EarthDancer by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum |
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=============== From: Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum
In my e-mail was a request for the story behind the inspiration to Earthdancer. We are going to do a booklet with all of the stories, but I thought it might be time to share this one.
Two years ago we adopted a bi-racial baby, Sarah Rosefeather. She was put into my arms on the day she was born by her mother. Her mother was mostly Cherokee Indian and her father was African-American. I have Cherokee in my ancestors and I treasure this heritage. For a week I spent time with her, I talked to her birthmother about what great stories of strong women Sarah gathered about her because of her wonderful blend of cultures. This woman had great courage and she was kind. I felt like her sister, she gave this tine woman baby to me knowing that I would raise her to value the important things. 11 months later we were told that Sarah's birthmother had a seizure and died in a homeless shelter. My heart was broken for dear Sarah, because she would never be able to meet her brave native mother. I designed Earthdancer as a tribute to this woman who had the strength to know what was best for this baby and her wisdom and her rich culture. Since her death, I have felt her near me, watching and smiling at this beautiful child. She dances free from the bonds of earth, but her child lives and will know always of the power of a mother's love. --------------- From: Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum
Use 2-3 strands of the Whisper .... it should look very fuzzy like the end of a feather. Do the dreamcatcher in one long strand hole to hole ... trust me, it looks great! As for the beads...one bead should cover the area of one stitch. Some beads are on the edges of things so they do stand alone. Marilyn --------------- From Judith Lackey 1. Wash and iron your Earthdancer before adding the "fancy" threads. You won't want to wash her after the Whisper thread and suedes have been attached. Dry-cleaning will not work, as it contains chemicals that can eventually damage your needlework.
2. Wisper Thread: I used two strands. To mike it even more "fluffy", after completion, I gently brushed it with a CLEAN toothbrush to make it even fore fluffy.
3. Suedes: I stitched mine on 32 ct. instead of the 24 ct. which the chart called for, and I had no problems with the suedes! Be sure that it doesn't twist, either on the front or the back. It may help to pull it through the fabric gently with your fingers instead of pulling it through with your needle. I know of no suitable substitution for the suede. The suede is important to the design, and I wouldn't recommend substitution. It's not hard!
4. Outside of the Dreamcatcher: You'll want to cut ONE long piece for this section. Lie your suede along the outside edge of the dreamcatcher and be sure to add an extra 6" or so, just to be safe. Where the navy suede meets the points of the dreamcatcher, "tack" it down with the beads.
5. Inside of Dreamcatcher web: Cut out the light beige sections before stitching. If you use the natural linen called for, the light beige will become "lost". Also, occasionally hold your fabric up to a light to make sure that the thread won't show through from the back. Stitching this part was the hardest, in my opinion. You have to be REALLY careful...don't want that thread to show through!
6. If you are using 32 ct., the beads called for will NOT fit! So solve this problem, I bought the tiny Mill Hill Glass Petite beads. They fit perfectly and glisten like real jewels. Judi
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From: Judith Lackey There are some beads that are out there "all by themselves", with no place to anchor them. Use floss that matches your fabric. I used the "loop" method to begin, thus attaching the beads with two strands of floss. After threading your bead, complete the stitch, running your needle through the loop on the back. On the backside, I unthreaded one of the strands. With the needle and remaining strand of floss, I went under the "anchoring" floss a couple of times. Then, I unthreaded the strand of floss remaining on the needle and made a teensy-tiny knot to secure it. I know you're never supposed to put a know ANYWHERE, but I couldn't think of another way to do it.
It is not a good idea to carry floss across large areas. It almost ALWAYS shows through, and you don't want that. Judi
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From: Judith Lackey You anchor the suede under previously stitched areas. It helps to keep the suede strand fairly short. After inserting the needle to make each stitch, I pulled the suede gently through the fabric with my fingers. I've read of others who had trouble with it snapping off. Be sure that the suede lies straight. You won't want any twists in it, either on the front or on the back.
For the outside rim of the dreamcatcher, you'll want to use one long, continuous strand. I held the suede against the "points" of the dreamcatcher to see how much I'd need; then I added another 6 inches "just in case". After anchoring it under her hair, I tacked the suede down at the intersecting points with the beads. Et end, I again anchored it under a previously stitched area.
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Lana Bruggeman My mother is doing MLI's Earthdancer and was wondering how others have attached the "Dream Catcher" (That web thing) outside blue seude edge.
Can those talented people out there who have completed this project please help?
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Judith Lackey wrote:
The outside rim of the dreamcatcher should be one long, continuous strand of blue suede. Hold the suede against the "points" of the dreamcatcher to get an estimate of how much you'll need for the perimeter. Add another 6 or 7 inches, "just to be safe". Anchor one end of the suede under her hair and bring it to the top of the fabric. Gently lie the suede on the top of your fabric along the "points" of the dreamcatcher. You will notice that these "points" are marked by single beads. Secure the suede with the single beads, using the loop method.
When you bring your floss up from behind to make the first part of your "x", place the suede over that spot. Thread the bead and go over the suede before bringing your needle back down to complete the first part of the "x". Bring the needle up again, go back through the bead, and complete your "x". This will result in the suede lying under the bead, and the bead will secure the suede. On the back of your fabric, unthread one strand of floss. With your needle and the remaining strand, pass under your initial "loop". Then tie a teensy-tiny square knot to secure.
Repeat the above process until all the suede has been secured by the beads. If the outside rim looks "loose", gently pull to tighten. The suede should slide beneath the beads. Then, anchor the end of the suede under another xs-ed area.
