About nine years ago, coinciding with a reawakening of public interest in quilting and a personal dissatisfaction with my progress as a performing musician, I began thinking of needlework as something that might be fun to do. I sat down and taught myself sewing on a Pfaff 1222 that I had inherited from my mother. In the next few months, what had started out as a diversion became a consuming interest, as I experimented with hand-quilting, applique, needlepoint, and embroidery.
I immediately liked the idea of making things with cloth and thread, materials that are easy for me to manipulate, inexpensive, and easy to obtain at any corner sewing-supply store. I also enjoy working with my hands. I'm a piano player and play in bands or work solo in San Francisco clubs. My hands are agile from years of playing music, which makes the intricate work of embroidery both easy and fun. I'm lucky to have good eyesight, too, and I'm fast and accurate (and well practiced), which enables me to see results quickly.
My first interest was in quilting. I made full-size quilts (81 in. by 96 in.) with lots of piecework, applique, and embroidery. After about two years, I found I was enjoying the embroidery more than the piecing and quilting. I wanted more of a solid, overall embroidered look rather than just embroidery stitched over seams, outlining appliqued forms, or worked in small isolated areas as on some of my quilts. Since then, I have been embroidering framed pictures, Christmas-tree ornaments, neckties, pins, purses, and clothing.
I enjoy embroidery because of its lush texture and color and its uncomplicated nature—it doesn't require many tools or any machines. I like it better than needlepoint because it's not confined to a grid, and so the designs can be freer, thicker, and less geometric. I like it better than quilting because it's less cumbersome- you don't need a large frame, and you can work anyplace. I move around a lot and take as many vacations as possible, so I like the fact that all the materials I need can fit into a paper bag.
Materials—To start a piece of embroidery, I assemble these materials: plain white muslin, embroidery floss, embroidery needles, and a hoop. I use regular, inexpensive cotton muslin, making sure that there are no flaws in the area to be worked, and DMC cotton floss. The better the floss, the easier and faster it is to work. DMC colors are consistent, brilliant, and colorfast. The texture is smooth, and the floss lies evenly on the muslin. It twists and tangles less than other flosses and has few flaws or rough spots. The only drawback is its cost, but when you consider that floss is your only expense, it's bearable.
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| Caroline Dahl's Bolivian parrot Skwnbby (above) has been the inspiration for many of her embroideries, Like the real thing, his sombrero is decorated with sequins. On the. facing page, Dahl models a jacket with an embroidered applique, also her own design. |
I usually use all six strands of floss when stitching. For details, I sometimes use just two or three, and for a very thick satin stitch, I use 12. I cut the floss to lengths of about 14 in. Strands longer than 14 i n. will tangle; shorter strands are good only if you need a little bit of a specific color for a detail or small area. If the strands separate from each other or get twisted while I'm working, I just hold the piece upside down and let the threaded needle free-fall. The floss straightens itself out.
I use a wooden hoop 4 in. in diameter. To see what suits you best, experiment with a few sizes. My hands are small, so a small hoop is easiest for me to hold, although I have to reposition it around the piece more often than I would a larger hoop.
Ideas—Of course, the most important thing is the idea for the piece. If I'm about to spend hours and hours of work on something, I feel the result should be completely my own work, or else it's a waste of time. That's why I was never interested in working a preexisting design. To me, the designing is the most fun part. By designing, I mean coming up with the imagery as well as new stitches or new and interesting ways of using old stitches, and then putting it all together in a final piece.
My imagery comes from various sources: from something I did or read or dreamed, from somebody else's idea, from an exciting trip to an exotic place. A favorite subject is my Bolivian parrot, Skwabby. I also like interior scenes with angles made by intersecting floors, ceilings, and walls. Dogs, imaginary creatures, and entertainment-related imagery frequently appear in my work. I also like the humor in putting words and pictures together.
Once I have the idea for the piece, I make a rough drawing and use felt-tip pens to decide on the colors. I neaten up the drawing—or make another one—tape it to a flat surface with an ironed piece of muslin over it, and then trace the drawing onto the muslin with a pencil. At this point, I remove the tape, crank up the stereo another notch (I always work with music on), put the drawing away, find a well-lighted spot, and I'm ready to start stitching.
With the large part of the hoop over the muslin and the small part under, I position the hoop anywhere on the design, You don't have to start in one corner, as in needlepoint. Make sure the tension is tight enough to keep the fabric taut, but not so tight that it distorts the design. If you avoid excessive pulling of the thread and fabric when stitching, the embroidery should not need much blocking.
Stitches—I mainly use the outline, satin, and long-and-short stitches,. the French knot, and couching. Sometimes I cover large areas with solid French knots to give the piece a chenille look. I also use the chain, cross, seed, and buttonhole stitches. A book such as The Encyclopedia of Needlework is useful if you get stuck in the experimentation stage or need help coming up with new stitches.
I've devised a “streamer stitch,” which consists of a vertical cascade of floss secured every 1,5 in. or so by a French knot, and a “fringe stitch"—my variation on a French knot. To make the fringe stitch in a rug, for example, I make a French knot on the border of the rug. Then I bring the needle up from underneath the muslin, immediately on the side of the knot farthest from the rug's border. I make a short stitch at a right angle to the knot, but instead of completing the stitch by going back down into the fabric, I cut the floss about 1/8 in. away from the French knot and secure it to the piece with a small seed stitch. I fan out the cut floss a bit beyond the seed stitch with the point of the needle. I frequently use a fringe stitch over other embroidery stitches.
