I’m still working on Moroccan tiles, but ran across something new in my research this week. I read in one of my books that henna is sometimes used to decorate fabrics in the Atlas Mountains. So I went online to research further. Henna painting and tattoos are very common in Morocco. Women paint their hands for their wedding. They also use henna on their hair to give it a reddish tint.
What I found was a wonderful site on everything henna called The Henna Page. You can learn where henna came from, where henna is now used, and learn about the patterns. This site also has free e-books on henna patterns. After downloading two and reading them, I fell in love with many of the designs. With permission from Catherine at the Henna Page, I’m posting two of the designs here. Both of these pages are from the e-book North African Henna Patterns. The other e-book I downloaded was North African Patterns: Diamonds and Stars. I learned about the four different ways to create the eight point stars from this book. That really adds to my understanding of Moroccan and Berber motifs.
Aren’t these patterns beautiful? Many of these patterns and motifs are found in the rugs I’m studying, as well as textiles, ceramics, and tiles. I’ve decided to concentrate the ones I’ve shown here and play with the patterns on canvas. Like I did with the Moroccan rug, I’ll try out stitches and patterns and share them with you.
Along the way, I’ll create a design using some of these elements and stitch it for everyone to see.
To start, I’ll get out some 18 count scrap canvas and two shades of reddish brown to stitch with, so the stitching will resemble henna tattoos. Stay tuned.
This first version of the Marrakesh Tile is complete. I did a double border like the often do with tile floors. The first row is the Cashmere Stitch done over 2 threads in dark gold #8 perle. The final row of the border is my favorite Scotch done over 4 threads in black, also #8 perle. I think this pattern looks good.
I always do a new coaster pattern in cotton threads. That way I don’t feel guilty about wasting good threads if it doesn’t turn out well. That isn’t the case here. I do like the way this turned out and will definitely do another version of it. And I’ll try a different tile border on it. The black squares on the outer border don’t show up very well. I’ll use colors more like the ones in the original photo of the tile floor. Maybe I’ll try some of those pretty new threads I got at Christmas.
I’ve picked out some photos of Moroccan Tiles that I want to adapt to needlepoint.I started this one a few days ago. Here is the original tile.
I decided to try this with the same colors as the Moroccan rug for the first version. You don’t see red tiles very often in Morocco, but I love the colors. After I get the kinks out of the pattern, then I’ll pull threads that are closer to the original shown here.
I decided to use Basketweave for the black centers, to keep them nice and flat. All the other stitches are Scotch Stitch done over 4 threads instead of the usual 3 three threads. The pattern looks good and is working out very well so far. Once I have finished a square about two and a half inches across, I’ll do a border, but not the one shown above. The canvas size is too small for that. Here’s is what I’m stitched so far.
Since I’m still working on this design, I’m playing with the colors as well. The overdyed red thread is three strands of floss, and there are two different ones used. The tiles laid horizontally are a bit darker than the ones that are laid vertically. I also used two shades of gold, alternating bright and dark gold. In the next version, I won’t do that. Only one shade of each color will be used. I’ll post again in a few days when this first tile is completed.
I usually don’t like bright or wild colors in my designs, but I know some people do. With that in mind, I went searching for wildly colored overdyed floss. I found one with orange, gold, and light brown and another with purple, pink, and orange. Since there are only two threads this time, you will see that one set of opposite corners are done in one thread. the other two corners are done with the second thread.
Then someone asked me to make a set of coasters. She like the original version of the Meadow, but wanted different colors to go with her decor. She asked for green and rose. I had the perfect overdye for that. I had used it for a large project for my home. The only problem was that the design was too big for a coaster. I told her I would have to use a different canvas (Congress Cloth) and would probably have to do a border to make it the right size. I did one and sent her a photo by email. With her approval, I finished the rest of the set of four coasters. Here is the final version, done with only ONE overdye and threads in rose, green, and beige pulled from the overdyed floss.
Actually, I think this is my favorite of the three. That’s probably because it’s a color scheme that I already have in my home and really like.
I’ll be taking a few days off now. Hope all of you have a Happy Holiday and find some time to stitch!
You already know that I love translating quilt patterns into needlepoint. I decided to show you the process I go through. This is a pattern that I liked the first time I saw it.
I knew I didn’t want to do the entire quilt, so I had to decide where to cut the original so I would have a smaller design that would have a distinctive look. This picture on the right is what I came up with. Not what you expected, is it?
Then I had to decide what colors to use and what my overall design goal would be. I’ve thought a lot about how to make needlepoint quilts look like real quilts made with fabric. How do I put in lots of colors, the patterns of the fabric, and still keep the overall look and feel of a quilt? This would be the goal for this particular project.
Now for the colors to use. In order to imitate fabric I decided to use overdyed floss. In regular quilts you use many different fabrics, so why not do the same for threads? I pulled out lots of overdyed floss and found four threads that have similar colors and would work together. Here’s a photo of my overdyed threads. There are shades of olive green, rust, beige and gray. Then I pulled floss in several shades of each of those main colors.
Now it was time to figure out how to imitate fabric. I decided that the four squares in the middle would be done in Milanese with solid color floss to fill in the spaces.
The squares in the four corners are done in Alternating Scotch, each corner done completely with ONE of the overdyed floss colors. Then it was time to fill in all the triangles. When it was all done, here is how it looked. It’s mounted in a Sudberry box.
I’ve received many compliments on this design, even from a lot of quilters. In the next post, I’ll show you two more color schemes for this design, done with one and with two overdyed threads.
Finished in less than a week! Here is the completed Moroccan Rug. Done on 24 count Congress Cloth, the finished size is 5 1/2″ by 9″.
