A Day in April

I've always been an admirer of 1930s style - you know, Art Deco and all that.  And after gathering a large collection of 1940s and 50s craft magazines over the years, I've recently discovered 1930 embroidery designs in the Art Deco style.  I loved this design as soon as I saw the cover the April 1936 Needlewoman magazine and wanted to get started on it immediately.

But to be honest I struggled to transfer the design as I could only think of scanning the working image and then using dressmakers carbon paper to trace it onto my fabric.  This didn't work too well and really I ended up copying the image freehand with just a few lines visible here and there for reference.  However I'm quite pleased with the end product - the first embroidered picture I've completed in a long long time.

My next project is to be the applique picture A Day in Autumn you can see in the photo.  Luckily the transfer is still in this magazine but I've also discovered iron on transfer pens - WHAT! I'd never even heard of them before!  I could only find a basic version in my local craft shop but I'm really excited by the prospect of being able to transfer any design I like onto fabric.

I'm spending much time at my Mum's house at the moment - away from my papercrafting supplies and laptop, so I've lots of time to get back into needlecrafts again.  I really need to practise my stitching as close inspection of my picture has revealed a lack of attention to detail!  Must try harder as my teacher used to write on my reports!