I've been so remiss is chatting with you all. I've been so busy with some very involved custom orders lately. I love them, but each one seems to be a labor of love in the end. So many stitches and so little time!
Here is the first of my new pears- Red Silk with Yellow Wisteria Vines.
I have been up to my elbows in luxury these days. Beautiful dupioni silk, silky satin floss, hand dyed silk ribbons and lovely Austrian crystals. Oh my!
While they are so beautiful in the finished piece, I find them not as lovely to work with.
My hands, which are doubling as garden tools these days are dry and rough. If you've ever ran your hands over a fine fabric with rough callouses, you know where I"m going with this. I keep a piece of fine sand paper at the ready and I literally remove the rough spots with it! I may be able to rob a bank my fingertips are so smooth!
Well, back to the end result, which is so much more fun to talk about. The 1st pear was created with a beautiful, deep, scarlet dupioni silk. I used satin floss to create the wisteria flowers. The stitches are easy- lots of satin stitches and modified chain stitches for the flowers and wrapped stem stitches for the vines.
I then encrust the floral section with lovely, sparkling crystals in shades of amber, smoke, champagne and clear. I just love how rich this pair looks.
My second pear is the Red Rose Pear on Golden Silk-
I decided to forgo the crystals and simply let the hand dyed silk ribbons take center stage. After going through many hanks of Gloriani silk ribbon I finally decided to hand dye my own. If you've ever dabbled in silk ribbon, you know its not the average bear when it comes to price. Its also not available locally... by locally I mean the entire city and surrounding Milwaukee suburbs. It was beginning to get very costly and difficult to keep my stitching momentum going. So, I had to learn another technique...fast!Enter the fine art of silk dyeing!
I used ColorHue silk colors and silk ribbons in white from Dharma Trading. I have to say that i was very pleased with their service and extremely happy with the quality of the materials. The silk ribbon I purchased was a dream to dye and wonderful to stitch with. Gloriani is the top of the line when it comes to embroidery ribbon, so that is saying something. I'll write more about silk dyeing soon. It is both addicting and intoxicating!
Here are a few more photos of my pears. They both where ordered by one of my first pincushion collectors. She is a joy to work with and loves traditional embroidery. Thanks so much Robin! (I have the best clients on the planet!)
Each pincushion has a heavy weighted base to keep it from tipping. The stem is wilk-wrapped raffia wire so it can be posed in a number of positions. The remainder of the pear is filled with new polyester fiberfill. I added embroidered silk leaf in deep green. Two beautiful bead topped pins come with this pincushion.
You won't find this pincushion listed in my shop, but you can order one there upon request. Just send me a convo through my Fiberluscious shop page on Etsy.
Please note that this is not a pincushion you will receive in a week. These pears take at least 3 weeks to create due to the heavy stitching and the unavailability of the materials. The materials are of the highest quality and challenging to work with. You may request a price quote when we discuss your custom pincushion. Although the price is much higher than my other works, these pincushions are well worth the time and price.
