Well, I am still working on Bluebird Joy. I began work on a new area. I’ve done a lot of outlining, plus started work on one of the medium sized flowers.
Here you can see the layers for long-and-short stitch in progress.
I’m up to two finished petals and two finished leaves. I think the middle leaf is one of my favorite leaves so far. I like it.
So, continuing from the last post about Yemenite Jewish goldwork, these silver accessories are worn over the face. The strap at the top is for the forehead, and the lower piece hangs under the eyes, over the nose and mouth. I think these are for a bride? I have emailed various associations and I hope that someone more knowledgeable will write back with more information.
Now, these two dangling silver decorations may look like earrings, but they are not. They’re too heavy for ears! Instead, you put the hooks into the hair so that they dangle next to the ears as if they were earrings. I thought that was a very smart innovation.
Here is a closer view of the lower face veil.
This is one of a special series of posts based on the embroidery collection of Dr. Faegheh Shirazi, from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research is on “textiles, dress, gender identity discourse, and material culture in the Middle East; the meanings of veiling; rituals and rites of passage as they relate to material culture.” Over the years she has collected a number of examples of embroidery from around the world, and has very kindly allowed me to photograph them for my blog.
This gorgeous veil is from the Yemeni Jewish community! Yemeni Jewish women wear it for special occasions, like weddings. Lucky them! The wide band at one end goes at the forehead and the rest of the goldwork hangs over the hair at the back. You can see Dr. Shirazi modeling it (and another piece from her collection) in this article about Dr. Shirazi and her research on the hijab. Take a look! It’s very informative about veils in general, though it doesn’t talk much about Yemeni Jews. Here is the Wikipedia article on Yeminite Jews.
I know y’all want to see it up close. Here’s a photo of the forehead band.
Now the middle (if you click on the photo you can see a larger version).
Here is the tail end:
Finally, a few more detail photos.
And finally, one more photo of the whole thing (click for the larger version). On Monday, I’ll show you the silver face veil and jewelry!
This is one of a special series of posts based on the embroidery collection of Dr. Faegheh Shirazi, from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research is on “textiles, dress, gender identity discourse, and material culture in the Middle East; the meanings of veiling; rituals and rites of passage as they relate to material culture.” Over the years she has collected a number of examples of embroidery from around the world, and has very kindly allowed me to photograph them for my blog.
Well, folks, I owe a whole lot of people thank you notes. So, I went and splurged on the Hardanger Card Club from Nordic Needle. It’s a lot upfront, since they aren’t offering it in monthly installments anymore. On the other hand, there’s twelve of them! Hurray! And it’ll be nice to have some small projects I can actually finish. Like this one! Done in only 1 weekend 
This one is a whole lot more pink than I usually go for. I love the design though! It’s pink twisted silk from Elegance. Fortunately the other cards aren’t nearly as pink. I worked a fancy hem around the edges so it can be taken out from the card. I’m going to pin it in instead of taping it.
Here are the instructions for the hem, although Carolyn wasn’t kidding about it taking a long time. I got tired after the first row and stopped! I think I’ll try a new hem on each card. I’ve been looking around, and I understand usually you have to fold the edges over twice and mitre the corners before hemming. This will be an adventure! Anyway, here is the back of it.
Finally, here’s an in-progress shot.
Sure is nice to finish something! Y’all can expect eleven more installments in this series, though not all in a row. Oh gosh, did I really just add 11 projects to my list? Oops.
I don’t know if y’all remember but at one point I started a Xiang Chinese embroidery kit. I really felt like working on that style of project, but that one just seemed so very large and such a long way from finished! So, well, I started a smaller one! This one I am using both strands of silk rather than dividing it up. I will go back to the other one, I swear! But it sure is nice to make a lot of visible progress.
See, I finished the branches and started on the leaves already! I opted for split stitch on the branches – I have no idea if that’s what Chinese embroiderers would use. Here is a closer view. I don’t know if you can tell, but the fabric is developing some lines in places near my stitching. I don’t think I’m pulling my stitches that tight. I’m not sure what’s wrong.
Now, if you want to see something really wrong, check out my first attempt at using stretcher bars! Perhaps I should spend more than $3, read up on how to do it, and also improve my thumbtack methodology before the next project. However, this one is more or less stuck to the frame so it is staying right there until it’s done. I hope. I really need to work on having some patience when setting up projects.
By the way, I went back to the Elite Silk Arts website (where I got it) and they’ve been making some changes! They now have some video lessons for sale. I have no idea how good they are, but perhaps I will check it out at some point. Has anyone tried it? It also says they’ll be starting online classes sometime this year.
I started work on the first bluebird for the Bluebird Floral project. I’ve been referring to Trish Burr’s new book, Colour Confidence in Embroidery, to improve the feather/stitch directions. It’s helping a lot!
Here are photos of my progress through stitching the bird:
All that’s left are the feet and the branch the bird is on. I’m so glad I picked out some new threads – they make the bird so bright and alive.
Y’all, Méri sent me a wonderful little sample of Castelo Branco embroidery, from the gift shop of Francisco Tavares de Proença Júnior Museum in Castelo Branco, Portugal. Isn’t it beautiful?
Imagine an entire bedspread worked like this! Did you know that it’s actually the London V&A Museum that has the largest collection of Castelo Branco bedspreads? They aren’t on permanent display though.
Below you can see real Castelo Branco stitching! Here I have a close up of the flower. It’s in silk, and is very glossy.
Méri wrote a series of posts about her experiences at the museum and other Castelo Branco embroidery centers. You should check them out! I found them very interesting (she writes in both Portuguese and English, so you don’t even need to translate them).
Finally, I thought you’d also like a good look at the stems.
