I missed the last City and Guild tutorial of 2013, but managed to get to Saturday's and we were given a lesson in white work and cutwork. I'd done the latter before, with tuition from my beloved Ganna, but have never done white work. This little sample is really cheating, I've used a soft green thread rather than the traditional white, but it's coming along quite nicely I think. I designed the pattern on tracing paper, as I was intending to fold and trace from a section, but ended up doing the whole design so it's a little squonk. Then I used delicate dotted lines with a fine line pen to trace onto the fabric as it is slightly sheer. Now I'll try to complete it with some shapes done as holes and others with satin stitch.
One of the things Barbara is constantly reminding us is to make sure to separate the strands of embroidery floss and recombine them, so that they lie flat as you stitch (and to constantly untwist the kinks). I'd never been told that before, but am really impressed with the difference it makes to the satin stitch - it catches the light so much better as the strands are smooth and lie in harmony with each other. The fabric is salvaged from Aunt Cecil's store as she isn't really able to concentrate enough to stitch any more, which is very sad for her.
Hope you like it so far.
