Hand-Embroidered Tarot Case

Size: 6.5″ W x 4.25″ H (closed)
Stitches: Running, Palestrina, Beaded Palestrina, Feather
Materials: “Janes Magic Forest” cotton fabric, silk dupioni, cotton embroidery floss, silk embroidery floss, glass beads
Status:  Private Collection

Yeah! It’s finally finished, and just in time too. Today is the birthday of the person who asked me to make this. So instead of paying me for it — she gets it as a gift. Now hopefully, I actually made it large enough for her deck.

The Fabric
The fabric is part of Jane Sassman’s fabulous “Janes Magic Forest” series, from Free Spirit Fabrics. I really must get more of this line of fabric before it all disappears. I bought a set of Fat Quarters on Ebay that included a variety of Free Spirit stuff, including a couple of great cuts of “Empress Woo.” I’ve become a bit obsessed with several Free Spirit lines lately. The inside is black dupioni silk. Originally, I thought the Janes Magic Forest fabric would be the liner, and I would embroider the silk. But the pattern was just too fabulous, so I decided to embellish with a little hand-embroidery and beading and line it with the silk. The swatch on the right is the fabric sans-embellishments.

The Embroidery
I made heavy use of the palestrina stitch in this piece. It was the first time I’d used this stitch, and I really like it. I added a bead between each knot, which adds (I think) to the sense of movement. Unlike the example on Primrose Design’s tutorial, I spaced the knots out — which left room for the beads. The book that I use as my primary stitch bible actually showed it more spaced out than Primrose Design does, but I think both are lovely.  Along with the beaded palestrina stitch, I used running stitch for a fill stitch.  This technique is definitely becoming a major part of my (slowly) emerging style.  I don’t sketch out pattern of the running stitch, but rather just start stitching and work free-hand.   There’s also a touch of feather stitch on the floating leaves to give them a little more texture.

So check out the rest of the pictures on Flickr, and tell me what you think!   Oh, and if you think of something fabulous you would like made from “Empress Woo,” let me know.  I need a little more practice on my finishing work for larger pieces– but I must have a half-dozen pieces in progress to practice on.

Technorati Tags: tarot case, embroidery, palestrina, running stitch, feather stitch, beading, embellished, janes magic forest

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