Sunday 8 March 2009

Jacobean leaves embroidery pattern: 1 of 8

I’ve been meaning to share my Jacobean leaf designs for a while now. Judging by the positive response I got, I thought there might be a few stitchers out there who would like to give them a try.

It takes me a little while to draw up patterns as I have a bit of a perfectionist streak. And I doubt many of you would be able to decipher the working pattern – it’s full of sketching and notes and crossed out bits and so on. So I’ll post the pattern for each leaf separately, as I get them done. You should be able to just click on the image and save or print the design.

Update:
Download the pattern here.

I find it easier to work from diagrams than from written instructions, so have gone this route when drawing up the patterns. I’ve used a simple key, so all you need to do is trace the design on to your fabric, thread a needle and start stitching. Each leaf is roughly the same size, so you can use this one as a guide to work out how much cloth you’ll need if you want to use all eight in one project.


As far as the stitches are concerned, they can all be found in Country Bumpkin’s A-Z of Embroidery Stitches and/or A-Z of Crewel Embroidery. But I’m sure you could find instructions easily enough online or in other books.

If you followed my progress, you’ll know I positioned my leaves in a vertical strip and used various colours. But these designs are versatile, so you could work them in almost any way on to almost anything – redwork, wool, metallic threads…

If you decide to give them a go, please remember that I hold the copyright and that these patterns can’t be used for financial gain. That said, I’d love to see your finished work, so please send me a link when you’re done.

7 comments:

Denise Felton said...

Beautiful! And how generous you are to share your pattern. I've scheduled a link to your post to go live on my blog later today. I hope it brings you a few extra visitors.

In case you're interested, you're welcome to use one of our buttons to let the world know that we're talking about you on CraftGossip: http://craftgossip.com/link-to-us/

Denise
http://needlework.craftgossip.com

Katy said...

Great pattern! Thank you! I look forward to the others as well.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your great leaf pattern. I'm looking forward to the rest of series.

Jacobean embroidery is something I've been wanting to try.

Anonymous said...

I will give these a go!!

Leanne said...

It is funny to read that you use a Country Bumkin book knowing you are in England and Country Bumkin is here in little old Adelaide so far away from you and just around the corner from me. I often call into the shop just to admire the beautiful embroidery.

MeganH said...

Hi :-)

I'm going to be a bit busy on an Elizabethan piece for the next 6 months or so, but I do want to do some Jacobean work eventually.

Your leaves are a wonderful resource!(I'll probably end up wanting to design my own design).

best regards

Misty said...

I just came across your blog via a link from Pin Tangle and I'm really enjoying reading your posts and seeing your beautiful work!

I wanted to thank you for sharing these designs you've created--the Jacobean leaves are calling to me and I'm excited to give them a try! I'm fairly inexperienced in embroidery--most of the stitches I've learned were for use in crazy quilting. I do have the A to Z embroidery books, which will be very helpful, I am sure.

Thanks again!