Tambour pleasures

Sussex Stitchers had the most wonderful day workshop learning Tambour embroidery with Caroline Homfray yesterday. She was a delightful and very patient teacher.

Here you can see examples of her own beautiful work, brought to inspire us.

And the sample of her design, Moorish Window, she had worked for us to show how our own project should be done. 

We began by framing up a piece of silk organza (tight as a drum, or tambourine of course) and learning how to secure our starting thread, Then Caroline showed us how the tambour hook was pushed through the fabric, picked up the thread below, and came back to the surface to create the distinctive chain stitch that is such a feature of this style. Once we'd mastered that we traced off her design and began work on our projects. As we worked, she also took time to show us how to add beads on the surface and by working from the back. There were sequins too, and a wonderful tool called a bead spinner which was absolute magic.

My effort is below, along with the practice leaves I did just to get the feeling of the process. Those squiggles in the middle were much trickier than they look.

As you can see, I didn't get very far, the technique looks so simple when you see an expert doing it, but there are all sorts of pitfalls: locking your starting thread, remembering which way the thread and hook should turn before pulling thread up to the surface, bringing the hook back up through the organza without catching the fine fabric or the stitch you made previously, not splitting your working thread (shiny machine rayons proved tricksy), and then there is adding beads and sequins (sparkle, hurrah). It was the quietest workshop I can recall attending; we were all concentrating so hard, apart from the occasional expletive as the past 25 minutes work unravelled with a slip of the tambour hook (there was a mischievous suggestion that a swear box might be a good way of raising funds for the group).

If you want to know more, her website shows her beautiful creations and has links to tutorials and her online classes, both embroidery and drawing. You can also find her videos here, on her sister Sarah's YouTube channel including how to attach shisha mirrors using tambour embroidery, must investigate that!

What a talented pair they are.