Silver and Wool

Life is a blur and while the stitches have come out (ouch!) Finn birthday is still looming on the horizon. I have been lucky to receive some web and magazine work but that also mean that while I am sewing rather a lot I can't talk about it here at all! Very strange this secrecy, I need to get use to it.

This weekend I made something just for us though, a woolen cover for a set of antique silver-plate French silverware.

In France we joke about our (pretend) American Uncle, well I have an aunt like that, except she's French and I live State side. She and I have loved each other since day one, we share the same birthday and the same passion for handcrafting. She used to have really long black hair that she let me brush and braid, oh and she sewed my dolls Liberty dresses just because (sigh!)

Since I am all grown now and her hair is cut short, she sent me five kilos (!) of silver plate silverware last week with the black wool and a few other things I might discuss another day. I felt pretty great when I opened the express parcel and knew I had to get cracking on the cover if nothing else than to show my appreciation. Inside, a letter showed a few suggestions on what to look for with a little schematic:

It's nerve racking doing something, even quite simple when you have a limited amount of material (none to be ever had again) and you want, no you need to be proud of the results. After the first cut though I got lost in the fabulous wool cloth and lost the jitters.

I really appreciated the scissor function on the new Bernina 580, it saved a considerable amount of bobbin thread as I was sewing from the outside in to avoid stretching and bubbles. The over-flap was a bit short so I connected a long narrow piece butting the edges and using a decorative stitch meant for borders.

It's very pretty all laid out on the table but once you roll it up it's really a 9 lbs black lump. A bit of a let down, quickly remedied with the left over wool and a bit of machine embroidery for good measure. The monogram is blown up as large as the oval hoop will allow and I increased the stitch density. Boiled wool is really the best material I have ever seen when it come to machine embroidery, wouldn't you say?

 

Comments

[Stephanie]

How wonderful, so pretty!

[angelam]

It is so pretty - I need to do something like this. In our family my grandmother picks out a silver utensil pattern, and each birthday, christmas, whatever you get another piece of silver. Not so fun when you are young, but now that I am a real grownup, it feels so special to have something like that. Each piece was engraved with my initials and the date... Each grandkid gets a different pattern... Maybe it's a swedish thing, I don't know.

[Chase l Oh The Cuteness!]

That's amazing! I wish I had a French Aunt who would send me silverware and wool, you're so lucky!