Extraordinary Patience
I’m going to re-post Tricia’s excellent stitch instructions, in the downloadable pdfs that she has made available for the good of this project and the spread of embroidery knowledge. Please let me know if they don’t work for you, I’m trying a new way to do this. Here’s the first – detached buttonhole needlelace directions.
For the past two Sundays I have worked on the jacket (right front) in the Crafts Center. In the Crafts Center, modern artisans demonstrate 17th-century trades while creating artifacts for use on our sites or for sale in the museum’s gift shop. I’ve been so deep in this project for getting on two years now that it is very refreshing to show and talk about it with people who have never heard of this adventure before. Not to mention what a treat it is to have an entire day just to embroider and talk about one of my favorite subjects.
It is interesting, though, and I’m sure you’ve heard it too; many people remark that I must have a great deal of patience, or at least much more patience than they. The real truth, I think, is that everyone has something they do that others would find tedious or irksome or downright crazy-making. I know there are people who own long-haired pets and comb and/or brush them daily. And enjoy it. Amazing, and inconceivable to me. Yet I’ll sit still for hours making tiny loops and knots in fine thread, taking seven hours to cover maybe 4 square inches. Go figure.
I’ll be embroidering the jacket in the Crafts Center on Sunday July 20, Sunday July 27, and Sunday August 3. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello.
Tags: Crafts Center, detached buttonhole instructions, patience, Stitches
July 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
As somebody who has used the instructions Tricia wrote and illustrated, I can highly recommend them to anyone wanting to learn or perfect these stitches. It is well worth it to try them out. You never know when you’ll need some detached buttonhole lace for a butterfly wing.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I always say to people that it is things you don’t like to do that require patience. And, with embroidery, you have to love the process, not just the finished projects, or it isn’t worth doing.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:30 am
I think I love the process more the the finished project, LOL. I spend weeks embroidering something only to have it languish as a UFO in a draw because I can’t wait to start the next embroidery!
Tricia’s instructions are very good, well written and beautifully illustrated. I had no problem learn the stitches that were new to me from them.