Ha-ha-hardanger!

Have you ever heard a child shriek with fear, only for the shriek to turn into a laugh as they realise that they are okay? It goes something like, "Aarrghhhh-har-ha-ha-ha!" That's the sound I made as I cut into my first piece of Hardanger embroidery.

There is something totally crazy about carefully and precisely stitching a piece of embroidery, and then taking a pair of scissors to it. But it is also extremely liberating. I think it's probably the crafting equivalent of bungee-jumping - what my friend would call "extreme crafting".

I was intrigued by the idea of Hardanger, and found a really good course by Carol Leather online at http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/learn-hardanger.html. I've followed it without any previous experience, and I've managed to turn out some pieces that look remarkably like the real thing.

I've also extended my embroidery technique to include working on linen. In the past I have only ever embroidered on Aida, and like many people, I have been a bit daunted at working on a fabric that doesn't direct me to the relevant stitch-hole. However, the Aida fabric that I have is completely the wrong size for most of the projects on Carol's course - my "bookmark" on the Aida fabric I possess is coming out roughly the length of a piece of A4 paper!


So, what I've been doing is learning the technique on a piece of Aida, and then repeating it on a piece of linen. The linen I've been using is "left-overs" from my linen T-shirt (Linen top - antique fabric and lace ) and hair-band ( Vintage linen and lace, continued...). Granny's stash is being used to utmost! Of course, this is not embroidery linen, and is probably far too tightly woven, so I seem to be working from one extreme to the other. Ho hum. It's all part of the learning experience. I'll let you know how I progress with the rest of Carol's hardanger lessons.

Hx