P & C Wedding monogram with rose (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
This invitation for this June wedding came headed by the couple’s initials below which there was a red rose. As they obviously liked the font – or why would they have chosen it ?- I looked no further for inspiration. The vicar kindly got to work with his photocopier and produced a range of enlarged images until we found one that satisfied me as a nice size to embroider. I then embroidered a rose similar to the one on the invitation.
Embroidered rose from P & C wedding monogram (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
Deep red always seems to be difficult to photograph and this is my best attempt after much faffing about on ironing boards with artificial light, on the garden table in dappled sunlight and on windowsills both with and without artificial light – I think this is window sill without artificial light. If I can produce a better image over the next few days until I’ve given it to the couple, I will add it.
The linen is light to medium weight with a bit more slub than I would like (as it sometimes plays havoc with the even outlining of the initials) but I’ve used it often so it’s not really a problem. The white thread was DMC Anchor No 1 (Sorry, my mistake) and the reds and greens were ends of skeins waiting to be used.
Now the baby caravan has moved on to other relatives, general household tasks and backlog embroidery can be resumed. Hilary Clinton got into trouble in 1996 for writing a book whose title was paraphrased as ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ – well we in our own little extended family are certainly finding that it takes a small hamlet’s worth. To be fair to Hilary her book’s actual title was ‘It Takes a Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach us’ and her idea was to consider how children’s formative influences often came from one or two individuals or groups who by chance, character or serendipity pressed the right or wrong buttons leading to an individual’s blossoming or withering. She wanted to discuss how society could put as much good influence a child’s way as possible but controversies as to what the original Aftrican proverb meant and how much the book was ghosted meant the book as a discussion point did not receive sufficient serious attention and that can only be a shame.
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Beautiful embroidery as ever Mary. I have never heard of the book you mention but it sounds like a really interesting read. Funny how a book title can haunt the author; I don’t think Nigella ever recovered from the ‘Domestic Goddess’ title despite her protestations that it was ironical….
Um, I think it probably should be read but I have to admit it’s not high on the pile (well that is, I haven’t actually got a copy).
Love your biscuit captions.
I am thinking about embroidering some initials soon and have been wondering about the best thread to use – I don’t think I have seen DMC No 1, what sort of a thread is it? and where do you buy it from?. Is it similar to a fine coton a broder?
You haven’t seen DMC No 1 because I meant Anchor No. 1 in Stranded Cotton Mouliné (6 stranded embroidery cotton); the DMC equivalent is 5200. Sorry about getting my thread numbers in a twist. I haven’t tried any other threads because these are what are most easily available. Hope that helps.
I am always amazed by your embroidery Mary and I am thinking that perhaps I could start to wield a needle and thread too. With that in mind I have just sent away for a beginners crewel embroidery kit. I hope it comes with full instructions as there is no one on hand to help…
A village to raise a child sounds like a wonderful idea…..
I think crewel work is a good place to begin. Don’t be too perfectionist about your stitching at first – you’ll get better the more you do and you won’t do much if you keep feeling you have to unpick something less than perfect (I often feel less than perfect is more attractive, perhaps more spontaneous in feeling). There are also quite a lot of helpful tutorials on YouTube for when you get stuck, so don’t despair.
Best of luck!
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[…] with a needle. If you would like to see some of the other roses I’ve embroidered do look here (Arts and Craft style rose christening monogram), here (rose wedding monogram) or here (roses […]