These are a few of the small wall hangings and wreaths that I have made. The first was featured in my book Ribbonwork Flowers, the second was a class that I taught at my store, and the third features a dragonfly that I taught at my store.
Do you plan out every detail, or do you approach your work with serendipity? For this piece, I did a bit of planning, so that the metal frame could take a prominent place amongst the pieced fabrics.
13″ x 11″
Midnight in Paris by Christen Brown
This wallhanging is crazy pieced with cotton solid and printed fabrics and vintage laces. The embroidery was worked in silk embroidery ribbons (4mm and 7mm), silk perle, perle cotton, and cotton floss. Vintage buttons, beads, an antique metal frame, and charms were used for embellishments. A ribbon border with beaded details showcase the piecing and the frame.
What form of piecing do you prefer? I really love crazy-piecing, simply because you can use the pieces and scraps that you have on hand, and the pieced lines provide a variety of opportunities to embroider and embellish.
9 1/4″ x 9 1/4″
9 1/4″ x 9 1/4″
Victoriana 1 and Victoriana 2 by Christen Brown
These two pieces were stitched using the same fabrics, and are almost identically pieced together. I was going to make a purse, but decided that two small wall hangings were more desirable. The embroidery stitches were worked in silk embroidery ribbon, perle cotton and cotton floss. Beads, charms and buttons were used for the embellishments.
This piece was made using the same fabrics as the above two pieces, with the addition of several vintage silk ties and their lining fabrics. I created this piece while I was teaching a class titled the Crazy Corner. I enjoyed adding in all of the embellishments such as a birds nest, fabric yo-yos, and ribbonwork flowers.
When our friends Phred and Tom got married, I was asked to be the flower girl. In this case, it meant that I was making the flowers for the wedding party. Here is a group of my friend Phred’s favorite flower, the daffodil. My husband Kevin gave part of the ceremony, and our daughter Gwen was the video photographer.
May your day be filled with everything and everyone that you love!
This is a class that I taught for Joggles. I loved working with all of the different materials, and textures which include cotton fabric, lace, grosgrain ribbon, satin ribbon, felt, crochet streamers, and vintage buttons. The vessel that the flowers are displayed in is made from a cardboard cone that has been covered with mixed media techniques.
One of the flowers that I think is the prettiest is the shabby rose. If you would like to make this flower click here.
This is a series of classes that I taught on-line for Joggles, Corsages to Dye For I, Corsages to Dye For II, and Corsages to Dye For III. The student learned how to mix colors and dye her own ribbons. The flowers and leaves were made with ribbonwork techniques, and a little bit of embroidery. Many of the techniques can be found in my two ribbonwork books by C&T Publishing.
This is an ensemble that I made using a vintage tatted reticule and crochet collar. I used silk ribbon for the flowers and leaves, and added in acrylic flowers and leaves with beaded stitches. This can be found in the gallery section of my book Ribbonwork Flowers by C&T Publishing.
This is a small wreath that is comprised of flowers and leaves made from hand-dyed silk ribbon, Hannah silk bias ribbon, vintage grosgrain ribbon, vintage jacquard ribbon, taffeta ribbon, and satin ribbon. The wreath is also adorned with vintage buttons and butterflies, lots of butterflies! The techniques can be found in my book Ribbonwork Flowers by C&T Publishing.
This is one of nine blocks that were designed for my class the Stitch Along Sampler series. The embroidery stitches included both traditional and silk ribbon techniques. The stitches can be found in my book Embroidered and Embellished by C&T Publishing.