Mountmellick Embroidery

The following features are regarded as being characteristic of Mountmellick work:

• It is worked in white matt (no shine) thread on white cotton satin jean fabric.
• The shapes are big and bold and usually floral - the leaves and flowers are usually at least life-size, if not larger.
• It has a buttonholed edge, usually with a knitted fringe attached. Lace is not used.
• It is highly textured with many knotted and padded stitches employed.
• There is no openwork, such as eyelets.

About Yvette Stanton

Yvette Stanton is the publisher and designer behind Vetty Creations. She has a passion for whitework embroidery, and for sharing it with others. Yvette has written 12 best-selling embroidery books, including Smøyg which was also published by Search Press. Yvette is an accredited tutor with the Embroiderers Guild of NSW, and teaches embroidery classes, specializing in whitework around Australia. She's also an award-winning embroiderer with over 15 years' experience of producing beautiful intricate embroideries. Yvette lives in Sydney, Australia.

Visit Yvette's:
Website at www.vettycreations.com.au
Facebook: vettycreations
Instagram: @vettycreations

Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers

Sep 05

...Mountmellick is perhaps the chunkiest form of whitework embroidery, worked with thick cotton thread on a heavy cotton jean fabric. If authentic materials cannot be got, even from the list of suppliers in the appendix, then it does give some suggestions for substitutes. A short history of the technique is followed by a materials list. The section on stitches is clear and has a good combination of words and diagrams...This is a useful resource book.

NEW STITCHES

March 05

This book begins with a fascinating history of Mountmellick embroidery in which the authors share their discoveries and observations of historic examples of this technique found during their research. After outlining fabric and thread requirements there is a collection of all the stitches used to build up Mountmellick motifs with clear, detailed instructions on how to work each one.

The projects are varied as Mountmellick can be used for many applications as it is robust and, being all white, can be hot washed. There are traditional projects such as doilies and mats as well as contemporary applications such as bolsters and lampshades.