Notice that first two motifs on the left have been reversed on the right. I feel the balance of the design is better because of this. It also makes me feel better about the overall design of the rug. This has been so much fun for me to work on.
I’ve started my research already on Berber and Moroccan rugs and textiles. I’m learning that rugs I love so much are all designed by people who live in the more rural areas of the country. The books I’ve been able to find include all kinds of arts and crafts of Morocco. Though I’m not studying tiles and ceramics for the program, I can’t resist the wonderful tile patterns. Yesterday I printed out six pictures of tile patterns that I really love. So I think Moroccan tile coasters will be a feature soon on this blog. Stay tuned.
I prefer Anchor threads over DMC and my LNS doesn’t sell them. A few years ago I went searching on the Internet for a store that sells them and has an online catalog so I could order them whenever I needed specific colors. I found a place in PA and Jennifer and I have established a great friendship over the years.
My husband wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas and asked about needlepoint stuff. I proposed this idea to him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to email Jennifer and so forth. So I decided to treat myself! I wrote to Jennifer and told her I needed white mono canvas, white Congress Cloth and some threads. Was she up to a little fun? She said yes.
I told her I wanted to add a little to my stash. I would give her some suggestions on colors and threads and SHE would do all the selections.
She wanted to know if they were all going to be used in the same project -No
Did I want to try some Ribbon Floss – Yes
How much can I spend – Gave her a dollar amount (including the cost of canvas)
Colors – I don’t have much red, black or yellow
Thread – Kreinik 1/16 ribbon (which I love), Snow in different color and Watercolors
She picked out everything she thought I would like and added a few other threads too. My early Christmas present arrived late last week and this is what I got:
5 Watercolors, 5 silk ribbon floss, 7 Kreinik 1/16 ribbon, 3 Snow
Did you know that Kreinik made a two-tone ribbon – this one on the left goes from red to purple and back to red.
You’ll notice that even if they aren’t all used in the same project, most of them can be mixed and matched. I see Moroccan coasters in that red Watercolors. Now to decide what to make using some of those new threads.
First off, I forgot to list one thing that I learned from this project. The band with the red and yellow cross stitches – I’m going to play with that some more. Some of the motifs are added after a solid colored band has been completed. I’m going to try doing basketweave first then stitch over it.
Reasons – This is something I’ve always wanted to do – learn about Berber rugs and try making them as needlepoint. But there is another reason as well. I’ve been accepted to the Master Needle Artist program of the American Needlepoint Guild. This program is designed to to help the me (and others) strive toward creative development of my talents by learning to adapt historical art from a period of my choice. There are four phases and I’ve just finished the first one. So I’ve researching now. I need to:
1. Study my historical period’s art (Berber and Moroccan rugs and textiles going back to 1500 B.C.) to learn how they were created and what materials and stitches were used.
2. Study color and design from the period.
3. Design and create my own art based on what I have learned about Berber rugs and textiles. NOT copy, but create designs that have the color, texture and feel of the Berber originals.
This rug project was not part of the MNA program – just a learning tool for me. And I learned a lot, as listed yesterday and today.
There are over 20 people now enrolled in the MNA program. Over the next year or two you are going to have a lot of new designers creating designs are original, unique and tempting you to stitch more. I hope you will continue to follow my progress.
Next is a post about a great and unique gift for the needlepoint people on your list. You can also give the gift to yourself as a treat – I did!!
The rug isn’t quite finished yet, but I’ve learned some things from the project. Here is the rug as it looks today – still hoping to have it done by the end of the week.
1. I like Impressions, but it had to be doubled in most cases for this project to cover the straight stitches.
2. Even working out the patterns on the computer first doesn’t mean the design will work out correctly. There’s always tweaking to do.
3. Some borders and motifs translate easily to needlepoint canvas (like the motif that looks like Sprat’s Head).
4. Some patterns are difficult to reproduce and have to be redesigned and scaled down.
5. If I’m going to improve as a designer, I need to establish a specific size for a project and make the various borders and motifs fit within that. I originally thought that this project would be 5 x 7 but cut a much larger piece of Congress Cloth in case it needed to “grow” to make some motifs fit better. That’s not the way to design. I have to work toward a precise size and rework motifs, if necessary, to fit that size.
6. The plain red bands that are used between the border and motif segments needs to be wider to separate the patterns a little more.
7. Just putting together a series of borders and motifs separated by small red bands doesn’t necessarily make a good design or finished product.
Is this Moroccan Rug is good design? There are parts that I feel are good design, especially the final border and motif in the middle of the rug. Is the whole rug designed well? I’m not sure. I’m still thinking about it.
I would like to hear what you think about this project? What do you like and what do you think needs to be reworked? Tomorrow I’ll talk about the reasons for this project.
Looking at the rug as a whole, I felt there wasn’t enough red, so the middle motif here is predominately red – the main color in most Moroccan rugs. I’ve redone the new motif. I found out I was right about the number of threads. That’s why the count was off. I had to add two more threads to the area to make the motif work properly. The photo yesterday showed the white diamonds going over 10 threads for each diagonal thread. I needed to use 11 threads for each of these long, white stitches. I also found it stitches faster if I do the red diamond shapes first and then stitch the white around them. Things moved along quickly after that – I used two needles, one for the white and one for the red. Then I added the black stitches to break up the red a little. I also took the time to repeat the border that was stitched below this new motif.
It took a month to get all the borders and motifs tested and stitched. I will spend the next week repeating all the borders and motifs of the rug in reverse order. Since I don’t have to test and redo any of these sections, it should go a lot faster. I’ll do a post in a day or two about what I’ve learned while doing this rug and give you the reason behind it.
