EGA Seminar – Class 1 – Pomegranate Heart by Melissa Sherbring

September 2, 2023, 6:52 am
Filed under: Embroidery Guild of America, Pomegranate Heart by Melissa Sherbring, Seminar 2023 - Boston

Pomegranate Heart by Melissa Sherbring is a 3″ x 3″ heart surrounds a pomegranate and is worked in three late 16th / early 17th century English embroidery stitches including a copper-colored, bumpy-textured Corded Larks Head filling stitch [a.k.a. Up and Down Buttonhole with Straight Stitch Return]. The remaining areas – rind, calyx, crown, attachment circlworked in three late 16th / early 17th century English embroidery stitches, and surrounding heart – are worked with gold passing thread in variations of Ceylon stitch. Outlines are worked in Stem stitch in cotton, both over the linen ground and over the rungs of Ceylon stitch. The background is a Woven Laidwork design in silver passing thread.

That is the description from the EGA website. The only part I understood before class in that description is Stem stitch which I didn’t get to anyway!

It’s a lovely piece and I thought learning 3 new stitches for a one-day class was reasonable. The time goes by so quickly. And, it did and it was paced well.

In the morning session, I did the four samples (bottom using red and yellow braiding cord) and the stitched part on linen is using gold passing thread for the Ceylon/Ladder stitch. Tricky getting tension even. I am glad I brought my magnifying clip-on light. Very helpful.

In the afternoon, I practiced the Lark’s Head Filling, Offset (top stitched sample in the next photo) using the yellow braiding cord. My sample shows a half-hitch on the right side but not the left side. The Woven Laidwork (bottom stitched sample) was a breeze. I didn’t worry about tension – so, it doesn’t look pretty.

Then, I read through the instructions and inquired more about how she transferred the design. To my surprise, her design is stamped! She uploaded an image to rubberstamps.com and used an ink pad. For $5, she had the stamp. That might be fun to try for my EGA Brandywine chapter.

With the last 45 minutes she had us stitch the raised Stem stitch with a single strand of green DMC floss. I know it’s not a race but the one woman next to me might be done tonight (I am exaggerating) and the woman on my other side didn’t get off the plastic canvas!