An evening of late night stitchery, making a brooch for a sewing day ✂ with friends in the morning.
I love red ❤.
Cut, Pin, Sew
How to Make An Educational Resource – Blanket Book
This project was made in less than a week.
I received a call requesting a resource full of garment fasteners for a young autistic boy.
After thinking about it’s design, I started rummaging around the charity shops looking at everything in a different way. Usually I shop for textured fabrics for embroidery, but this time it was any and every garment and bag fastener I could lay my hands on. Luckily I sourced it all in one big shop – zips, toggles, hooks and eyes, magnetic poppers, poppers, buttons and Velcro. I had a stash of vintage wool blankets at home and set about thinking about its construction.
If you would like to make one too, here’s how I made it.
- What you’ll need:
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- Wool blanket to make the pages
- Garments with suitable fasteners (dependant on the ages of the users, be aware of choking hazards such as buttons and laces)
- Thick Perle cotton thread and a long needle (Trapunto or Mattress needle
- Ribbon or cotton tape for top stitching onto the cut edges of garments.
- Sewing machine and thread (I used a walking foot too for stitching some of the pieces).
- Wash and press everything before cutting.
- Cutting the blanket.
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- I looked at the dimensions of the largest piece to be appliqued onto a page – a baby’s vest – and took this as the starting point for the page’s measurements.
- Cut pages 17″ x 17″. Some I cut 17″ x 12″ to make narrower pages.
- Cut front page 17″ x 17″
- Cut a piece of blanket 22″ x 17″ for the back cover (which wraps around the front to make the spine of the book)
- Cut the garments and the fasteners ensuring there is enough seam allowance to stitch the piece down.
- Arrange the pieces onto pages, leaving a 3″ gap at one edge of the blanket page for stitching into the spine. I sourced a book fastener too from the white trousers.
- Pin and using your sewing machine, stitch into place using a running stitch or zig-zag stitch. Add ribbon or tape to the raw edges if needed.
- Layer the pages, the front page and back page. Wrap the excess fabric from the back page around to the front to cover to make the spine.
- Use an odd number of long pins (I used Quilting pins) to hold the spine edge ready for binding, spaced around 2″ apart.
- Measure enough thread – 5 x the length of the spine – thread the needle, double the thread and knot (I tried using single thickness but double thread will be far stronger). Using the position of the long pins as a guide, make a book binding pamphlet stitch to hold the spine together.
- Add extra stitches to hold the pages in place.
I am thrilled with the finished book, especially the book fastener.
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| The laces were stitched down to stop them being removed |
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| Shirt sleeves were added between the pages |
I’ve had a brilliant response to this book from teachers and parents who feel it would be a perfect resource for infants and special needs students. I’d love to hear if you make one or have made something similar in the past. Please share and leave your comments below.
The Game of Thrones piece ‘The Hardhome Embroidery’ exhibition in London
The Game of Thrones ‘The Hardhome Embroidery’.
This exhibition was only open to the public for a very limited time – Friday 18th and Saturday 19th March 2016 at the Crossing Gallery, Central St Martins, Kings Cross, London.
A strict embargo on publicity had been imposed by HBO and lifted just days before the event.
THE STORY……..
The Game of Thrones is a fantasy TV drama series, named after the first book in a series called “A Song of Ice and Fire” by author George R R Martin. There have been 5 series so far with the 6th due to be launched in April 2016. It is filmed in Belfast and on locations in Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Scotland and the USA.
The series is set in the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. It attracted a record number of viewers and received widespread acclaim including 26 Prime Time Emmy Awards. The novels and their adaptations derive aspects of their settings, characters and plots from various events in European history, including the English War of the Roses.
The embroidered image features a “White Walker”. He is one of a mythical race which descended on Westeros from the farthest north and polar regions of the lands of “Always Winter”. They kill everything in their path. Their arrival is usually accompanied by blizzards and dropping temperatures.
Following on from the success of the Magna Carta embroidery and the Guild’s role in its production, the UK representatives of the HBO Home Entertainment TV Network contacted the Embroiderers’ Guild with the view to creating a special artwork in stitch to form the backdrop to mark the release of the ‘Game of Thrones’ Series 5 DVD & Blue Ray boxed set.
The Embroiderers’ Guild led the design and production of the piece and invited stitch partners The Royal School of Needlework, Hand & Lock and Fine Cell Work to participate. The final image was selected by HBO in December. It features one of the most intense battle scenes in TV history – the massacre of Hardhome. The first design and production meeting took place just before Christmas 2015, stitching started in mid January 2016 and the piece, measuring 5 metres in length and 4 metres high (nearly 17ft x 13ft 6 inches), was completed during the second week of March 2016… an outstanding achievement by all concerned.
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| Anthea Godfrey |
Anthea Godfrey, Artistic Director of the Embroiderers’ Guild and Project Manager, commented: “This has been an amazing project that truly has brought the embroidery community together across the whole of the UK.There is a huge variety of textile skills involved in making the piece, including digital print, surface stitch, machine embroidery, metal thread work beading, applique and quilting. We are really proud to have been involved”.
I spoke to Anthea, and she said she was working with HBO and others to exhibit this fantastic piece later on in the year.
*** Update: There’s a new book available, all about the stunning Game of Thrones Costumes from Season 1 through to Season 8 !
