Saturday, April 13, 2013

Yep, I embroidered

I felt like a bit of soothing hand stitching and I wanted to try out some beautiful embroidery thread we ordered in for the shop. So yes, I decided to embellish my Linen Esme Top with a little crossed embroidery stitch.

The thread actually has a lovely subtle variation in colour as it goes along (I hesitate to use the 'ombre' word which is everywhere but I don't even know how to pronounce... omber? ombray? ombra? ormb?). It's hard to see here but because I did the bottom of the cross stitches in one go and then went back the other way over the top, sometimes the top and bottom of the cross have a pretty contrast.

I realised one of the things I love about the Esme Top so much is that the sleeved are bias cut, which gives them a lovely drape. Such a nice detail.

In case you are wondering about the necklace, it's this adorable happy sloth I got from Etsy here. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling majorly stressed and, you know, pulled in a thousand directions at once and not on top of any of it, so naturally, I was hit by a primal urge to buy something pretty for me! I'm fairly good at containing that urge lately but oh, sometimes, I give in....

We've had a heap of short weeks lately which have been a killer, what with Easter and a long weekend and a 'pupil free day' on Monday of the last week of term so it has been so hard to cram in all the work I've needed to get done. Plus Andy is deep in rehearsals for the biggest new show his company has ever done so he's hardly home. And, um, we're trying to get the shop open, and now it's two weeks of school holidays and, ack... so on that pupil free day I took the boys to my favourite haven of the Botanic Gardens and we had some welcome fresh air and sunshine, which I invite you to share. Breathe ..... :)









- Jane x

15 comments:

  1. Jane, your shirt looks lovely. I want one! Can't wait for the shop to open. XxR

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    1. We are counting on you as a customer :) xx

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  2. The shirt is lovely.

    As for 'ombre', I don't know for sure, but I say ombray (where the 'ay' is pronounced A, unlike Mackay where the 'ay' sounds like I, and unlike quay, where 'ay' says E)

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    1. Heheh :) And throw in the fact that it's presumably from a French word, but is now adopted as English... it's like 'voile' which should probably be 'vwarl' but I feel a bit of a dick saying it like that!

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  3. I take back my comment about liking plain. I love the stitching. Glad you did it. Cx

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    1. Thanks! It' almost still plain - I think that's why I was really happy with it :)

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    2. I agree. I wanted to say I love how plain it looks (special, but still plain), but I didn't want plain to be taken as an insult.

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  4. It's a lovely top and the stitching just sets it off beautifully.
    Haha - was there not some cartoon character that would say Omberay Omberay! All the time? That word makes me think of that :)
    x

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  5. Love the embroidery - subtle and sets the top off beautifully.
    Looks like a fab day at the Gardens - have been thinking of you and the shop set up

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  6. I think it's ombray too but not 100% sure. Things sound busy and exciting for you at the moment. You totally deserved that necklace!

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  7. Love the embroidery - just a little embelishment. Perfect.
    The pictures of the Botanic Garden brought back happy memories and particularly spooky that at the weekend I said that (in my perfect house and garden) I'd have a rill like that one.

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  8. I love the addition of the handstitching to this top! It really makes your handmade garments just that much more special!

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  9. Ooh, just the perfect amount of embellishment. Well done.

    I have been super stressed and overwhelmed lately too, and I don't have half so much on my plate! Good luck with everything! As I have been telling myself, it will all sort itself out somehow. :-)

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  10. Oh and I thought it was perfect as it was but the stitching does add a little something. Very nice. I hope the stress level has dropped for you, I am terrible for buying pretties when I am fed-up, but sometimes a little pressi to yourself (even just a nice coffee and piece of cake in a coffee shop) really does the trick. Beth/thelinencat xx

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Hey, I would really love to know what you think. Go on!

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