The other half to goldwork

So with every hand embroidered piece wither it be gold work or a monogram there is a lot of prep that goes to it.

My job today was to re frame the embroidery frames, sounds easy but trust me it wasn't.

                 

So firstly I had to cut the fabric leaving enough for the length of two frames. You then fold over the edge making it stronger, the sides of the fabric should also be equal distances from the sides of the frame. Secure this down with some tape.  

I then had to get four strands of thread and wax them before starting to thread up the frame. You start on one side doing diagonal stitches then come back on yourself creating a cross. I had to keep pulling the thread every so often as the stitches need to be extra tight and strong.

Once one side was done, I twisted the frame and started on the loose side. This was a lot more tricky as I had to keep the tension of the fabric even for the whole frame and make sure that the grain was straight as when the frame gets tightened the fabric would twist if not sewn down straight.

              

Once I had done all the frames i was then able to do some more gold work. I was working on the padding, which is strands of thread that you sew down and equally cut into the shape of your design. iIhad to note down the thread count to make sure that it would be the same shape and thickness for the other half of my design.