Yule Present 2017 Leads To New Skill
I mentioned a couple of blogs
ago how Laura from Alyssa Rose Boutique (https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa.Rose.Boutique/)
had given me a great deal of craft items. These included some tools I had never
seen before.
Small Tool
Medium Tool
Since they had originally
belonged to Laura’s Gran I thought I would ask my mum if she knew what they
were. She had never come across them either so time for an Internet Search!
Large Tool
I should mention at this point
that the Large Tool I couldn’t really see because it was incorporated into a
project started by Laura’s Gran. Therefore I knew that the tools were old,
metal and used for some kind of sewing craft.
I used various descriptions to
search through images. I finally found what I was looking for and I was lucky
enough to find a website linked to the photograph.
I heartily recommend going to
this site as it will explain far more than I can. A brief synopsis is that the
tools are from the 1920’ – 1930’s and known as Kay’s Practical Embroider.
Kay’s Practical Embroider
This is the set after I had got
them out of the material and cleaned up. What I learnt is that there are two
sets. There are others that are just small leaves/petals and two small circles.
I am not entirely sure whether this is a complete set or a mixture of both.
This craft work is known
generally as Plush Work, Chenille Work or Amish Stump Work. As far as I can
tell from my research that there are differences between the three and I think
Plush Work is the best term.
The principle is like that of
making a Pom-Pom. Wind yarn around the template and then cut along the middle
and remove the template. I decided to try and finish the project Laura’s Gran
had started.
Laura’s Yule Present 2017
I was very
nervous doing this but I think the result is quite good. For those that are
interested the Three Red flowers were done by Gran along with the leaf and
stalk of the largest flower.
I did the
infilling of the petals and the dark green part of the large flower. I also
finished the pink flower and other stalks plus the embroidered leaf and the
plush leaf.
I wasn’t quite sure what kind of yarn had been used
before but I decided to use embroidery silks. This gave a lovely soft feel to
the work.
So thanks very much Laura that is another string to my
craft bow.
