I Want Candy

I don't normally start out a post with a YouTube video...but please humor me and click play...It will provide the musical backdrop and give you a reference point for my post today...



OK. The scenes from the movie Marie Antoinette have never left me...


I gobble down every image and drink in all of the costumes...textiles...passementerie...foppery and fun. And, if you were to walk into my sewing room on any given day...I continuously play the movie so I can see the visual delight over and over again.

I'm planning to make a quilt one day inspired by this movie...So I began collecting the materials I would need for it about three years ago. (I know...I'm a little late to the Marie Antoinette party...maybe by the time I finish the quilt, Marie will be "in" again?)

In looking for sumptuous fabrics to use, I have had great luck finding silks but less luck finding vibrant and beautiful velvets I need at a price I can afford.


Enter my blogging friend Chris at Shady Grove Studios who began dyeing rayon/silk velvet a few months ago...

Appropriately enough, her Etsy store is titled Dye Candy...and, oh baby, this is the type of candy I love to devour.


She custom colored these velvets for me and they are perfect -- heading straight for my "Marie Antoinette" collection box...

But first their making a stop in my Easter basket...


There is tons of ribbonwork showcased in the Marie movie so I will be sharpening my ribbon skills at Maureen Greeson's workshop with Candace Kling in November.

Her work looks like candy to me too...!


Now, I bet after seeing all of these yummy pics and listening to BowWowWow, you're wanting some candy too!


Go ahead...it's the perfect week for it!

Tambour Beading Masterclass

One of my absolute favorite blog posts of all time on my own blog was this one...and it's because it speaks to my lifetime hope and dream of traveling to Paris to study at the L'Ecole Lesage to learn haute couture embroidery techniques.


Many of these techniques involve a certain type of embroidery using a tambour hook...often referred to as Broderie de Luneville and worked with the back of the embroidery facing up and the beads/sequins being threaded from underneath.

From La Broderie de Luneville by Mick Fouriscot/Roland Gravelier

So, while I wait to gather the time and resources for my dream trip, I have been on the hunt to find a tambour work teacher here in the States, contacting Lacis and following down many leads to no avail. That's until my beading friend, Dot aka SpeedieBeadie, wrote on a list that she was attending a Tambour Beading Masterclass in June. What? Who? Where?

Work in progress -- Bob Haven

Dot led me to Robert Haven who is a costume technologist, Associate Professor of Costume Technology at the University of Kentucky. Last year, Mr. Haven went on sabbatical to complete the Professional course in Haute Couture embroidery at Lesage. Here is his completed work using all of the techniques used by the atelier to embellish the garments for the runway.


With 150 hours of class time and 300+ hours of personal stitching time.



After Paris, Mr. Haven took three concentrated certificate courses at the Royal School of Needlework. This is his finished goldwork piece...which I absolutely adore...it's not tambour beading but I can't help getting off topic...I love it...


And, if that isn't enough...Mr. Haven has also studied Japanese embroidery and his University will be hosting the 2011 Japanese Embroidery World Exhibition...He will also be the first site to incorporate a Japanese Embroidery class into an academic curriculum with a class to begin in May 2011. Phew! I cannot wait to meet this man!

And, luckily, he wrote last week that someone had unexpectedly canceled from his Beading Masterclass this June and would I be interested??? And how! I jumped, made my reservations and I am on my way...I'll be leaving on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 to attend his class. I'm hyperventilating just writing about it...And yes, I'll tell you all about it!

Work in Progress by Bob Haven

The classes for this year are full but Mr. Haven is keeping a list for next Summer's courses. Last he wrote, there were already 12 people signed up for 2011...And there may be an opportunity for a Fall class in New Orleans.

Check out his website which is rich in information and images to whet your appetite. And his tambour beading video on YouTube is a "must see"...

Is it June yet?

[Note: All pics of beadwork/embroidery above are by Bob Haven (except for the first three) and were used with his permission.]

Waiting for the Flowers

I'm still making leaves today.



But I'm in good company...



All around me the world is making leaves too...

And though I grow weary of stockpiling leaves, I have fallen in love with green...

And know that green is the perfect background for showing off the colors of flowers.

I cannot wait to see them. And by the time they come, I am so ready for them...

And aren't we lucky that we are able to embroider them...

So we can have them with us all year long...

To make us smile and feel good inside when it's cold and rainy outside...

Until the sun comes out and the world blooms again.

Cate's Jacket is Finished

I finally finished Cate's jacket and am sending it off to Texas today.


I was pleased with how all of her choices turned out...


The fabrics looked great...


And so did her ribbon choices...


And the peace signs were the same style that we used in Pants Pants Revolution...


With those fraying edges...


I had to add a few special touches myself ~~~

I used all those fun stitches on my sewing machine in different colors to give the collar a little more pizazz -- I thought they looked great against the white background.


A little monogram "C "...


And a special label for the inside.


I printed a mirror image of the label onto transfer paper and ironed it on...It came out a little light and smudged so I went over it with a micron pen and it looks just ok. Perfection is overrated anyway.


And I LOVE how this froggy turned out!!

It's a rhinestone applique from MJTrim with a tongue and fly a la Aunt Susan...


