Size 16 bead needles back in stock

 In My ETSY Store

I just restocked the ETSY store with more of the tiny bead needles and also more of the black straight pins or mourning pins~ those two usually sell out as soon as I restock, so if you have been waiting go check them out! The link to the store is in the right hand sidebar 

I have bendable pins~ oh my golly they are AWESOME. If you havent seen them go check it out there is a little video on the listing~ they are made from special wire and when bent, actually spring right back to straight~ AWESOME pins!

For my dolly makers I have listed some of my ultra favorite tiny cotton laces~ yes, ALL cotton laces less than a quarter inch wide. Also a minute braided cotton cording thats just to die for~

I restocked the heirloom sewing kits which have 3 indispensable spools of silk and linen threads, 2 each needles of three different sizes and a cake of pure beeswax

If you have been mulling over the 2020 limited edition ornament kit, I have just five left. The link to purchase those is here

Happy Stitching XOXOXOX

Special Original 17th c Blackwork Nativity Spool Tray Available

 Humbly Born in a Stable Rude

It's been a very challenging year for me this year, as I am sure it has for many of ya'll as well. Sometimes the stress and just absolute heartbreak just gets to be too much for me so I try and trick myself into not thinking about it by really concentrating on other things. I had been wanting to make something special to offer for Christmas for quite a while, but just wasnt feeling it, if you know what I mean.  Earlier this year a really awesome 17th c redwork panel of Moses in the Rushes was sold at auction, and one day when I was numbly going thru my saved pictures to keep my mind occupied. I landed on that picture. At that moment, I knew what I wanted to make and spent the rest of the day drawing out a 17th c Nativity scene.

I took inspiration from  three 17th c embroideries~ there arent that many with Nativity subject matter. I know of one tent stitch piece at the V&A that is so bright and colourful, it doesnt even look like a Nativity scene until you start really investigating it. A woman is sitting by a stream above a grotto surrounded by shaded green hollocks....and then you notice there is a baby aside her...then you see the sheep and shepherds in the background and realize the man on the other side of her is Joseph, there is a stable with a donkey and cow...there is an angel...its all very subtle.  I didnt want my nativity to be subtle!

The angle is above looking down on Mary who is kneeling aside baby Jesus in his manger. Joseph is standing aside the stable with two shepherds kneeling with their sheep to the other side of Mary.  I tried to fit a donkey into the stable but he just didnt fit without making it look over detailed. Joseph's dove flies overhead and of coarse no 17th c scene would be complete without a huge mulberry tree ;)

  

I love painting blackwork and after sharing this with a friend, got immediate feedback to make it into a black or redwork project to stitch.....so ...perhaps a special for next year 

For now though, this is my one special offering for Christmas 2020. I made it from a beautiful piece of hard maple, and fit it with 21 pegs. Yes~ 21 pegs! My largest spool tray to date. As you can see above both the small and large spools fit on it nicely. It measures 8 & 1/4" x 7 & 3/8". 

Signed and dated on the bottom of coarse

This special tray is available at a cost of 650.00 including shipping~ a direct reflection of how expensive wood has become, and how many hours I have into it. If you love it and would like to purchase it you can email me at rlkinnison@yahoo.com

2020 Limited Edition Ornament Kits

 Just 11 Left!

More gilt spangles arrived yesterday and am counting counting them today~ I feel like Rumpelstiltskin!

I have just 11 kits left, once they are gone I will not be reordering supplies to make up more kits, its too late in the year. If you are interested in making up your own gold encrusted 17th c inspired covered book, you can order one here

Fun with Scraps

Lil Cuties

  What have ya'll been up to?  I am super lucky that my oldest daughter only lives 8 miles from me.  One day she called me and mentioned how much she missed getting to watch me make dollys. (When the children were little, I had a bed in the studio beside my work table so they could nap and play right there were I could keep an eye on them)....  So I told her to come on over and we'll make something.  We picked thru the scrap bins and a few days later, I had 3 lil mini punkin cuties. Shes not done with hers yet, but they came out just as cute as mine!

I dont know what the heck I was thinking when I sculpted this lil punkin....she is so blasted tiny~ I had a heck of a time trying to hold onto her arms while trying to stitch on her sleeves. Shes a little cone puppet

She likes to hide in her cone and then pop out and try to scare her friends.....but shes not scary. 

 This is Full Moon Party~ she is named after one of my favorite teas. What is super fun about making small things, is that tiny scraps are all you need. This size of doll doesnt take much of anything to make, just some time, imagination, and lots of laughs with your daughter ;)

Beneath Thy Poft Oak

 Class is Full & Wait List is Open

If you would like to be put on the wait list for my next running of Beneath Thy Poft Oak, just drop me an email at rlkinnison@yahoo.com

There is ONE spot left!

 My New Online 17th Century Beadwork Class

Starts October 1st!

I am very excited for class to start~ its going to be super fabulous! Tricia at Thistle Threads is my gracious hostess for 12 months worth of online lessons to work the above pastoral Texas view.  There will be technique videos illustrating stitches taught in class and we are scouting out an online platform so everyone can get together in a group/class setting to discuss the lessons and anything else having to do with period Beugle Works.

This is my most in depth class yet, and I aim to provide a firm foundation of basic techniques that can be used not only for this class piece, but that can be applied to future projects as well.  My lesson on making detached yellow roses can be applied to making any flower that you can dream up in your head~ real or not! 

All class kits are in the mail, so for my students, check your email for your tracking number because they have already been sent.

 There is one spot remaining in class, so if you would be interested in taking this journey with us, please email me at rlkinnison@yahoo.com

Spiffing Up

c1770 Child's Ticking Stripe Shoes

With all the children going back to school, I thought I would share these super cunning little shoes with ya'll. As a mom myself, the children were always asking to spiff up their wardrobe. I would jazz up britches with fun embroidered patches...that sort of thing. When I first saw these shoes they immediately looked like something I would do! Eighteenth century children's shoes are rare enough, but this example really spoke to me. They are hand stitched from a blue stripe ticking

 Upon looking closer...they have been overstitched/embroidered in pink. The construction of the shoes tells us this was not an afterthought. The silk binding, now quite faded, is also pink, as are the kid covered latchet buttons and heels.

I would love to know the original story behind these shoes~ you know there has got to be a great one! They are fully lined so the back of the embroidery cannot be studied, 

but beneath the shelter of the latchets, the embroidery remains bright and vivid. Was there special significance to the blue ticking stripe??? Did the owner have a fondness for all things pink? I wonder if these matched the outfit they were worn with???

In any case, they are just cute as a button.....and in typical Eighteenth century fashion, the stitching on them is beautiful and very skilled. Their wedge heels are covered in the same pink kid (goatskin) leather as the buttons

They show obvious signs of being worn. The stitching channel for the wedge heel has been worn away, exposing the stitching. Super wide throats on these with ever so slight rounded toes.

One of my favorite aspects of early shoes are the soles~ one had to have very strong hands to stitch thru the layers, but yet have a delicate touch at the same time.  I would have liked to have been a shoemaker.

This is actually the first pair of latchet shoes in the collection to have button closures. They make perfect sense though on a child's shoe~ it would be much easier to button once than fight with a buckle to get on and off.