Embroidered Dreams

I used to be quite the embroiderer -- I embellished everything I could get my hands on, especially pant legs and shirt yokes. I just fished out this piece from my personal archive, from a pair of jeans I wore in the early 1970s.

I was also wild about flowers back then -- still am! -- and embroidered several pieces that I designed, with flowers on black fabric. Only one piece remains in my collection, framed and glassed in so it was difficult to photograph (notice me in the background taking the photo). This piece has an interesting story behind it...

I had an art teacher in the 7th grade who was big on color wheels. Far as I can remember, most of what we did that semester was make rainbow circles of construction paper objects glued on black paper. I think this was my first introduction to the color wheel and how light separates through a prism, and it turned me on immensely. I remain enchanted by color progressions, as noted herein a couple of posts ago. Anyway, back during my embroidery days, I designed and executed this color wheel on black fabric, and it continues to bring me joy all these many years later, whenever I look at it.

In my travels back in the 70s, I came across these silk embroidery threads, probably about 100 years old now.

So, a project that's been swimming around in my mind for years is to weave some special cloth to embroider on, and then embroider a piece with hand spun, hand dyed silk embroidery thread. I wonder if I'll ever really get to it...