January 2015 – Workshop- Stump Work Flowers and Butterflies led by Sandie Maher.

The hall buzzed for the first meeting of 2015. Everyone gathered together even those stitching their own projects, which added to the atmosphere, chatting about Christmas and New Year celebrations, and helped to make the cold hall much warmer.

New members and associate members from other groups were welcomed and after the notices (see notices on the notices tab from now on) Sandie was introduced. It was lovely to have our first workshop of 2015 led by ‘one of our own’.

Sandie has a great talent for Stump work as the pieces she had brought with her proved. Stump work, also known as raised work, is quite time consuming so pieces should be kept small and other techniques, like needle lace and even machine embroidery, could be included in the design.

Once we had decided on our design (butterfly or flower) we traced the outline and features using tracing paper and pencil and then traced these on to our calico fabric. A gold pen would have been used in the past but pencil, biro or even carbon paper is just as convenient as the lines are all covered with stitching.

The calico is fitted and pulled taut into an embroidery ring and then we outlined the shape in a single thread stem stitch and used seeding stitch to fill in the shapes before covering this with long and short stitch over the top.
The stitched piece is outlined once again by couching a cake wire around the edge of the shape and then carefully buttonholed around the edge.

At lunchtime several members met to discuss and outline the rules for the ‘Travelling Book’ project. They were really enthusiastic about beginning their books and went away thinking of their themes and how they were going to start the first pages ready to pass on in February to another member in the group. It will be exciting to see how the books develop. Carolynne took charge of organising the groups and passing on information to everyone.
Several pieces of work from previous day schools were on display and time was also spent discussing and finalising our 60th Anniversary piece; details of which will be available at the February meeting along with the materials to get you started.

If making a butterfly the body needs to be made onto the fabric first before the wings are added. The petals and wings can then be arranged.
Although we had made good progress with our stump work most would be finished at home. Hopefully we will see the results of our labours in February.

After lunch Sandie showed us how to complete our work to make it 3D. The shapes are cut out from the calico leaving about a half centimetre border, which is then trimmed close to the buttonhole stitch. Any edges of calico that might show can be coloured with felt tip pen to help them disappear and not detract from the embroidery.

The ends of the cake wire are pushed through the background fabric. Sandie suggested to back the main fabric with calico and a small piece of felt to help support the shape. The wires are stitched down through the calico and another small piece of felt covers the wires once more.

Thanks to Sandie for sharing her expertise and inspiring us to try stump work to incorporate into future projects.
Keep stitching everyone- as one member said, “Busy hands keep you away from the biscuit tin!”

Finally remember to bring any finished work to the February meeting.