Mabel's Designs 2026

[Serinde]

Very clever finish.

[Mabel Figworthy]

A bit of work on a wool-on-wool tulip, which has gone through several changes of plan. At the monthly Cake & Craft meeting I managed the laid work (with a bit of shading) on the left-hand leaf.

[fccs]

Your embroidery is beautiful!

[richardandtracy]

Such talent & care. Always feel in awe of you when I look.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Thank you both!
And what do I notice myself when looking at the close-up? That the stitch direction isn't absolutely uniform, and not all the stitches are parallel
Whenever I teach I tell people to be proud of their achievements and not point out their mistakes, but do I listen to my own advice? uh-uh.

One thing I was very happy about was being able to give the little daisy-on-denim to a friend who is embellishing one of her denim jackets:

[Serinde]

Self-criticism can be useful, unless it stops one doing the thing altogether for fear of failure. You might notice the stitch direction isn't perfect (I blame the RSN, personally), but everyone else? Close enough for Mozart.

[richardandtracy]

To get perfectly parallel stitches with a diagonal stitch that's not 45 degrees and varying stitch length, you'd have to either have variable count fabric or split the fabric threads. And what would the RHS.. err sorry.. RSN say about splitting threads?

To be honest, I'd not even seen it on the close up until you mentioned it.

I do like the roundel on the Denim. Fits the spot perfectly.

Regards,

Richard.

[Mabel Figworthy]

As it's a tulip it might well come under the RHS Richard!

Strictly speaking this wool fabric is a non-count one, although the weave is open enough that you can treat it as such when that is useful (e.g. with the stem stitch on the stem). But for the purpose of satin stitch or laid stitch at an angle, yes, you do need to split fabric threads and that is allowed, nay, expected

[Mabel Figworthy]

A bit more on the tulip - all the green is finished.

I worked the last bit of the stem when the left-hand leaf had been finished in the hope of making it look in front of the leaf. The right-hand petal is stitched over a split-stitch outline to make it stand out more and again look more towards the front. I didn't manage to keep the outline as smooth as I'd have liked where it crosses the stem, but I'm pleased with the outline on the rest of the leaf!

[Serinde]

Clever idea using split stitch to just lift the satin stitch enough to give perspective. Have filed that away!

[geekishly]

Such a cool technique.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm keeping the petals in laid stitch as well, the two side petals flat and the middle petal will be done over split stitch to bring it forward.

[geekishly]

Looking forward to it.

[Mabel Figworthy]

A finish! The laidwork tulip in wool, which I'e decided not to outline:

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm now doing the same tulip in blackwork, but with a slightly different arrangement of the petals. I've got it set up on 36ct evenweave over two, and on 20ct aida. And I'll just experiment with the patterns and the shading and see what I like! When I'd finished the stem on this one I thought of a different pattern that would probably work better, so I'll try that on the aida one.

[Roland]

Beautiful

[Serinde]

I like the black work!!

[geekishly]

Lovely finish and great start. I'm excited to see how the blackwork version turns out.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I've started on my blackwork tulip! there's been a fair bit of unpicking and re-stitching so far, but that's OK as it's a learning project

More details on FoF.

[Roland]

Personally, I like this more than the satin stitch. All your work is so even and lovely.