. . . makes me happy (apologies to John Denver!). So does doing redwork.
A classmate of mine asked me about redwork yesterday so I promised him I would post some of mine. Redwork is simple embroidery done in red, or more properly, "turkey red." If you're familiar with DMC floss (available at any good craft store), #321 is fairly close to turkey red. The embroidery is usually done in an outline or stem stitch with colonial or French knots (and sometimes satin stitches) thrown in for good measure.
Red dyes were not always colorfast so when a colorfast red first hit the market, it was being manufactured in Turkey (or so I'm told). Hence the name, "turkey red." Women would order squares of 100% cotton with pictures printed on them for a penny apiece from various magazines. (These squares were imaginatively called "penny squares.") The idea was to embroider the squares (keeping those idle hands busy!) then stitch them together to make quilts for family and friends.
I don't remember where I acquired this square -- probably a kit in resale shop because it's on a polycotton blend fabric. (I prefer to do my redwork on 100% cotton.) While the design is 3 1/2" x 7 1/8", the square itself is 8.5"x8.5". (You do the decimal conversions. I never was very good at math. I'm a writer, not a mathematician!) The subject matter was what caught my eye -- a kitten asleep on a pillow.
No comments:
Post a Comment