Karen Turner Stitching Life textile artist stitching by hand

Setting out

I’m feeling settled enough in our new home to think about starting some new work, and I’ve made a start in a spiral bound square sketchbook that I’ve had for a little while. Sometimes these things only speak to you when they’re ready.

Of course I had to make a cover for it, as I do for most of my sketchbooks. I find it helps to illuminate some of the themes, as well as providing a little extra protection for the contents.

The cover wraps around the spiral binding and meets itself on the front. It’s not my usual colour palette:

I’m using a Two Rivers plein air pocket sketchbook, which has alternating pages of watercolour paper and cartridge paper. The pages are about 7.5″ square, so a nice manageable size.

I like pockets in sketchbooks. Actually I like pockets full stop. In my youth I went through a phase of wearing men’s vintage jackets purely because of the number and quantity of pockets, which utterly delighted me. I would keep finding extra hidden pockets all over the garment, inside and out. We no longer say the word pockets in our house. We always say pocketses, a la Gollum in The Lord of the Rings.

I’ve been using the watercolour-paper pages for direct painting, and the cartridge-paper pages for collaging.

So far it’s all very loose and sketchy, blending colours, shapes and words. I’m cutting the words from an old poetry anthology to create found poems, which is helping to navigate the direction.

ink and watercolour on TwoRivers watercolour paper

I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be yet, or where it might be going, but between us (me and the work) we will find a path. Or maybe this is enough. I think it’s leading somewhere, as most things do.

Some of it is already looking like textile work.

This page is just ink on wet paper with salt sprinkled over it. I enjoy the unpredictability of this kind of work. Play, really.

It’s a voyage of discovery as always, exactly like life. Travelling through time, we never know what will happen next. And yet, on we go.

Apron Two

I love it. I would totally wear it as a dress:

Thank you to Annie (in the comments section on my last post), who suggested that the scrap of orange could be an extra pocket. Yes it could:

There’s room for lots more stitching, but in the meantime it’s fully functional and ready for wearing.

And here’s the back:

Now of course I don’t want to spoil it by accidentally splashing paint and dye over it…

Aprons one and two

My plain white linen/cotton apron is now structurally complete, sewn entirely by hand, and I’m very happy with it:

The top stitching took a while but it looks OK I think:

Difficult to get a sense of scale from the photo but the stitches are just under 1/8th of an inch. I’ll be working some kind of embroidery on it when it knows what it wants to be, so the top stitching will be less obvious when there’s some decoration in place. It’s definitely a blank canvas at the moment.

I’m very impressed by the pattern and the way the pieces fit together so perfectly. The fit is pretty true to size too. I’m a UK size 8-10 and I made the Small, which fits really well. I trimmed about half an inch from the centre front as my shoulders are quite narrow, and I made it a tiny bit longer.

The second apron (same pattern) is now under construction, pieced fairly randomly from hand-dyed cotton and linen fabrics.

I’ve used a couple of hand-printed fabrics on the front; this one was from Hippos in Hats on Etsy and I’ve been saving it for just such an occasion as this:

…and with the hand stitched outline completed (it’s just straight stitch with cotton thread over the printed outline):

I’ve also used a couple of eco-prints from Jane Hunter, to which I’ve added a bit of very simple embroidery with colonial knots and straight stitch:

As before, I’m stitching all the seams by hand:

side seam showing notches for pocket placement

The lining for this one is very lightweight calico which I dyed a while ago. I wasn’t keen on the way the grey/red turned out, but it will do just fine as a lining. There wasn’t quite enough so I’ve added pieces of the same fabric in turquoise/brown:

lightweight calico lining, hand dyed with Procion

I accidentally dropped this earthy orange scrap onto the apron after stitching the front and sides together. I really like the splash of colour against that green and magenta/purple, so I’ll find a way to add it somewhere.

Looking forward to seeing this one done.

