The Sewing Place

Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!

HenriettaMaria

Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« on: July 08, 2017, 14:52:47 PM »
So we moved onto our bedroom in the long-running saga of doing up this 90-year-old property.  Consequently our bed is decanted to the extension/office/study and the hanging rail and assorted boxes are in the third bedroom, which is where the sewing machines live.  No room in there now, so no machining. 

While I was in Scotland seeing DM at Easter, she gave me a picnic basket full of her cross-stitch stuff, which she is abandoning due to the aching upper back it causes her.  One of the items in it was a picture of DS as a tot that she'd done about a dozen stitches of before giving up.  So I decided to give it a go, never having done cross-stitch in my life and never having much enthusiasm for embroidery either.

Well, I don't think I'll do another any time soon - it is a bit too close to painting-by-numbers for me.  I don't think it will win any awards - the back looks like it needs a shave (but as DH says, who looks at the back?).  Nonetheless, there's some satisfaction in finishing it and it kept the sewing mojo going while the work went on upstairs.  Here's the result.

Vegegrow

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2017, 15:27:12 PM »
That look great ...are you going to frame it?
"The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary." ~Mary Kurtz

Catllar

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2017, 16:01:20 PM »
That's great - and yes, who looks at the back?
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

HenriettaMaria

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2017, 18:16:13 PM »
I think framing it will be a good idea.  Google reveals all - will take a look in detail once the house is right side up again!

Ploshkin

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2017, 08:01:08 AM »
Wow, I like a bit of hand sewing and have a lot of patience but I would struggle to keep going with something as detailed as that.  Well done.
Life's too short for ironing.

Lyn-J

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2017, 08:29:16 AM »
I thought that was a photograph!
Brilliant!

HenriettaMaria

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2017, 09:54:34 AM »
I thought that was a photograph!

That's what it started as - DM sent it away to be scanned and converted to a stitch chart.  It comes back 'pixellated' and each 'pixel' has a symbol (eg, filled square = black, tiny dot = white; large dot = navy, etc) coded to a specific Anchor colour number.  The grid is in major squares made up of 10 x 10 stitches.  You can adjust any colour you think particularly odd if you want.  In this case I added two off-white stitches, one to each eye, to give a bit of life to them, but other than that played safe! 

I don't know if this is normal practise, but I basted the major squares using normal machine thread in a colour not used much in the design (bright red, as it happened) first so I had a guide on which to work.  The embroidery hoop held them in place without fixing so they were easy to unpick later.

Lowena

Re: Bedroom refurb = no machine sewing!
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2017, 19:24:22 PM »
That's a really first rate piece of work Lyn; well done you  :toast:
Triumph of hope over experience :D