Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

A whitework alphabet: letter K (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

In Yorkshire for a family memorial service, this week has seen more knitting than sewing but here is an embroidered K that I just about managed to finish before leaving home. (If you look hard, you might make out long loose stitches tacking the linen to the stabilising backing. These will be undone when I get home when I’ll also surround the design with an outline square of back stitch.)

A whitework alphabet: letter K (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Kimonos are interesting garments and, rather like saris, were made from the whole of a bolt of fabric (36 cm by 11m) with no waste. Traditionally kimonos are made from seven pieces.  Two extend from the front hem, up over the shoulder to the back hem, the sleeves are cut from two further pieces and and another pair form the side panels. The final piece, much narrower than the others forms the neckband which continues down both front pieces to finish the garment off.

Detail: whitework alphabet: letter K (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Japanese embroidery has its own long history, having developed in an unbroken tradition over at least 1,000 years. Read The Tale of Gengi for brilliant descriptions of kimonos which differ little from the garments we know today, except that wearing one garment at a time was never enough. Status could be read in glimpsed layers of sleeves draped over the edge of a carriage while the rest of the woman remained hidden inside!  Snippets of embroidery visible on neckbands crossing the throat tantalised for beauty of both fabric and body beneath. Shizuka Kusano’s The Fine Art of Kimono Embroidery is a wonderful book for learning more about the art and craft of Japanese embroidery and the many pages of excellent photographs are a real joy to study.

Shizuka Kusano: The Fine Art of Kimono Embroidery

Embroidered kimonos exhibit both flat and twisted silk threads as well as metallic threads. Embroiderers were particularly fond of flat stitch in untwisted silk  (satin stitch) which gave flowers’s petals a soft smooth sheen. See the V & A’s website for more details about making a kimono.

Detail of embroidery from Shizuka Kusano’s The Fine Art of Kimono Embroidery

I blogged last week’s embroidered J for Jug in such a hurry that it was only later that I realised how crumpled the fabric was. I’ve now ironed the embroidery and replaced the photographs with the newly ironed versions. Goodness, standards are slipping!

A whitework alphabet: letter J (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

I’ve loved – and lost – a lot of pottery and porcelain over my life time but I still find it hard to resist buying something lovely that catches my eye. I have an especial weakness for jugs though in recent years I  have limited my collecting to those 6 pint Emma Bridgewater ones, of which I have about 20. Now I think about it, I also seem to have half a dozen or so of her 3 pint jugs and a few more pint an a half ones dotted, semi-camouflaged  around the  house full of pens and pencils, paintbrushes, scissors, hand cream, etc., etc… but obviously, these don’t count. In chintz, the pattern I’ve used for my embroidered jug, I have both a 6 pint (with mended handle) and a 3 pint.

A whitework alphabet: letter J (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Chintz was one of Bridgewater’s earliest designs dating from 1985, which I know because she helpfully lists patterns and dates at the back of her book Emma Bridgewater Pattern (Saltyard Books, 2015). Produced in 16 shapes (and I think I’ve had most of them), it came in 3 colourways – pink roses with green leaves, pink and yellow roses, again with green leaves (see photograph of a dish from the book) and ummm, a third of which I know nothing. Any ideas?

Detail of whitework alphabet: letter J (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

If you love modern success stories going from kitchen table to owning a factory in the Potteries, Emma’s 2 books could be for you. Toast, Marmalade and Other Stories  and Pattern are just right to pick up and read on a cold winter afternoon when the rain is slashing across the windows, the fridge is well stocked and the sofa well cushioned. After a splendid afternoon reading, you may even feel up to padding into the kitchen and whizzing up one of the recipes that splice the text. I’m glad to see Corned Beef Hash is just as much a favourite with Emma’s family as it was with mine.

Emma Bridgewater pink and yellow rose chintz dish

Emma Bridgewater books: Toast, Marmelade and Other Stories (Saltyard Books, 2014) AND Pattern (Saltyard Books, 2015)

On the other side of the Atlantic, Molly Hatch is a much loved potter. She first came to my attention with a range of mugs, whose bases were decorated with flowers –  great in a row hanging from cup hooks, such a jolly idea.  Sadly, I don’t think she produces these mugs now and anyway little of her range is available in the UK  –  John Lewis has a few things, as Anthropologie does sometimes, though not, I think, at the moment. While being a commercial potter she also keeps her hand in the art side of pottery too – see Molly Hatch Studio and enjoy the pictures she paints using designs on individual plates all working together. I especially like her take on a couple of English  Chelsea Porcelain plates. (A search of Molly Hatch installations, clicking on images, will reveal even more.) Her book A Passion for China: A Little Book About the Objects We Eat From, Live with and Love (September Publishing, 2017) celebrates everyday crockery and the stories they carry. The watercolour paintings of plates, jugs and ornaments – but especially plates – are delightful (and several would lend themselves very well to embroidery!).

Molly Hatch book: A passion for China (September Publishing, 2017)

Porcelain will have to wait for another day!