Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Embroidery for Children: Needling Noah

    Over Thanksgiving we drove to New York City and I embroidered Noah in sunshine and dark in the car, trying to figure out the stitches while listening to a book CD on the life of Henry VIII.
    For Christmas, among other things, I wanted to give the grandchildren sewing kits and "lessons" should they want;  but I thought I better learn how before imparting my wisdom. 
    In the 60's I had embroidered jean fabrics. The colorful floss looks pretty against the rough dark blue. If I find a sample of my work in the attic, I will post later. But this time I was starting with a blank slate. Mother said I could do anything, so I threaded the needle with the included Persian wool and took off deciphering the instructions.
    Embroidery should be easy, and these enchanting books on sewing I got for the children have numerous ideas for using felt and fabric. 
Alice's Noah and animals, almost finished.
a design for Paragon by SHERBY BARBER
    Friend Alice had just completed her recently found, incompleted Noah and animals on the way to the ark (from her efforts in the 70's) and encouraged me to get this kit on Ebay. Bill ordered for me and I am having fun. Embroidery perks up many crafts from simple felt pieces to quilts and clothes.

5 comments:

  1. Embroidery is contagious. We must all be "as a little child" and re-learn this wonderful skill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your mother was wise. And right! I believe you can do anything. Now I think I'll go to the attic and retrieve some of those half-done needlepoints. Am I ready to think about the stash of yarn?

    Love Noah! Love sewing with grands!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As I have told you before, I knew a teacher who had her normally recalcitrant 5th graders doing wonderful things with embroidery. I'll be interested in how your project turns out - in darkness or sunshine. Alice's Noah is darling.
    Good luck, and keep us informed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The projects you do with your grands are wonderful. All of our children made purses out of yarn on frames made from that cardboard inside new shirts. They had a really creative teacher in the 4th grade. The 5th graders, boys & girls alike, learned to do needlepoint with thick yarn on those big canvas patterned pieces. Good memories!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a good post this is! YOUR completed Noah looks super good, so your work in sunshine and dark turned out beautifully. As you know, I am putting together an embroidery kit for my one and only granddaughter, after she expressed a wish for embroidery lessons when she saw me working on the Noah embroidery pictured above. I've yet to post a blog about MY Noah picture, since I want to get it framed first. But anyway, fun to see my Noah here!

    ReplyDelete