Taming Zombie Hardanger

Burda Hardanger doily

Hardanger doily from Burda Hardanger E395
Confederate Grey Quaker cloth (28 count)
Stitched with Trebizond and Soie Perlée

This is the “lacy edge” doily I was working on last week, and it turned out pretty well for a first try at lacy edges.  I had this scrap of Quaker cloth in my stash, and found it was a great fabric for Hardanger.  The cotton blend makes it a little fuller than pure linen, but it still holds the pulled and drawn shapes nicely.  I love the look and feel of long filament twisted silk; it adds a luxurious shine to the design, making small Hardanger projects like this one extra special.  For more information about twisted silk threads and how to use them, read Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread article, one of my favorite resources for learning about all things embroidery.

I call the cutting stage “Zombie Hardanger” because during that part of the process the piece looks like undead embroidery:  nasty big gaps and loose threads hanging out every which way.  When there’s a lot of cutting to do, it can seem like no amount of weaving, wrapping, or fillings will make it look better, and that’s when panic suggests a shotgun and a shovel might be the best solution to the mess.  But don’t give up; the needleweaving and other fillings really do tame the monster into something as docile as a doily. And hopefully the zombie reference will make up for my lack of Halloween stitching this year.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 11:20 am and is filed under hardanger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Taming Zombie Hardanger”

  1. Valerie Says:
    October 4th, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    That’s very lovely! The explanation of the Zombie phase is quite interesting. I can imagine, with all that edge work, the quantity of dangling threads and cutting to process.

    Just say NO to Hallowe’en stitching.

    Our library is having a “fun with string” event tomorrow, wanna come and bring your needlepoint? I’d drag you here for it, if only it was within my means.

  2. Heather Says:
    October 4th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Ha! Forget Halloween; I’m already thinking about Christmas projects.

    The lacy edge process involves more cutting than I’ve done before, and the edge is reinforced by anchoring perle cotton into the kloster block border, then weaving the perle through the cut fabric fibers. Everything around the blue fabric X was a spaghetti-like mess. It looked awful. I had serious doubts about its success up until the very end.

    I would love to come play with string with you! Our cities are too far apart. :(

  3. Lois Says:
    October 11th, 2010 at 5:09 am

    What a pretty piece! I love how hardanger looks but have yet to pluck up the courage to try it.