The Stitch Book: Week 16 (April 14-20)

Greetings from London! Week 16 is coming to you from across the pond. I visited London for a work event this week and got to spend a little bit of each day embroidering in a new place. 

I visited London in May 2009, also for a work trip. I had a few days to explore the city and did lots of very touristy things during that visit. I took loads of photos and one popped into my head the other day as I was starting to plan for this week's piece. 

That's an actual printed photo. I think this was one of the last trips I took where I used my digital camera for photos rather than my phone. I printed a bunch of the photos and this was one of my favorites. I couldn't remember where it was or why the sculptures (I don't know if they're sculptures) were there, but I love the motion of this photo. I shared the photo on Instagram last week and a fellow embroiderer shared that they thought it was Regents Street. I looked it up and it is Regents Street. I don't think the sculptures are up anymore, but it's definitely the street. 

This week's piece is inspired by this photo, although it is not meant to be a recreation of the photo. I love embroidering circles and doing satin stitch, so that's what I decided to focus on for this week. Fabric-wise, I was wrong about the next phase of fabrics. It's neutrals for the foreseeable futures, starting with various shades of white for the next six weeks. 

This week's shade of white is "Fog," which is sort of perfect for being in London, although it wasn't foggy during my trip. I opted for shades of Etoile blue thread for the circles. There are 36 total circles, so I embroidered 5 per day over the course of the week and rotated the colors. 

Here's this week's piece:

April 14

April 15

April 16

April 17

April 18

April 19

April 20

Week 16 - I didn't bring Weeks 1-15 or next week's fabric piece with me so this will have to do for the final post this week. 

This was a lot of fun to do and manageable given that I wasn't at home. This year's stitch journal is easier to transport, but I have to make sure I have all the thread with me. Working with a small number of colors is the best option when traveling. 

An Embroidery a Day Goes to London

For my last day in London, I planned to go see an exhibition of an embroidery artist I like at Riverside Studios, but found out it closed early. It was a bit disappointing, but I went on with my day and visited the Sargent and Fashion exhibition at the Tate Britain and the Fashion and Textile Museum. 

The Sargent exhibition is beautiful. It was crowded so I didn't take a ton of photos, but the combination of portraits and examples of the clothing worn by sitters is just stunning. I wish there had been a few more clothing items but was on display was so interesting. I don't know if it's traveling after this stop, but I would recommend seeing it if it comes your way.

The Fashion and Textile Museum was a lot of fun. The main exhibit focuses on Biba, a fashion store popular in London in the 1960s and 1970s. It's considered to be the world's first lifestyle label. It was founded by Barbara Hulanicki and the first store was popular with artists and musicians like David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull. There was also a small exhibition about the 1971 film The Boyfriend that starred supermodel Twiggy, and was a pioneering film in terms of using vintage clothing in costume design. 

Of course, I bought a bunch of books at both museums and a few embroidery kits that look promising. I'm also obsessed with this window:

I sat in this little nook for lunch at the Tate. I'm pretty certain this is in some way going to inspire next week's stitch journal entry. Unless I figure out how to draw the random trees or the possible fairy spot I saw on my first day in town.

Can we talk about how amazing the sky is in this photo? I didn't use any filters either.

It's been a great week here in London, but I'm ready to get back home. Keely has been enjoying his stay with my parents and his favorite person, my brother Scott. Apparently, Keely and Frida go together to wake up my dad in the morning when they want to be fed. They had to bond over something. 

My dad sent this to me from breakfast the other day. Look at those faces.

I'm also working on a PopLush pattern - sea monsters. I did a bit on the plane on the way here and will try to work on it later today as I make my way home. I have a short layover in Frankfurt and really want to embroider there just to say I did.