In “One Wild Party," I used streamer stitches across the surface of the piece. I cut several lengths of different-colored floss, most longer than the height of the piece. I threaded and knotted the end of one length of floss and brought the needle up through the muslin at the very top, or near the top, of the piece. I gently snaked the floss back and forth across the surface, and with a second needle threaded with a contrasting color, I secured the streamer at 1-in. to 1,5-in. intervals with French knots and seed stitches. Then at the bottom, for the first and only time, I put the first needle back into the muslin and knotted the streamer floss on the wrong side of the piece. This stitch can also be done over other embroidery stitches.
When couching, I also use two threaded needles. The first needle comes up through the material at one end of the area to be stitched and goes back into it at the end, while the other one secures the first thread at intervals with seed stitches. For decoration and pattern, I frequently put stitches on top of stitches in contrasting colors—straight or cross stitches on long- and-short stitches or French knots on chain stitches, for example.
As highlights, I often use sequins, but-tons, metallic threads, or beads of glass, ceramic, metal, or plastic. Local sewing and novelty stores and flea markets have a wealth of these things from which to choose. I especially like how beads catch the light, and they give the embroidery a nontraditional look, a harder texture, and often the illusion of depth. If the bead has a hole in its center, I sew it to the piece with two or three strands of DMC floss in a single straight stitch or secure it with a French knot by bringing the needle up through the muslin and through the bead, making the knot and going back down through the bead and muslin. Then I pull the knot down on top of (not through) the bead. I use a smaller needle for the bead- work, as the eye of the embroidery needle is too big for most beads. II' the bead doesn't have a hole, I simply glue it to the piece with Elmer's Glue-All. I frequently use beads in areas where I would embroider seed stitches or French knots, just to vary the texture. I used sequins on Skwabby's sombrero because that's what real sombreros are decorated with. Beads, sequins, stitches on top of stitches, painted paper leaves (used on several “Skwabby" pieces), fringe, streamers, and embroidered words all add up to the comfortably cluttered look I prefer. That's just what my apartment looks like.
I use bright colors more than muted ones. Black, yellow, and white are very dramatic colors to me, and I use them to outline shapes. I try to include lots of dif-ferent colors in one piece and aim for con-trast—dark colors next to light colors, light outlines on dark shapes, etc. I also contrast colors within stitches, as in streamer and cross stitches and couching. I don't use variegated floss, because the color change' is loo random. Sometimes I do shading, and sometimes I do solid areas of color. I stitch large areas of a light color toward the end of the project to minimize the chances of their getting dirty.
I work until I get tired of it, usually any-where from about 15 minutes lo two hours at a stretch. Often I have two pieces in progress at the same time, and sometimes I have nothing in progress.
Finishing—My pieces range in size from about 6 in. by 10 in. to about 26 in. by 22 in. I prefer a small piece because it's easy to manipulate and doesn't take forever to finish. I would like to do a large piece, but sometime in the future.
I block the finished embroidery on a large, smooth, wooden board. I leave about a 3-in.-wicle margin of muslin on all sides. I get the piece thoroughly wet, stretch it a little, alternating vertical and horizontal directions, and then square it up with hammer and nails. As I work, I secure all my stitches on the back of the piece with knots or backstitches. The backs are always covered with fabric, or with cardboard if the piece is to be framed. I usually have a metal or wooden frame cut to order, or I find an old frame at a flea market and frame the piece myself. When pieces have cloth-covered or multiple-opening mats, I take them to my favorite frame shop, Dow and Frosini, in Berkeley.
I don't use glass to protect pieces that have been framed. I did at first, but I found that it took too much away from the richness of the work. Instead, I now spray the piece with Scotch Gard, which leaves no residue when it dries and does not affect the colors.
Sometimes I embroider directly onto clothing, but I also applique large, circular embroidered patches, using embroidery stitches instead of regular sewing stitches to attach the patches to the garment. Often I combine both techniques, as I did in the bowling shirt shown at left.
I make the garments as well as embroider them. First I make the applique patch, leaving a 2-in.-wide margin around it, and then I assemble the back of the garment. Next, I fold under V2 in. of the muslin, center the patch on the garment, baste it, and attach it with six strands of embroidery floss and a thin.-wide satin stitch. This leaves a neat, large circle of satin stitches on the wrong side of the garment, which you may or may not want to cover. After all the embroidery is done on, or applied to, the pieces, I finish the garment.
When I started my first embroidery, I took an experimental approach. I examined other embroidery and worked according to how it looked as though the stitches had been done, rather than learning a step-by-step method from a how-to-do-it book. I like to see results immediately, if not sooner, and I didn't have any books to refer to at the time. Also, because I'm left-handed, I'm used to jumping into things instead of reading instructions or following diagrams, which are always geared to right-handed people. Later, when I started conducting workshops, I looked at books like The Encyclopedia of Needlework to see if I was working in the most efficient way and to better explain the stitches to my students. Another book I liked a lot was Jacopetti and Wainwright's Native Funk and Flash, a colored picture book primarily of California craftwork and craftspeople. Although now somewhat dated, it was a great resource book for me, at the time still living in Kentucky and not yet having been out to the West Coast. I think the best approach in the beginning is whatever is most comfortable for you, either experimenting or following instructions from a book, and being open to what other people are doing and how they are doing it.