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Laurie wrote:
I have this pattern, but haven't started her yet. What if you've already attached the beads? (I thought maybe our original poster might have.) An idea occurred to me while I was reading this. Could you couch the suede w/
matching floss or clear thread? Has anyone done this? Is it a bad idea? Maybe I should go look at the directions.:-)
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Jeannie I did Earth Dancer a couple of years ago. I didn't care for the color of the linen called for so I used Sage Jobelan 28 count and it turned out very lovely. I am now starting Spirit Dancer on the same fabric. Jobelan is a nice fabric to work on and the 28 count is equal to 14 ct aida, so the beads fit nicely.
Count carefully when you do the Dream Catcher Web and use a laying tool or another needle to lay down the suede (and on her fringe too. In the bottom right of the photo, the trees look like there are more colors and stitches than you find in the chart. I wrote to Marilyn about this and received a very nice letter in return telling me that this was just a "trick of the photography". It *looks* fine--I was just trying to settle in my mind the difference in what was stitched and the photo. Photos, as you most likely know, don't always show the colors true. And with MLI's patterns, they don't begin to do them justice! They are far more beautiful than the photos!
Have you used Wisper before? After you are finished with the stitching, you can use a piece of the loop part of velcro or a small brush to "fluff" up the Wisper. It is used to represent the "downy" part of the feathers.
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From: Connie I did Spirit Dancer a couple of months ago and it's got a lot of the suede on it. I did it on 32 ct natural linen, and it didn't distort. I was told by two different ladies in different stores to bring the suede up through the hole, down, and then over to the next stitch and back up, then over and down, etc., rather than running it like long stitch. They both said by doing it this way it wouldn't pull out of shape and distort and they were right.
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Stephenie added:
I did Earthdancer and also didn't like the material it called for. If I remember correctly, the material was actually greener than the picture showed. I simply took the picture and picked out a linen that matched the color of the photograph with the chart. It was much closer to a light tan color (the color I always think of for prairie grass in the
fall) and I really like the way it turned out.
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Stormy I'm planning on starting a new project soon -- "Earthdancer". However, the suggested fabric color is 'Prairie Grain
linen' which, IMHO, is 'yucky'! Is there another color of fabric that anyone would suggest I switch to that would look attractive with Earthdancer? (I'll be working with 28 count linen).
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Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum (the designer) replied:
Any shade of natural linen will look fine...the Praire Grain does look good when stitched..perhaps you saw a bad photo or the dye lot was off? I wish the "dye lot creatures" would write down the recipe and follow it each time. I imagine they do color the way I season when I cook...a pinch of this and a pinch of that. (grin)
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Janice replied to Stormy, too:
I did my first Earthdancer on 32 ct English Rose. I chose pink because it was for my daughter and her room is pink. She wanted Pocahantas, but I thought she would eventually grow tired of that, and wanted to do something
she could keep always. The pink sounds strange, but actually looked fine with some of the maroon in the design anyway. Since it was 32 ct, I could not get all of the beads on, so cross stitched many of the beaded areas and
used the beads in select areas where they would fit. I did my second Earthdancer for my sister on 28 ct dusty green linen. It looks good and I used ALL of the beads that time!
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Tess added:
I just bought the supplies for "Earthdancer" while I was in the States a couple of weeks ago. My store doesn't even carry the Prairie Grain linen; they said no one likes it. I bought a 28-count Raw Cashel Linen. The model in Cross Stitch Plus is done on Linaida -- looks nice, but I prefer linen also.
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From: Stacy Christophersons When I did Earthdancer, I did it on 30ct cream Murano. I left the beige in the Bravo floss for the webbing of the dreamcatcher and it looked great. I also used just one strand of the Bravo for a more delicate effect (this is
listed as a suggestion on the pattern).
I also made a mistake while stitching Earthdancer that I found I liked better than the original pattern. On the medallions on the dress, there is supposed to be blue (517 or 518) floss coming from each medallion. Well, I
missed that direction on the pattern and did the medallion "tails" in the Ecru Ultrasuede. It gave a 3 dimensional look that worked well with the beads.
Stacy's homepage: http://www.techline.com/~rjcsmc/
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From: Vicki M. I used a tea colored linen on Earth dancer. The name of the linen escapes me now. But i wasn't fond of the prairie grain either. I think the green sounds nice. And for fringe i used porcupine quills instead of beads it blended in nicely with her dress. I mounted her on a quilt hoop and used dark thread to sew long uneven lashings around it. To give the appearance that she is mounted in a hoop. I am still looking for fringe to do around the hoop. I wanted it to look more indian.
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From: Sonya Cirillo (in Texas) I'm currently working on Earthdancer and I'm using Silvery Moon (an interesting blue).
One thing you might want to check before starting on Blue Spruce is the trees in Earthdancer use sort of moss green - 3011, 3012 and 935. You might want to lay these colors on the intended background color and check if you'll like the effect. You can always change the trees to another green series!
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From: Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum
After seeing all of the posts on here about the 284Z gold metallic thread
tarnishing... I called DMC to see if they were aware of any complaints. They said they had received some comments and were investigating the problem. I expected to hear a glowing denial of the possibility of the thread ever tarnishing. So I have decided that on all of my charts that require the 284Z metallic thread... a replacement must be used.
I ask that you use for the 284Z symbol, DMC 5282 with one strand of Kreinik
blending filament 002HL... For the silver metallics use DMC 5283 with one strand of Kreinik 001HL.
The reason that we need to add the blending filament is because the thread can be dull without it and I want it to have more shine and sparkle.
Hope this helps... I'm anxious to hear your comments?
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You may also be able to find some tips for Earthdancer on the "Fans of TIAG" bulletin board.
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