RSN Essential Stitch Guides: Silk Shading

Description

The Royal School of Needlework teaches hand embroidery to the highest standard, developing techniques in new and innovative ways. This book includes an extensive stitch guide, covering all the techniques necessary for silk shading, a design section, and a history of the Royal School itself.

Sarah Homfray came to silk shading relatively late in life, after careers led as a mechanical engineer and a croupier. After enrolling on a textile home study course and wanting to learn more, she applied for and was awarded a place on The Royal School of Needlework Apprenticeship programme. She graduated in 2006 and currently teaches there on certificated, diploma and seasonal courses. Sarah went on to gain a Certificate in Education from Greenwich University and a Diploma in Fine Art from the Cyprus College of Art. She has won a number of awards for her embroidery work.

Create lovely masterpieces without a single paintbrush in sight with silk shading, a type of embroidery that is often described as "painting with a needle". Dating back as far as Ancient Egypt, this is a highly versatile and freestyle needlecraft that is surprisingly easy to learn. This is another good basic book on a topic not often covered from the Royal School of Needlework. As with the others in the series it is easy to work from as it has a spiral back and helpfully remains flat while you are working from it. If the title puts you off and you imagine spending out on high quality silks that not many stores stock then don't worry as this is a misnomer. You can use silk or rayon for work with a sheen, but many people (myself for example) prefer working with good old cotton floss. You don't need much to do this type of embroidery either, at least nothing you won't already own if you already do any other type of fabric decoration involving needles. The book touches on topics such as color, composition and planning your design but if you are hoping for an in-depth look at any of these aspects of embroidery design you won't find them here. Instead you will learn all the important things you need to know in order to do some silk shading, including transferring designs, framing up and the stitches themselves. This series does this particularly well, mixing clear drawn steps on how to physically work a stitch with photographs of the finished stitch, a nice touch. The stitches are shown in a single example and discussed as to the effect produced and why they have been chosen, which is a good way to understand how they are used. There are a few projects which demonstrate well how to work some samples, but I don't feel that they are for beginner embroiderers, rather this is a book for those with intermediate skills (or higher) who want to learn a new technique. Other topics mentioned include incorporating painted backgrounds, how to work on different types of fabric and if it all goes wrong there is even a troubleshooting guide. All in all, this is an excellent book on how to tackle this type of work without too much extraneous detail and surprisingly easy to learn from.-Myshelf.com Sarah Homfray demonstrates the Royal School of Needlework's approach to the ancient craft of Silk Shading. Learn everything about the techniques needed as well as the history of the craft and be inspired by work of the highest standards. Sarah's book includes an extensive stitch guide covering all necessary techniques for silk shading, a design section and a history of the Royal School.-Machine Knitting Monthly RSN Silk Shading and RSN Stumpwork: Get the benefit of the expertise of the Royal School of Needlework at home with these two new Essential Stitch Guides. The Royal School of Needlework is world-renowned for its teaching of traditional forms of embroidery. 'Stumpwork' by Kate Sinton and 'Silk Shading' by Sarah Homfray explain the techniques step-by-step. The two guides introduce the history, materials and the stitches of each form of embroidery and are extensively illustrated with colour photography. Both authors are Graduate Apprentices of the RSN and explain the techniques and skills they learnt there. The guides are in a compact, ring-bound format so that they can be close at hand when you are making your first stitches. Both titles are excellent resources for stitchers for tuition and reference at home.-New Stitches Sometimes called 'needle painting', silk shading can be used to produce painterly - or even photographic - effects. Starting with the basics, Sarah looks at the types of threads that can be used and the ways to handle and use them. Worked in basic long and short stitch, the skill lies in the placing of the stitches and the use of colour to capture the subtle shading. The stitching is shown in easy-to-follow photographic steps and, through a series of simple exercises, you learn how to shade a vase so that the colours and stitches flow with the shape of the design and also to reproduce more complex shapes, such as a carrot or a banana. Silk shading isn't only used for realism, though, and a simple abstract design inspired by Kandinsky and a peacock feather stitched on a denim jacket demonstrate other ways that the technique can be used. Silk shading can be used to follow the curves of an apple or shade the petals of a flower, and it is perfect for capturing the texture of fur. However you want to use the technique, this book encourages you to pick up your needle - and start painting!-Stitch