Welcome to What Are You Working On? where we talk about (and often display) our handiwork, whether yarn and fabric crafts, woodwork, metalwork, art, or anything else “crafty”.
A few months ago, I decided to try one of the Royal Needlework Society of England’s online classes. I chose Crewel Embroidery, Next Steps. Overall the price is quite reasonable, all things considered. I do rather a bit of embroidery and when you take classes at the higher end, you expect to pay $100-$200 per class, without the kit. This was in that price range, including the kit. Rather a deal. The pattern is designed such that you will do different types of stitches. It is a learning situation. You can’t tell from the image, but the top of the stem is about 3/8” high, a very padded stitch. There are aspects of this that are traditional crewel, some things were added to give you more experience with different stitches. Overall I’m pleased with it.
Going through the pluses and minus. Plus is the cost was good; video instruction adequate, particularly the camera work focusing on the stitches; well designed for focusing on different areas of the work. Negatives are there could be more detailed instructions on the stitches. I was aware of most of them so not that big a problem for me, but still more detail would have been good. Two other things I did not like as much. 1) Tutor would refer to a stitch, “We’ve been over that before, so we’ll move on.” Yes, but a 3 minute review might be nice instead of hunting back in the video. Still these are realistically minor complaints. I will be doing another class with them in the future.
Two things I changed on the design where the blue woven through the chain stitches all around the pattern was supposed to be pale pink. I’m not a pink person, so I changed it to blue. Also the two round circles above the “flower” were also supposed to be paler pinks. I changed that.
Another point, again minor, the top of the curved “flower” is done in Pekinese Stitch, an Asian stitch rarely ever used in Crewel work.
Below is a crewel embroidery I did years ago. It is a more traditional pattern.
If anyone is interested in learning more about embroidery or stitches, Sarah Homfrey has a wonderful stitch library. She also has a variety of free patterns.
And as always: What Are You Working On