It's punchneedle embroidery. Last week, I saw that Quiltopia is offering a workshop on punchneedle embroidery. I did a web search and came up with a lot of references & instructions. It doesn't look that hard. Serendipity (aka local newspaper) brought a Michael's 40% off coupon to my door and pretty soon, I was punching away on this kit. As long as you don't look at it close up, it looks fine. The back is really messy but not bad for my first effort, I think. It doesn't look finished with the background plain so I might do something about that.
Things to remember:
Punchneedle work is done on a small scale. Finished pieces are usually no bigger than 5". Small is good.
Get a good needle. The one Michael's sell is ok and cheap but if you're interested in doing this more than once, invest in a good needle. The tiny burr at the end of my needle kept catching on the fabric. The two that seems to be preferred by other punchneedle enthusiasts are Cameo and Igolochkoy. Locally, Quiltopia and Shan's Needleworks sells Cameos.
The suggested fabric is weaver's cloth. I'm not sure what that is. The fabric in the kit looks similar to a 28 count Aida cotton. Possibly even 32 count.
I think your project looks neat. And punchneedle used to be done on biggish projects too. I had a 2' x 4' rug once and have seen other stuff. The rug disintegrated with age becauset was done on something like burlap, and the coloured part looked like the nylon we used to use to do hangars. It was at least 60 yrs old, probably more.
ReplyDeleteGillian