Honeysuckle embroidered sleeves on winter coat (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
Winter coat but not winter honeysuckle whose flowers are an understated creamy white but which come with the most marvellous smell. In winter my embroidered honeysuckles always appear more brash and vivid than those I embroider in summer and we have to wear our favourite perfumes (Mitsouko, Aqua de Parma or Opium according to the mood) to make up for what comes for free with the real thing.
Honeysuckle embroidery on a darned sleeve of a much loved coat
By the vicarage’s door from the utility room to the garden we have a tangle of unlovely looking stems, leaves and rather insignificant flowers which has remained untouched as it is a much loved nesting place for wrens (those little birds with checked wings and larger than expected voices). Early morning and late at night the most exquisite smell rises up to the bedroom windows so a few minutes with your head out of the window at the start and end of the day is the perfect restorative to the hustle and bustle of the previous hours.
Winter coat with embroidered honeysuckle
We have done well to keep the moths at bay in daughter No 1’s house but a few weeks ago her eagle eyes noticed that this coat, nibbled but not fully digested, bore the marks of the a hasty picnic. Never travelling without a few crewel threads and embroidery cottons (though often minus needle, scissors or something else of vital importance) I darned the little patches with the turquoise wool I had to hand, thinking that now darning has become raised to the skill of an art and appears in art galleries rather than junk shops I should let the mending be visible and sing its own song of love to the coat. (see first picture of the sleeve detail above).
Hand embroidered honeysuckle in crewel wools
“Brighter, brighter” urged daughter No 1 at the work in progress, so out came the acid yellow, Barbie pink, scarlet, tangerine and vermillion. It was surprisingly easy to embroider a finished sleeve and the wool was a rewarding substrate for embroidery as long as you kept your thread tension relaxed. I only snicked the lining a time or two and undoing the odd stitch here and there to release it was no problem at all. The right sleeve had more evidence of moth tasting sessions so now has two sprigs of honeysuckle while the left sleeve just has one at the cuff. I delighted in the asymmetry.
Wool coat with crewel embroidered honeysuckle and darned moth holes
14 Comments
Brilliant. Much nicer than a patch!
Thank you Rachel – more fun too!
Oh well done – it’s now art! Way to upcycle!
And still worn, not hanging on a wall!
Designer Darning! Unique, original, bespoke, chic, cheap but beautiful. What’s not to love!
How quickly ideas change, it’s so liberating to be able to still wear the not quite so perfect!
Good idea and good results!
Glad you like it, Katie.
really beautiful
Thank you for such a lovely comment, Jane.
Thank you for stopping by my blog & for leaving your link so I can find another exciting blog.
I LOVE your work – so very vibrant & beautiful.
Thank you for having a look at my blog and being so generous in your comment.
Beautiful and may I say quite ambitious work…May I subscribe to this site?
Thank you, Linda, that is very kind.
I am told that you can subscribe via RSS – the RSS url for my blog is:
http://www.addisonembroideryatthevicarage.co.uk/feed/
If you plug that into your feed reader you should get new posts of my blog piped in automatically.