Jacobean Crewel Leaf

Here is my crewel work leaf finished.

Laid and couched, fly and seeding

Long and short, chain and detached fly

Pekinese, stem and closed fly

I am quite pleased with the way it worked out, although as I said before there were one or two little niggles. I used a loose linen fabric that I had in my stash, really just any thing to practise on as this isn’t for any other purpose than my own learning experience. However, unlike the linen twill that I have used before for a number of crewel embroideries, it was a lot looser in weave and has therefore left stab holes in the fabric as I thought it might. Having said that, it did not really affect the embroidery at all. I thought the long and short might distort or the laid and couched stitches. But I hadn’t wanted to embroider just on calico.

The Renaissance wools are lovely, so soft and smooth, I’m sure they will be used again! But restricting myself to just two colours and no shades was quite tough, it certainly made me think about what stiches I was using where and their effect on the overall design.

Now to practise some applique....