It's by far my favorite part.

By far...*smile

Now I'm off to make more leaves...oh, and to find those little file folders Cate asked me to send...

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about stitching my story...but it probably won't happen until this Summer...

[Note: For those new to my blog, you can see Cate's Design Book on this post which I sent to Cate to help her design her own jacket...And you can read about Cate's design choices here.]

Stitching a Story

I believe that there are subtle messages that are being sent to us all of the time. From where or whom, I know not.

But I do know, that if we are listening...if we are open and receiving the signals...then we just might receive a little cosmic push that sends us down a new path...down a road less traveled that we may not have otherwise taken.

Well, this morning I felt a cosmic "push". I was sitting at the lab waiting to have my blood drawn for a routine test and was reading the latest issue of Inspirations magazine.

And in the latest issue there is an entire article on the beauty of Kantha embroidery. I couldn't believe the coincidence.


At the end of the article there are stitch guides for the stitches used in kantha embroidery -- many of them variations of the running stitch -- new stitches to me like the chatai stitch, kaitya stitch and the kantha stitch...providing more substance to my exploration of kantha embroidery.

Stitches that, just days ago, I had searched for on the internet trying to find stitch guides to help me better understand the methods of the kantha stitched by the Bangladeshi women that I posted about the other day in telling Surayia's story. And here it was, all laid out before me this morning in black and white.


And this is the same embroidery that just happens to be on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where I can easily make a day trip and go see the many nakshi kantha up-close-and-personal. There's no doubt in my mind now that I have to go.

And, all of this information landed in my lap within one week. What to make of it?

I have always been attracted to needlework that tells a story. Participating in the Bead Journal Project taught me the power of combining my love for embroidery with my love for my own life.
Each one, individually, is beautiful in and of itself...but put together, the combined result is an art form that speaks to...and from...my very soul.

Surayia said "Life tells the Story." And I think perhaps that is my message this week.

Where will I go next with telling my story in my needlework. I have decided that I cannot participate formally in the bead journal project this year because I cannot meet the monthly deadline...the schedule. But I will take what I learned from that journey and apply it to what I make in the future.

Interestingly enough, I picked up this book at the Quilt store this past Saturday. It is chock full of quilts that tell the stories of the makers...whether it be an event or a person or a feeling. It's journaling with textiles...just like the kantha...and it encourages the reader to tell their own stories with cloth. If you can find it...it's worth a look over with a cuppa just for the gallery pictures alone...dozens and dozens of quilts that tell stories...

Today, I have to finish Cate's jean jacket but all the while I'll be thinking about stories I want to tell with my needle and thread.

And I think that maybe I have become a student of Surayia even though I live hundreds of miles away and we have never met...

My Idea of Tweeting...

From whom else but that spirited, whimsy-of-a-wonder, Betsey Johnson in her Fall 2010 collection.

You know you want this hat...

Check out the story of the Etsy designer here...

Life Gives the Story

I stumbled upon a beautiful story about a Bangladeshi needle artist named Surayia Rahman who has spent her life helping hundreds of women escape from poverty in Bengal through needle and thread.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

A story about one woman, using her hands and her self-taught artistry, who created a place where women, some of them living in mud huts, could come and be paid for their work and learn to be better embroiderers.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

They embroidered their stories on Nakshi Kantha, a traditional folk art quilt that is embroidered and passed down through generations. It was accidental. "I didn't plan to do it for women," she said. "They just started coming." And when they came, she gave them what they needed.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

Surayia Rahman became an icon in the kantha tradition and elevated the embroidered quilt to a whole new level of artistry through her personal oversight regarding the quality of the designs, the embroidery and the materials used to create these amazing stories.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

She started a skills development project and developed a market for her embroideries, having sold many of the works to travelers and visiting dignitaries, diplomats.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

When asked about her work she says, "You will find them in the world, but not in my house." I love that.

I first learned of her story through a wonderfully-woven story by Bianca DiBiase called The Accidental Saint on the HandEye blog. Go there and read this story when you have a few minutes -- it's worth your time.

Surayia is now in her late seventies and her health no longer allows her to embroider. There is an effort underway led by Cathy Stevulak and her husband Leonard Hill, friends of Surayia's, to locate and catologue Surayia's work and to produce a documentary of her life's story. You can read more about their efforts at their web site Kantha Threads. They need assistance in raising money and awareness so that this project will become a reality and Surayia's legacy will not be lost. They also have a mailing list for you to join if you are interesting in following and learning more of Surayia's story.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

All the photographs you see here today are by Anil Advani who I believe did a magical job of capturing images that told a story. As someone who struggles to capture my love for needle and thread with my images, I believe I have stumbled upon a master and I am grateful to her for allowing me to share her pictures with you.

Coincidentally for me, there is a current exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz and the Stella Kramrisch Collections through July 25, 2010. If you can't get there, there is an online gallery of the 43 kantha on their website for you to explore.

"Life gives the story." Surayia said to Bianca as she interviewed her.

Indeed it does.

Photos copyright Anil Advani and Kantha Productions LLC, used with permission

And our hands have the power to tell it and change the world.