Monday, February 13, 2012

A Pouch

For ages, I haven't shown you anything related to our lovely craft activities, and I know that these were the reason why you follow my blog. So I will pick up things I did some time ago like this pouch. The carnation motif was inspired by old German linen embroidery, but also by Turkish embroidery which often shows flowers in lines, then changing direction in the next row. Many years ago, I saw an exhibition of Turkish embroidery in the Altona Museum, Hamburg. Such things can hardly be found today, maybe because people think it is not "modern". The only craft I saw being done in Turkey 20 years ago was bead crocheting for head scarves. But there are cute things being done -- still done or again? Google "türk elişi".
In the case of my pouch, I took elements from Turkish, but also from Estonian style -- Google "eesti käsitöö". I used sock wool, split in 2 plies. I found the color changes very helpful to create irregularities and coincidence patterns. This design followed a necessity: I did not find embroidery wool at that time; and it is an easy calculation to find out that small skeins of new crewel wool are way too expensive. So I thought if I buy a 50g ball of 4-ply wool, I have a real lot for little money. And variegated yarn, if the cuts are not too short, means to have a wide range of colors from just one ball. The only thing that adds more work is to unwind the snippets and to split them into 2 plies.
 In the end, I added a few sequins, one on top of each flower, as the Estonians used to like it.

I added some advice against the cold.

8 comments:

Dawn of LaTouchables said...

Eva, this is an exquisite pouch! I haven't seen such beautiful self-made material in a long time...I am simply in love with it! Congratulations, and I would love to see more of your handmade things.

Els said...

Aaaah Eva, love this pouch, I remember the pattern from something else you made too, lovely carnations!
And thanks warm the heart warming advice against a cold, hope I will not need it ;-)

Yael said...

This is so special Eva-Maria and utterly beautiful! What a great idea to make this embroidered piece into a pouch, something that can be touched and used every day! Your color combinations are wonderful! :-)

Judy said...

Beautiful Eva!!! Your idea about the yarn is a good one! I used to do a lot of embroidery and often stitched the carnation.....it is a classic design. Your color choices here are excellent.

xo

Deborah said...

Gorgeous! I love the colors and the design!

MulticoloredPieces said...

Hi, Eva. Beautiful pouch--love the colors you selected.
best, nadia

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