What Are You Stitching?

Inspired by the delicate lace-like patterns of our Featured Project, Chequerboard, this week’s What Are You Stitching? showcases projects that are in perfect harmony with the needle and thread of Maria Rita Faleri and are every bit as delicate and elegant as her pulled thread mat.

‘I look forward to receiving your weekly newsletters so much and save each one so I can savour them in peace and quiet. I have done both lace knitting and knitted lace and enjoy both techniques immensely. I knitted a wedding shawl for my granddaughter’s wedding.’  

‘The shawl was created from the centre out in the round, and I added gorgeous crystal beads to the edging.’

Susanne, your shawl is beautiful and would have been an elegant addition to your granddaughter’s wedding. No doubt it will be treasured over the coming years and may even be seen at weddings for generations to come.

‘I’ve just plucked up the courage to forward my finished Romanian Lace Grape Basket by Elena Iove.

When I see the projects in All Stitched Up!, I feel so intimidated by their professionalism, but this item is so exquisite that I couldn’t help but show it off! The cords are so easy to do, and I feel confident that anyone could master this technique.’

Joyce, we often hear from people who don’t feel confident enough to share their work with us, yet we’re always amazed by the talent that exists within the Inspirations Community! Your basket is beautifully executed and is absolutely worthy of sharing. The story of your journey with needle and thread may even tempt someone to try their hand at Romanian Lace themselves.

‘I started to teach myself to make lace because I was in the process of making a cloth doll that I wanted to dress as a Victorian, but I did not want to use machine made lace to trim her clothes. I started with bobbin lace, but I gave it up because I could not make it fine enough, even though I used the thinnest yarns I could find. So I turned to needle lace and found that if I used the finest Honiton Lace threads I could make the lace I needed for the doll.’

‘Throughout the process, I got hooked on making lace without bobbins and spent so much time making needle lace, tatted lace, crochet lace and even macramé that I forgot about the doll! For a time, I had a small travelling display of ‘Lace Without Bobbins’ which I took to craft fairs around our part of North Kent in the UK.’

It is said that ‘from little things, big things grow’ and that, Ann, is your journey with lace. To think the pursuit of a simple lace trim led you to ‘Lace Without Bobbins’ shows we never know where our journey with needle and thread will lead. Your work is delicate and precise.  

Is the work of your needle and thread delicate and dainty or are they the last words you’d use to describe what you create?! Refined, elegant, coarse or naïve, whatever words you’d use to define your stitching, we’d love to see it.

Simply email news@inspirationsstudios.com to share your needlework journey through both photo and word.