Inspirations Issue 83

How do you feel about new technology? Does the thought of computers, tablets (not the ones you take!) and smart phones make you dizzy or do you love the changes that these miraculous objects have made to everyday life? One of the biggest changes is in our access to information. Before the internet we were quite limited but now on my laptop I can go to a website and look at amazing embroidery on couture clothing or in a museum collection, I can check out what clever stitchers are selling on Etsy and what fabulous images have been posted on Pinterest. I can download a copy of Inspirations or I can tune in to YouTube to find a video on doing just about anything or I can read a blog that…

Send us a photo! We love to see which projects inspired you to pick up a needle. Please email your letter and photos to editorial@inspirationsmagazine.com.au PURE GOLD I live in Sweden, in the north of Europe, and buy Inspirations as often as I can. Your magazine is now my favourite. Here is something I’ve been inspired to embroider from issue 76. Elisabeth Gustafsson, Sweden SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING BLANKET As part of a dear group of friends, we try to honour ‘round’ number birthdays. This year we chose ‘Angel Dreaming’ from The World’s Most Beautiful Embroidered Blankets as our starting point. We tweaked the colours a bit to fall more into our friend’s favourite colours and to match the Liberty fabric we had chosen to use for backing. For months, this blanket travelled from friend to…

Heather embroidered as a child under the encouragement of an aunt in Exeter, England, and always embellished clothes but her desire to be a fashion designer was thwarted by the exigencies of World War II. Arriving in Australia in 1951, she did not know of the existence of the Embroiderers’ Guild in the UK, but became aware of the Embroiderers’ Guild N.S.W. through an exhibition held at Roselands. She joined the Guild in 1966 and clicked with her compatriot, Pat Langford, an exhibiting artist and art teacher and one of the founding members of the NSW Guild. Heather and Pat not only became very close friends but were ‘prime movers’ within the fledgling Guild. The wall hanging titled ‘Partridge in a Pear Tree’ was designed and worked in one of…

In the courtyard outside the synagogue’s spare, airy prayer hall, we spotted the sign “Treasury”, directing visitors into the subterranean vault of this imposing 17th century complex. We found ourselves in bare-brick catacombs where modern humidity-proof glass cases did indeed hold treasures. In the dimmed light stood what looked like splendid embroidered capes made for a four-year old. The plush velvet was encrusted, no, overwhelmed, by heavy goldwork fruits, flowers and vines. I was gobsmacked. The piece was over 300 years old. “Those are capas or Torah mantels”, explained Mirjam Knotter, collection curator, who had agreed to meet us. “They adorn and protect the Torah, the Jews’ sacred Scripture.” A Torah scroll is incredibly precious, spiritually and monetarily, explained Mirjam. A scribe spends a year copying the Hebrew text, no mistakes allowed,…

Soprarizzo velvet, also known as cesellato (or chiselled) is unique amongst velvets because of its combination of both cut and uncut pile. The resulting three levels of relief (ground fabric, uncut pile, and cut pile) are used to create sumptuous, elegant, patterned and textured fabrics. This fabric made the velvet weavers of Venice famous in the 1700s, and due to the expense of the silks and dyes used to make it, was only available to the most wealthy. The Bevilacqua family have been weaving in Venice since the 1700s. In the past they have made a wide range of luxury fabrics including damasks, lampases, brocades, satins, and velvets. They now focus on production of soprarizzo velvet, by both hand and mechanised weaving processes. When I visited the factory, I was met out…

DMC COLOUR INFUSIONS MEMORY THREAD Memory Thread is a new DMC product that is similar in appearance to gimp but with the added advantage of a wire core that enables you to shape the thread. It comes in twenty-eight beautiful colours with each colour available in a 2.75m (3yd) length on a reusable plastic shuttle. The thread composition is 40% copper, 34% viscose, 23% cotton and 3% polyamide giving a lovely lustre to the thread and making it hand washable. This looks as though it would have lots of applications in stumpwork and jewellery making or anything else you may think of. The new DMC stranded cotton colour pack and Colour Infusions Memory Threads are both available from www.threadedneedle.com.au NEW DMC STRANDED COTTON SHADES DMC have added sixteen new shades to their six-strand embroidery thread…