Feast for the eyes

I have been so busy with the decorating of the lounge that I have not had much free time. Nor does it look like it is likely in the next few days as we are nearing ordering the floor sander..... So I thought you might like to feast your eyes on some more Kebaya which I mentioned in my blog on 22nd October.

First up we have a lovely blue number. This features oversize rose blooms with leaves and primroses, the embroidery being in raised satin stitch for the roses and normal satin stitch for the primroses with simple running stitch leaves. I think this effect is stunning.

So number two is a pretty pink one.

The motifs are Japanese inspired scenes.The fabric is fine voile and the embroidery is raised non satin stitch (main motifs) and normal satin stitch for the border leaf motifs. A very pretty effect I think.

The last one features daisies with tulip borders and white daisy buds. It is again worked in normal satin stitch and satin stitch is used for the edging of the cutwork. This is described in the book as minimally stunning, and I think it is all the better for its simplicity. I adore the way the daisies have been worked and may have a go at something like this myself when I have more time.

So there you have a snippet from the book on 'the nyonya kebaya' by Datin Seri Endon Mahmood.  There are many more beautiful kebaya inside it and I will post some now and then for those of you who visit this blog from Malaysia and those of you who are just interested like me.

This next photo is just an update on the lounge so that you can see it is progressing slowly. Don't worry about the dark line you see in the corner, it was just me cutting the wallpaper back where it had dried a little way away from the wall. I have filled the hole with decorators caulking and will paint over it so that you would never know it was there. On the whole the wallpapering went like a dream considering it must be about four years since I did any, I can't think why I don't do more as I enjoyed myself immensely.

Anyway, I have also been working on some of the sewing projects which I have stacked up and this photo is supposed to show you some piping I made ready for my new upholstery project, (not a Chesterfield sofa which I did once taking me a week) but a simpler Ercol chair. I wanted some piping to go with the material I have chosen and I found some silk taffeta I had left over from a replica of a dress of 1827 I made for a student assessment when I was at Teacher's Training College doing my post grad course.  One day I may show you the dress too, if I can find the photos to scan in, I still have the original dress mind.

So this taffeta is a wonderful combination of pale pink and grey and it shines in the light. I hope to be working on the cushion pad tonight if Bella will stay quiet. She was disturbed this morning at 4.30am......Yapped and went mad at the back door to the garden so that eventually both of us were out of  bed. I won't bore you with more, but I will need my sleep tonight.

Chinese Costume

This is a piccie from a wonderful book I picked up at a 2nd hand bookshop in Ballater, whilst on my Scottish adventures.  I have not had time to read it yet but I will and hopefully I can give you some insights into the world of 'nyonya kebaya' when I have.  Basically it is the Chinese blouse? I suppose you would call it worn in Malaysia and all of them are beautifully embroidered. Usually they are sewn in a hoop exactly like the piccie shown.  The reason I wanted the book was for inspiration for my own machine embroidery and because it was so full of gorgeous illustrations of machine embroidery but I stress again that these are done in a hoop on old machines so they are very special. 

This is a close up of one of the designs so you can see what I am describing above.

Sorry that the camera has created a small flash point on the leaf on the right, I will take more care next time.

If you click on the piccie you will see in close up what I mean by done in the hoop, no way do these designs look as if they were produced  on a commercial embroidery machine. I don't think my machine embroidery is good enough to compete with this quality but I want to learn new techniques and gain ideas so this book maybe good for me. However, I do not want to copy anything as I will not plagiarise any other work at all, I merely wish to admire and learn.

I also wanted to say that I am temporarily removing a few items from the layout of the blog whilst I work on some improvements, I especially want to sort out the labels which are annoying me as I had not organised them well enough at the beginning of my blogging experience. So please use the blog archive if you want to look anything up until I sort things out. Thanks for your comments by the way, I read them all and am always astonished to find such a lovely group of friendly ladies and of course I even receive comments from men on my other blog; keswick rambles.