Machine Embroidery Reta (V.3) – Black

 

Black machine embroidered Italian Reta

Back in 2014 I made a Reta – a netted headdress in the style of 1480s Florence paintings. I didn’t do it as a knotted net, but rather couched trim onto a wash-away stabilizer base, and then dissolved the base. While I DO have a knotted version in my work-in-progress pile, once I started working on the embroidery machine at the Maker Space I attend, I started to think about creating a Reta in the style of embroidered lace – stitching directly onto wash-away stabilizer to create what’s known as Free Standing Lace (FSL).

I started off with a version in yellow/gold, which you can read about here… But honestly… I didn’t love it. The fact that I had to go over the design with machine stitching I think really changed the look of it, and I wasn’t fond of the yellow-and-black either, at least not up close.

I decided to do ANOTHER version, this time in all black.

Golden Machine Embroidery Reta (Italian Renaissance headdress)

Back in 2014 I made a Reta – a netted headdress in the style of 1480s Florence paintings. I didn’t do it as a knotted net, but rather couched trim onto a wash-away stabilizer base, and then dissolved the base. While I DO have a knotted version in my work-in-progress pile, once I started working on the embroidery machine at the Maker Space I attend, I started to think about creating a Reta in the style of embroidered lace – stitching directly onto wash-away stabilizer to create what’s known as Free Standing Lace (FSL).

Filigree bat witch hat

Wearing my new bat embroidered witchy hat

I was at Michael’s during the pre-Halloween period and saw a piece of home decor with a filigree-style bat on it. The home accessory itself was nothing I wanted to buy, (For the most part I’m only buying things that have some kind of “use” beyond just being cool.) but I really liked the bat design, so decided to reference it to create my own filigree style bat.

I took a photo of the item from Michael’s (Unfortunately no longer on their website to credit) and went into Adobe Illustrator to try to come up with my own design referencing it. Mine is obviously not the same… but I still really like the final result.

Embroidered witchy hat

Black wool embroidered deerstalker witch hat

A while ago I made two witchy deerstalker hats – both out of brown plaids that I didn’t have a lot of fabric. I really loved them, but decided what I really wanted was a black one instead – going more “witch” and less “sherlock”.

Of course, with all of the time that I’ve been spending (hyperfixating) on the Maker Space’s embroidery machine, this meant that I also wanted to find a way to embellish it a little more – and make it a little more personal.

Wool viking hoods

Two new steel blue/grey wool hoods – one adult, one child size.

Count this as a bit of a throwback post in itself – I actually made these ages ago… took the photos – but never ended up blogging about them!