Plain sewing

From the opening page of the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont (my copy is undated but it’s the revised and enlarged edition, probably early 20th century):

“Many people, upon opening the Encyclopedia of Needlework, will be disposed to exclaim* as they read the title of this chapter: What is the use of all this information about hand-sewing now that machine-stitching has so nearly superseded work done by hand? We hasten to reply that, among the many accomplishments of women, there is none in which it is of such importance to be thoroughly grounded as in plain sewing properly so called which is, indeed, the foundation of all other needlecraft.”

* what a delightful phrase ‘disposed to exclaim’ is. I shall use it at my next available opportunity.

Plain sewing is what in the nineteenth century was ‘functional’ sewing – the making of clothes and household linens, and mending – before sewing machines were routinely available. The reason for the lengthy quotation from the venerable Mme de Dillmont is that work has begun on my Janet Clare Artisan Apron.

Since having the pattern in my eager little hands I knew I was going to sew the whole thing by hand, just for the challenge and enjoyment of it. I also knew I was going to make two: one clean white one for stitching on, and one colourful messy one to wear while painting and dyeing.

And I’ve been enjoying some plain sewing for a change.

For the plain white version I’m using a cotton/linen blend, cut from an old bed sheet. The lining is a modern lightweight cotton, like lawn but a slightly closer weave.

For the construction I’m using standard white cotton sewing thread (mine happens to be Coats) and for the top stitching I’m working running stitch with a slightly heavier fine cotton. If you’re familiar with the threads that I dye and sell in my shop, it’s the undyed version of the fine cotton thread.

I’m following the instructions carefully and pressing those seams:

I’m at the stage with the white version where I’m currently sewing the apron and lining together:

The second apron, I confess, is more fun. I’m modelling the design on something like this dressing gown, made many years ago. I like the randomness of the colours and patches.

The apron front will be something like this:

And the backs are yet to be assembled from this pile of deliciousness:

After the prolonged complexities of our very stressful house move, plus the non-stop activities of unpacking and decorating, some gentle quiet repetitive sewing is proving to be just the restorative activity I need right now.

March

And that was March. We’ve already lost an hour today here in the UK for British summer time so time is flying a little faster this weekend.

As always, a little stitching every day. Just to catch the moments and tie them down somehow, so they don’t fly away unnoticed.

91 days of 2024 and the top third of this vintage linen cloth is filling up nicely:

April lies ahead. The blankness of the space for the future always startles me a little.

I like to keep the back of the work accessible so that I can see where I’ve been. Sometimes I like it better than the front.

Next month I think it will be time to make the Janet Clare artisan apron. I got the pattern and planned to start on it late last year but the house move got in the way. I’ll have a look for some suitable fabrics in my collection and will share my progress once I get going.

In the meantime, today is a family day at home enjoying the rest of this bank holiday weekend.

A room with a view

My room is more or less done and sorted. Would you like to see?

Here’s the wall opposite the window:

The map of the world is there to help me improve my geography, which is pretty poor; also I like to see where parcels of thread and fabric are going on their long journeys overseas. The music stand is supposed to encourage me to practise my flute, which hasn’t seen the light of day for about ten years. I’ve never played it particularly well but it used to be something I enjoyed, so I intend to make time for it.

Going anti-clockwise around the room:

The pictures on the wall are from a Ton Schulten calendar. I find his colour palette and compositions very uplifting.

There is room to grow on the Kallax unit:

I have plans for that top left space: at some point I will make a miniature (twelfth scale) model of my work room. Just for the fun of it. I don’t know where I’m going to find all this extra time yet, by the way.

Next to the drawers I have two Ikea Micke desks placed at right angles to make an L shaped workspace. The right-hand side is for admin:

You can never have too many bookmarks, right?

And the other side is for more creative work:

The holly tree outside is in our garden; the conifer next to it is in next door’s garden. The trees are full of squirrels and at the moment we are engaged in a futile battle of wills trying to keep them off the bird feeders. There is a squirrel baffle en route at this very moment so we’ll see if that outwits them.

Moving around the room again, one of the fitted wardrobes has been fitted with shelves and has become a separate space for the contents of the shop – threads, fabrics and packaging materials.

There is a lot of floor space in the middle of the room:

I probably need some sort of comfortable chair, something to curl up and read in. It can wait.

