TAST2012 Week 40

For Week 40 of TAST2012 the stitch is Beaded Hedebo Edge.

Ever since I was a small girl I have loved embroidery. However, in spite of having tried various techniques and collected a number of books, I must admit that I am ignorant and still have SO much to learn about this subject.

This became apparent on Tuesday when Sharon announced the weekly stitch. 'Hedebo', I thought, 'How lovely to do a Swedish stitch!' Shame on me, and I do apologise to all Danish people, for thinking it is Swedish embroidery. I had confused it with some of the other types of embroidery distinct for a district, like: Järvsjösöm, Delsbosöm, Hallandssöm or Anundsjösöm. The latter is demonstrated by Karin Holmberg here.

So, Hedebo embroidery is Danish, and I would say, a mix of cutwork and needlelace. The edge with beads is particularly pretty and I had a great time making this flower:

I liked the cross stitches for the base so much I decided to keep them as they were for the 'leaves'.

It is sometimes difficult to add small beads as the needle is too thick. This is how I solved the problem: I first made the cross stitches with a thicker, sharp needle, creating larger holes (important in my tightly woven fabric). For the Hedebo loops and beads I changed to a thinner, blunt needle.  The thread would then pass through the beads, not snag the base stitches as well as pass through the fabric in the holes.