a handsome princeling

The nice thing about needlepoint is that once you’ve got it underway, it pretty much looks after itself.  All it needs is a few hours of film or audio book each night and merrily it rolls along, no matter how sleepy or slow I feel.  Which is usually how I feel after dinner and dishes and child to bed.

So whilst the sun is out, the light is good, energy and brain levels high, and the kitchen table is not needed for anything else, there’s a little portrait I want to capture …

I love the portraits of old - especially those of children.  They so rarely look at ease or cheerful.  Mostly, they look a bit stricken and stiff!  I love the symbolism - the careful placement of the artefacts that will reveal to the sitter’s importance, history, wealth, and passions.  As for the costumes, I’m always so amazed at the clothes these poor people are shoved into!  The layers upon layers of detail and decoration.  Again, especially the children.  My goodness, this poor little soul looks like he couldn’t move his arms if he tried!

Yep - it’s a he.  The offspring of King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria - Prince Charles.  What a handsome princeling!  Flipping through the exquisite pages of my latest “The World of Interiors” I came across this wonderful portrait - you can’t see Big Charles - he’s way off at the other end of the table.  Hmmmm … what is that saying about his tolerance for family life?  I could just see a Little Charles in felt - pink and white felt with this dear little piece of ladybug fabric.

The way I put these felt and embroidery pictures together is very ad-hoc.  I start with the wooden hoop and a piece of paper.  I outline the hoop on the paper and then draw my picture inside the outline.  Once I’m happy with the composition, I trace the elements onto vlisefix, cut out each element, iron it onto the wrong side of my fabric, cut it out, and then starting at the bottom layer, carefully add each piece, ironing as I go, until the picture is completed.

Then I begin the embroidery.  Each element is whip stitched around its edge and then I embellish it.  I don’t plan on what I”m going to do - I just see what looks nice and how much something needs.  I cheerfully rip out what doesn’t work and will often go back and add more detail later.  I often become terribly excited about the details of a particular element and then, whilst working on them, think of what to do to another part of the picture.  I know from experience to stop what I’m doing and just get stuck into the next bit - then I don’t forget my ideas.  After the initial drawing, I don’t put anything down on paper.  It just happens on the fabric.

As I worked away at Little Charles today - Abby thinks ’cause we’ve dressed him in pink, we really need to accept he’s a girl and rename him - it dawned on me that he was kind of suspended in mid air.  This was a wee bit distressing, but I reminded myself that things usually work out - if I just relax and enjoy the stitching something will come to me.  And it did - there’s a simple repeat pattern wallpaper in the offing, followed by a richly decorated rug for the royal bottom.

I’m pleased with the curtain - that took a few hours - the first tie back was revolting and had to be ripped out - made tricky by all the stitching that was done post tie back, thus wodging the dodgy stitches in place.  And Little Charles looks nicely stiff and worried - he must have had a premonition about his father’s execution.

Oooh and Abby - I’ve just read about Oak Apple Day - it was once celebrated on the 29th May - Little Charle’s birthday - as a commemoration of the oak tree he hid in during the civil war.  Now here’s a day we could celebrate in Melbourne and strangely enough, we could tweak it to be seasonally appropriate - the oaks will be shedding the last of their leaves, with which to decorate the table, and the apple season will be drawing to a close with all the apples picked and ready for pies and crumbles.  Too silly!