Karen terms them. She works primarily in white, so I decided to follow her lead. I imagined it would help me appreciate the art in her world. It was a fun experience.

Front

Back

The beauty is in the individual stitches and the interplay of the piecing. As you can see from the following photos, even a beginner can create some beautiful effects with just a few well-placed stitches and some beautiful fabrics.

Garment District Discovered

Last weekend I was once again in NYC. My participation in Simply Stitch 3 has been a wonderful excuse to expand my stash in new ways. And so, I ventured into the Garment District…..and was in awe.

I was there on a Saturday morning but still found more than enough shops open.

I began with a shop with an online presence that I knew the location of and said it was open early on Saturdays.

The B&J store is located on the second floor of the building.

B&J Fabrics - I can't speak highly enough of the store. It is located on the second floor of a typical old style NYC office building which reminded me of the Temple Building here in downtown Rochester. You walk into a vast open space with thousands of bolts of every kind of material that you could imagine. I had on my 'lace and embroidered cotton' hat so I focused upon those fabrics. There were more laces than you ever could imagine…..one row of fabrics had beaded lace, another plain lace. I saw prices from about $200 a yard down to about $60. The minimum purchase was 1/2 yard and my budget was limited so I had to make a hard choice. I also found a good selection of embroidered cotton/cotton blends, some imported, in a wide price range.

What impressed me the most was the helpfulness of the fellow who cut my choices. He went out of his way to give me suggestions on other shops with lace in the area. And, he was meticulous in cutting my fabric. I would highly recommend this shop to anyone who wants to explore. They are located at 525 7th Ave on the corner of 7th and 38th St. They have a great online site too, I might add, and are happy to ship anywhere.

From B&J's, I began to wander. The stores I visited were between 7th and 8th Ave. on 38th and 39th St. They are an easy walk from Time Square and if you were down at Macy's on 34th St., you could just as quickly walk up from there. I was focused upon lace, trim, and thread but there were countless fabric shops. One could easily spend the greater part of a day meandering about.

One place I had an address for was Daytona Trimmings at 251 W 39th St. which was also open on Saturdays. This store advertised all sorts of threads. I was looking for a hard-to-find DMC Floche a border in size 16. The shop could not help me with that but had an impressive inventory of more conventional embroidery threads. And, they had a large stock of trims as well. I wouldn't make a special trip to visit them but if you are in the neighborhood, their prices are good………

I then continued wandering as there were many trim stores open on W 38th and 39th. I found one, Pacific Trimmings at 220 West 38th St. that had a wonderful selection of lace trims in a good price range. I would definitely recommend it for a stop. This photo below captures only part of the store front - imagine three times as wide a store.

Adventures in Stitching

The past few weeks have rushed past. While partly due to laying low with a cold and now sinus infection, the real reason I have lost track of time a bit has been a total immersion in a new class. I enrolled in an online class in stitching with Karen Ruane who lives in Great Britain. Entitled Simply Stitch 3, it is structured in a way that really works for me. The class runs 12 weeks and Karen videotapes as she works along on projects that she is interested in….you get to be a 'fly on the wall'. You can play with the ideas that she is working on, or on projects of your own. There are no deadlines, requirements, or really any rules. You post photos, if you wish, on Flickr and receive feedback. You can ask questions and get advice from not just Karen but a wonderful group of people around the world who are enrolled and love hand stitching.

It has turned out to be a perfect niche for me. Since there is no pressure to watch every video immediately upon posting, I have been able to relax and not worry about the fact that I have been out-of-town on two trips already since the class started. And, of course, without worry, I have been keeping up with Karen and getting more enthused every day.

I am learning new stitches for me. Isn't that little stitch in the center of this photo just beautiful!

So, basically I have been practicing and learning. I see many possibilities in future art quilts. Here is a miniature I am playing with now……..I had to learn French knots..something I have never been able to execute before….so I sketched out a piece that would definitely encourage me to practice those knots.

I think I accomplished that self-imposed assignment! Now I need to focus upon learning the stitches I am visualizing for those snow banks that have yet to appear in the bottom half of the piece!