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.

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.

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.

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.

]]> http://enbrouderie.com/2012/02/06/bluebird-in-progress/feed/ 25 enbrouderie bluebird 5 bluebird 1 bluebird 2 bluebird 3 bluebird 4 http://enbrouderie.com/2012/02/03/castelo-branco-sampler/ http://enbrouderie.com/2012/02/03/castelo-branco-sampler/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:08:18 +0000 Hannah http://enbrouderie.com/?p=2970 Continue reading →]]> 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.

I added two more berries – I left them until the end, because I didn’t want them to get crushed in the frame while I was working on other areas of the bellpull. I’m close enough to finished that I can easily work around that now. I love the three dimensional effect.

More detailed photos are on her website. Evolution I (below) illustrates a fluid droplet.

Each drop is worked with layers and layers of hand-dyed silk.

Folks, this is a tiny, tiny sample of what you can find at Marta’s website. Do you know how hard it was to pick just a few to show you? Pure torture! There are dozens more!!!! I didn’t even show you all the close up photos where you can see the stitching! In fact, there’s an entire series of artworks which are not represented by any photos in this post. But that’s not all! Her blog, Silk and Colour, shows work in progress, photos of more works that haven’t been added to the website yet (like the nebula below!)

Come and Meet Me in the Middle of the Air

and experimental works that may lead to a new series:

Diatom (type of phytoplankton). Silk on acrylics and paper

You can also find posts about how she does it, like this post on how she dyes her silks. So be sure to check the blog out too!!!

The Big Green is a finished, finito, complete, Done Deal!  Final dimensions: 5 ft. x 3 ft (1.52 m x 0.91 m).

Let me tell you, this has been quite a project. The prototype doily was 31 in x 17 in (79cm x 43cm). There were some changes along the way. (Click on the photo if you want to blow it up larger)

This last session was primarily fine tuning so to speak. Ferny leaf shapes finish the right side now as well as the left. I added more colors to the seed stitching of the background and extended it.

This dark green plant has a dark blue and purple flower that blended altogether too well into the background. It succeeded in being inconspicuous. This unacceptable behavior I foiled with a golden stem stitch outline around the entire plant and flower.

Finally, many flowers received a sparkle for their center with inexpensive pierced earrings. This technique would not work on a quilt (Ouch!) but this Big Green garden is destined for life as a curtain so pointy metal spikes are not an issue.

Then at the last, at the very end of things I tried to convince myself that machine stitching the edges (zip and done in 10 minutes max) would not show too much.  My artistic sense won out over my lazy streak so I was doomed to hem miles of green. Ghastly, boring, excruciating – It seemed like forever to finish.  However, now the Big Green is really truly Finished, Done and even Complete. I DONE DID IT!  Celebrate!