The Art of...

REDWORK

About three years ago I began my quest to find an alternate outlet for machine sewing, which I have been doing for eleven years. My husband had surrendered to preach about a year and a half previous to my search. I wanted to be open to whatever the Lord might have my husband do. If he was called to be and Evangelist or Missionary, I wanted something that I could enjoy doing on the road.

I was at Hobby Lobby in Alexandria when I came across Anna Griffin's Silk Ribbon Embroidery. I was so excited to find it and loved her style! I used her templets from her book to make a couple of hankerchiefs for my husband and a friend. I enjoyed the mixture of the floss with the silk ribbon.

I was hungry to complete more projects with this method. Finding the combination of ribbon/floss, that were not too complicated, in a style I like proved to be a little difficult. Not to mention the price for some of the kits, although I'm sure worth every penny.

Coming across several redwork sites in the process of looking for that perfect something,I decided this was the way to go. I could certainly be more creative with it rather than with a kit and I could tackle simple projects in no time.

I have been doing redwork style embroidery every since. I should add that I have realized that embroidering in a car makes for bad results, lol. I am also happy to note that my husband feels led to Pastor a Church in the UP of Michigan.

Here is a pic of one of my first red~works...

This was made for my son Greg. The picture came from one of his school books. There was no trigger guard on the pistol. When my husband noticed it, he made me put one on, lol.

The little star on the handle came about because of research. I looked high and low for an early American pistol with a decorative wood handle. To my surprise the only decoration on the pistols I came across was beautiful engraving on the metal. The only handle decoration I could find was a diamond shape whole for the screw, lol. So that is what I did.

The leather looking fabric is actually faux suede which I had left over from making my friend Angela a purse.

The frame came from a yard sale find. It had a drawing of a lighthouse in it. I almost hated to remove it but felt a homemade gift from mom was worth the sacrifice. I did keep the lighthouse picture and am waiting for the perfect frame.

Here are a list of some great embroidery sites...

NeedleNThread ~ Great how-to resource. Check out the video library under "The Editor's Floss"

Needlecrafter ~ My first stop for designs and the best part is it's free!

Ladies In Red ~ also free (music is only on first page)

Bareroots ~ Affordable patterns (country style)

Crabapple Hill ~ Affordable patterns (elegant style)