Some people collect stamps & coins, some collect books. Others collect yarns & fabrics or maybe buttons & beads. I've done my fair share of collecting those things too, but now what I like to collect best are skills-- namely of the crafty sort.
Over the winter semester, I took a class on English embroidery methods and learned the basics of Mountmellick, canvas work, silk shading, blackwork and goldwork. While I found them interesting and already have ideas of how I want to apply them in my own projects, I have to admit I only have lukewarm feelings towards those techniques. But starting spring semester, I started learning something I've been itching to try ever since I heard of it-- crochet de lunéville.
Crochet de lunéville is the bead embroidery method used in creating haute couture garments and makes use of the lunéville-- or tambour-- hook. Once mastered, one can embroider beads & sequins much faster and more accurately than by using a regular needle. Of course I'm very far from that still-- my fingers seem so dull and fumbly most times!
Since the work is done from the back, the stitching is done on see-through materials like the silk organza that I'm stitching on here. So far, we've learned how to form the basic stitch with the hook and to add beads & sequins in a row. With a little practice, the beads weren't so difficult to get used to, but the sequins...! They seem to have a mind of their own. It's a good thing I have a couple of weeks to practice before the next class.
