As I worked on The Postcard Project, I started wondering "what is the oldest example I have of my own embroidery". Not inherited vintage stuff, but things |I have stitched with my own fair hands [in the days when they were young, and fair and unwrinkled!]
So I stitched my daisies - and even made the back of the cloth look relatively tidy. And every so often, in the springtime, I spread my cloth on the coffee table, and think of the generous lady who encouraged me in so many ways, not least in sharing her knitting and stitching skills! [The cloth has backstitch, detached chain and french knots]
But I have just remembered there is an even older piece of stitching somewhere at Cornerstones - made when I was at school [ around 1970 I think] I must hunt that down...
What is the oldest example you have of a piece of your art or craftwork?
Oh my goodness! I've got a brown tablecloth from about the same era which I embroidered for my grandmother but got back after she died. My oldest piece of craftwork is the purse I made at school for my mum when I was five. It still has a note in it saying, "To Mummy with love from Mary" written on a torn scrap of lined paper. She kept it in her evening bag.
ReplyDeleteThat purse must have been so special for your Mum
DeleteI'm currently repairing a quilt I made over twenty years ago. Anything else made pre divorce was destroyed by my ex husband.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have the quilt - sorry about losing the other stuff
ReplyDeleteSewing and knitting were torture at my convent prep school and my termly reports were uniformly negative. I gave up with relief! I started again, taught by a friend who loved sewing and knitting at boarding school in 6th form. We were allowed to use the sewing class room at weekends. I've still got the mittens her mother had almost finished back in 1973; my first knitting since leaving prep school was doing the thumbs on dpns using Shetland wool!
ReplyDeleteSo much depended on what your sewing teacher was like...
DeleteMy mum still has the needle case I made at infant school. I say "I made", it looks suspiciously like the teacher helped rather a lot!
ReplyDeleteThat's lovely (that she still has it, not the teacher's need to "improve" your efforts)
DeleteWhen I started at the Secondary school the first year in Needlework was making things we needed in other classes eg an apron with bib and cap for Cookery, a short skirt and top for PE (Games, Gym, Dance etc), but the first thing we made was a needle case. I have used it constantly up until last year when it was showing signs of its age (62 years). I made another one to replace it, but I can never get rid of the original one.
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught teenage girls at the Autism Unit, we made needlecases
DeleteI wonder if they kept theirs?
Very pretty tablecloth! By the way, the stitch you call a detached chain is also known as "lazy daisy", and I think it is very appropriate that you used the lazy daisy stitch for your daisies. :)
ReplyDeleteThe oldest piece of my "art" work I have is a pen scribble I did, when I was not quite 2, which my mother preserved in my baby book (she noted the date and the fact that I had used my father's pen while seated on his desk). My oldest piece of sewing that I still have are a set of napkins and a wall hanging I embroidered in the early 1970s, probably 71 or 72.
You raise an interesting point, Bless. Whilst doing this project, I've had all my embroidery books out - and it does seem that many stitches go by alternative names.
DeleteI have a green felt needle case made at school when I was five.
ReplyDeleteIt's an oblong, folded into a rough envelope shape, has 'Mum' embroidered in blue on the 'flap' and two very, very roughly sewn on press studs to keep it closed.
Mum used it for years, and now it just lives in a sewing box, never used, but I can't bring myself to throw it away! X
Yet another needlecase!
DeleteThat's beautiful!! Amazing to think of the impact certain people have on us. I don't really know what my earliest artwork which my Mum still has. Most things got chucked out as space was limited. I think I still had my Year 7-9 art book...
ReplyDeleteYes- some people do impact our lives, even if we do not realise it at the time. But we can still have precious memories, even if the physical items are long gone
DeleteI made a small red gingham drawstring bag when I was at primary school and gave it to my mum. She kept her needles and pins in it. Now she's gone, I've inherited it and use it for the same purpose.
ReplyDeleteWe stitched things in gingham too. I suppose the regularity of the print helped keep our stitching neat.
DeleteThat looks amazing. I remember my late grandmother teaching me lazy daisy stitch.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm glad I've kept it all these years.
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