The finished room is almost exactly as I imagined it would look when we first saw the house in October, and every time I walk in here I find myself smiling.

I’ll spend this week sifting through some ideas and thoughts to see if I can roughly plan the rest of the year.

But for today, I think I will just enjoy my new space and start on today’s daily stitching:

Home Sweet Home

Still settling in…

… and gradually finding a home for all the treasures. Almost every object on this little shelf unit was a gift, chosen for me or made for me by friends or family, and all of it makes me happy. It sits above the admin side of my desk so that I can look up from the spreadsheets and smile.

Meanwhile I’m also getting on with this:

hand-dyed cotton embroidery threads for winding into skeins

A notice board

I’m still unpacking, but I got slightly distracted yesterday.

I’d found some tired cushion covers downstairs that had faded a little and were surplus to requirements. I was so excited about what was coming next that I forgot to photograph them – but basically I took the cushion cover backs off and joined the two fronts together to make a strip about 16″ x 24″ (I had to cut off some badly light-damaged pieces so not everything was salvageable).

I already had a piece of foamcore (two pieces of white card with 5mm foam in between) which I covered with cork sheet and brown paper, then laid the old cushion covers over it.

I’ve mitred and stitched the corners on the back:

and then roughly laced up the back as you would for preparing embroidery for framing:

Finally I’ve covered the back with a layer of felt, tucking in some ribbon to act as a hanging loop

And it’s made a very convenient little noticeboard that I can pin things to:

notice board (calendar and houses postcard by Claire Henley)

Meanwhile, the Ikea Kallax unit is filling up. I’ve broadly just thrown things at it in no particular order, just to get everything out of boxes and off the floor. I’ll sort through each little cubbyhole at some point.

I particularly like this little quiet corner of my desk:

It’s just a vintage port box laid on its side with a spice rack on top, perfect for holding small things.

I hope to have the room more or less finished next week, and then I’ll be ready to re-open the shop. Until then, I will keep going.

Quilts

I’m finding all sorts of treasure as I unpack the boxes in my work room.

These are quilts I made around 15 years ago, mostly with commercial cotton fabric scraps.

All are hand-pieced and hand-quilted, made using the quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) method. This is where you piece, layer and quilt each block separately and then join all the blocks together. There are lots of QAYG tutorials online if you’re not familiar with it.

This block made me smile:

Made in the first house I owned and rediscovered during the second week in our new house, the number of which happens to be… 24. Not only that, but the little yellow flowers next to it suggest spring. Maybe I was seeing my own future. Spooky!

Quilt-as-you-go gives you the opportunity to use up larger scraps for the back of the blocks, rather than having to wrestle with a large piece of backing fabric. I never have enough floor space for that, so I prefer this more portable method. The backs of these 7″ quilt blocks are all different:

Nice to find this little burst of colour on what’s been a grey overcast day.

In the white room

Day 9 in our new home, and I’ve been working on getting my room into shape, as well as trying to unpack some of the boxes in the rest of the house.

My work room is the second bedroom, north-facing and about 11 feet square. The previous owners painted it peach and installed a dark red/pink/brown carpet.

The walls are the wrong colour, and the carpet had to go.

You’d think peach would be quite easy to cover, but it’s had four coats of good quality white paint (yes, that’s brilliant white – it looks grey because of the light) and it’s still a little bit patchy. I think I may well just call it done and put lots of pictures up. In any case most of the worst bits are where the furniture will go.

The floorboards seem pretty good, so I’m painting them too.

I’ve just painted enough of the floor to get some furniture into position, because the desk and drawers are currently forming an obstacle course in the main bedroom, and then I’ll be able to paint the rest of the floor.

I ache all over, but I’m liking it so far.

Karen Turner Stitching Life

Setting out

Like this:

Apron Two

Like this:

Aprons one and two

Like this:

Plain sewing

Like this:

March

Like this:

A room with a view

Like this:

Home Sweet Home

Like this:

A notice board

Like this:

Quilts

Like this:

In the white room

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: