Archives for July 2019

Apologies my friends.  I gather that the interpretation of the Lisbon Treaty I circulated is a scam.  False and unnecessary information.

The contents have been worrying me for months and I am glad that it is incorrect.

Next blog will be about????  I do not know yet but it will not be on this subject.

Thanks,    Ann

Kevin Saunders               The contents of thhttps://www.facebook.com/Caligular/posts/10157119871393987e Lisbon Treaty

February 14 at 2:24 PM

I just got through reading theLISBON TREATY.OMG!!!!!!

WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THE LISBON TREATY, THE TREATY THAT COMES INTO FORCE 2020, ITS WORSE THAN THE SO CALLED DEAL, IF 99% OF THE BRITISH THINK TERESA MAYS DEAL IS BAD, JUST LOOK AT THE LISBON TREATY. PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW, LEAVERS AND REMAINERS.

..“What will actually happen if we stay in the EU” is a question no remainer will ever answer but here it is warts and all.

Check it out if you wish ——>>

1: The UK along with all existing members of the EU lose their abstention veto in 2020 as laid down in the Lisbon Treaty when the system changes to that of majority acceptance with no abstentions or veto’s being allowed.

2: All member nations will become states of the new federal nation of the EU by 2022 as clearly laid out in the Lisbon treaty with no exceptions or veto’s.

3: All member states must adopt the Euro by 2022 and any new member state must do so within 2 years of joining the EU as laid down in the Lisbon treaty.

4: The London stock exchange will move to Frankfurt in 2020 and be integrated into the EU stock exchange resulting in a loss of 200,000 plus jobs in the UK because of the relocation. (This has already been pre-agreed and is only on a holding pattern due to the Brexit negotiations, which if Brexit does happen, the move is fully cancelled – but if not and the UK remains a member it’s full steam ahead for the move.)

5: The EU Parliament and ECJ become supreme over all legislative bodies of the UK.

6: The UK will adopt 100% of whatever the EU Parliament and ECJ lays down without any means of abstention or veto, negating the need for the UK to have the Lords or even the Commons as we know it today.

7: The UK will NOT be able to make its own trade deals.

8: The UK will NOT be able to set its own trade tariffs.

9 The UK will NOT be able to set its own trade quotas.

10: The UK loses control of its fishing rights

11: The UK loses control of its oil and gas rights

12: The UK loses control of its borders and enters the Schengen region by 2022 – as clearly laid down in the Lisbon treaty

13: The UK loses control of its planning legislation

14: The UK loses control of its armed forces including its nuclear deterrent

15: The UK loses full control of its taxation policy

16: The UK loses the ability to create its own laws and to implement them

17: The UK loses its standing in the Commonwealths

18: The UK loses control of any provinces or affiliated nations e.g.: Falklands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar etc

19: The UK loses control of its judicial system

20: The UK loses control of its international policy

21: The UK loses full control of its national policy

22: The UK loses its right to call itself a nation in its own right.

23: The UK loses control of its space exploration program

24: The UK loses control of its Aviation and Sea lane jurisdiction

25: The UK loses its rebate in 2020 as laid down in the Lisbon treaty

26: The UK’s contribution to the EU is set to increase by an average of 1.2bn pa and by 2.3bn pa by 2020

This is the future that the youths of today think we stole from them?

They should be on their knees thanking us for saving them from being turned into Orwellian automatons!

Forget Deals. no deals It is time for remainers and brexiteers to unite and see what is coming before its too late. This is the whole reason they are dragging brexit out. So we can get to 2020 then we have no choices anymore.

The conversation regarding washing fabrics, marking the design on fabrics both now and historically has led to some ‘THINKING”.  Thinking is not a bad idea, in fact, it is a good habit and can be productive.

Heather Grief tells us there are no indications of design lines on the fabric of the Bayeux Tapestry.  There will be holes in the fabric and damage to the threads caused by the needles and wool, but under that, there are no black, blue, brown lines or any other indication of how the embroiderers knew where to place their stitches.  With its size, detail and complexity, I cannot believe that a large number of people were able to stitch the Tapestry without the input of a gifted artist/ designer and guidelines on the fabric.  My mind and my stitching experience cannot accept this.

Sheila McCoy has entered this debate with an excellent article which you can read for yourself.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/norman/bayeux-tapestry-where-make-how-long-who-when-stitch-penises-visit/

Here are my thoughts on the Bayeux Tapestry for those who are as increasingly perplexed by it as I am.  There has been a lot of research on it over a large number of years.  It is hard to know the truth about something that was stitched so long ago.  It is hard to know the truth about something stitched only a few years ago unless the stitcher has left notes to tell us.

This is what I think!  I am not a historian.  I am a stitcher and I write this blog.

The Bayeux Tapestry was stitched in France.  This was the age of Opus Anglicanen in Saxon England.  Those professional embroiderers were unbelievably skilled. They would have not easily or willingly reverted to the basic embroidery skills used in the Bayeux Tapestry.  Please don’t shout at me about this observation but there is no comparison in the skills required.

It chronicles the defeat and colonization of their country.  Why would the Saxons do that?  William the Conqueror was a cruel and absentee ruler. There were riots and civil unrest. He built prisons and castles instead of Churches. He built the Tower of London.  This speaks of slave labour.  Saxon England had been rural and prosperous.  It fed itself with enough to export.  William took over Saxon owned land and gave it to his Norman followers.   He wiped out the Sazon culture and language in a generation and that takes determination. The Domesday book was an inventory for taxation purposes.

My belief is that he was a horrible and vindictive man.  When he died, no one wanted to bury him.  His body lay around until, finally, it exploded.  Do you really think that good ladies of England or the male professionals would have created the Bayeux Tapestry under these circumstances?  I think that the takeover of Saxon England by the Normans was so traumatic that the English/British grew an extra gene which has been particularly evident in the last century. In both World Wars, the country was determined to not allow a foreign invader onto English/British soil.  Brexit is another example.  Have you read the text of the Lisbon Treaty?  The future for Britain as outlined in this document is appalling.  If you have not read it, you should.  My next posting will be the article I have about the Lisbon Treaty.

The Bayeux Tapestry is a record of the events that led up to the battle, the battle and of victory. A Norman-French victory.  It is not a story of defeat.  Just to add a little background, Edward the Confessor died without an heir.  This created the opportunity for the Vikings and the Normans to try to take over a peaceful and prosperous country ripe for the picking.  The Viking invasion of York sent half of the Saxon army north to fight the Battle of Stamford Bridge which the Saxons won.  This was only a few weeks before the Battle of Hastings.

Returning to marks on fabric.  Is it possible that there was a herbal extract or product that could have been used to mark the design on the fabric for the Bayeux Tapestry?  Something that would have faded over time and not damaged the linen fabric, the wool threads or the natural dyes.  I have no idea if there is, or is not.

If a naturopath or a herbalist should read this, do you have any suggestions on what could have been used to mark the stitching lines on the Bayeux Tapestry?  We would love to hear from you.

Sorry, no pictures!

First, a reply from Ruth Briffett.  She and a group of ladies work at repairing and making ecclesiastical linens in Toronto.

I have removed the brown stain from blue pens used on church linens by dipping a Q-tip in hydrogen peroxide and dabbing it gently on the stain. The stain usually disappears fairly quickly and a quick rinse will wash out any remaining peroxide.

Another comment is from Heather Grief.

As a fan of the Bayeux Tapestry, I have been considering the possibility that the embroiderers did not transfer the design by marking the linen cloth, before stitching – no sign of any lines have been found.
It is possible to use tacking stitches to mark the main points (corners of buildings etc) and fill in the rest by hand.  In the Middle Ages, the design would have been drawn on parchment (prepared animal skins) – tougher than modern paper – and a needle could be pushed through to mark the relevant spots.
I suggest this as a means of avoiding the use of marking substances in modern work – you simply remove the tacking stitches as you do the embroidery, filling in the gaps by eye.

Heather, Thank you for your reply. I have never given any thought to how the design was placed on the Bayeux Tapestry linen. There are no visible lines you say. Umh!! Curious and curiouser. I cannot think that all that intricate design was stitched freehand.

Prick and pounce is the historical method of transferring a design onto fabric.  When a student at RSN,  we rubbed powdered charcoal through the prickings on the paper pattern to make a temporary line on the fabric.  Having blown away any excess charcoal, we painted the lines using blue or black watercolour paint. We used ultra fine sable brushes to make a very fine line.  It was easy to cover those fine lines with stitching.  Marking pens make such thick lines in comparison.

Maybe they had some disappearing watercolour paint they were able to use on the Bayeux Tapestry.

Let us ask the readers what they think.

In the past, since RSN, I have marked the design lines (reversing the design) on the backing fabric.  Then, I have basted the lines through to the front.  It works but is not very accurate.

Ann B.

There was a time when rainwater fell through clean skies and was regarded as the best water to use when laundering very fine needlework.  That is no longer the case.  Also, washing instructions in old embroidery and lace books are completely out-of-date.  Even new books, authored by people who should know better, neglect to specify distilled water.  Please mentally remember that I really – really – mean distilled.

Let us think about textiles made of natural materials.  This means linen, cotton, silk, and wool.  Not synthetics.  When preparing for stitching, I pre-rinse them in hot distilled water which is as hot as used when laundering.  This removes the stiffening put in by the manufacturer as well as pre-shrinking it.  The water looks cloudy.  That is how you know that the stiffeners have been removed.  I usually line/back with lightweight semi-sheer cotton, and that definitely must be pre-shrunk before you attach it to cotton, linen, silk, or wool.

Why a backing?  Because dark-coloured threads sometimes cast a shadow that can be seen when viewing embroidery from the front.  A backing prevents this and gives an extra place where you can anchor thread ends.  It will/can be of a tighter weave, so if you are using counted techniques or a loose weave fabric, your stitches will not slide around.  If you are an embroiderer, you know exactly what I mean.

I always, always, always back my embroidery fabrics usually with cotton batiste or well-washed cotton fabrics.  Embroidery fabrics used to be of good quality but now they are so flimsy that there is little substance to support the stitching. Ann

It must be noted that you should not line/back table napkins and linen towels.  When you place an embroidery face down on a fluffy towel to iron, it is the cotton lining that will first feel the heat.  It gives scorching protection to the fabric below.

Pre-shrinking the embroidery fabric can make it more difficult to stitch.  If you choose to not preshrink it, you absolutely must pre-shrink the lining.  If you do not, the first time you wash the item you will have to cut out the lining.  Reason:  Different textiles from different manufacturers will shrink at different rates.  In the worst case scenario, you can salvage embroidery without a lining, but not without the embroidery!

Professional conservationists and restorers often have access to de-ionized water.  You will have to improvise and use distilled water that can be made at home.

Distilled water can be purchased in grocery stores, but becomes expensive in large quantities.  Do not confuse distilled with spring water.  To distil, you have to convert water to steam, and then back to water.  I have a one-gallon Kenmore Countertop Distiller from Sears 25 years ago.  Computer search “countertop water distillers” and you will find several manufacturers and videos.

Fill the canister with tap water.  Boil it at a high temperature so that the steam rises into an upper chamber.  It will then return to water that comes out a spout.  A separate container is set below the spout to collect the distilled water.

City water contains added chemicals meant for other purposes that will lodge in textile fibres.  This water is from lakes and reservoirs fed by acid rain.  Well water may be heavily “laced” with iron particles (which are not visible to the human eye).  These remain inside textile fibres and might appear as rust spots years later. Water may also contain manganese (which is what turns white household linens yellow).  The liquid that remains at the bottom of the canister is –  My best description is: it looks like a Coca Cola syrup!

Jeri Ames in Maine USA (81)
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center

Jeri,  My thanks, and OUR thanks for all this information.  Many people are unaware that they should consider the additives in fabric and the chemicals in marking pens.  We all appreciate your words gained from experience.  The world and the goods available to us have changed radically over the last few decades.  What used to be reliable and works, no longer does.

We used to buy needlework supplies in privately-owned needlework shops.  Owners attended a variety of professional and personally-rewarding events (seminars, classes, etc.), shared what they knew about old and new products, and provided support to local guilds.  Now, they have been driven out of business by national crafting chain stores that are open day and night.  Clerks in these stores usually have no experience using the products they sell.  By demanding deep discounts, they have driven down the quality of supplies we use.  It is up to us to research products before we shop, and to seek suppliers who carry items of better quality.

Let’s start by thinking about the blue vanishing pens with different names used to transfer designs to cotton and linen fabrics we intend to embroider.  Commercial products in this category may not have been time-tested for the long-term survival of items we create.  It is nearly impossible to check the quality standards of manufacturers.

It was well over 30 years ago when the first vanishing blue marking pens became available.  They now have several different commercial names.  Teachers and designers loved using them when making embroidery kits for classes because they could use a Q-tip dipped in cool water to erase incorrect blue marks.  We experimented at the time, and if I remember correctly – when the blue was left on the fabric and ironed, it changed permanently to beige or brown.

Testing of these and all chemical products (including glue) is needed because manufacturers are never held responsible for what happens to art.  Future conservators and restoration experts will have no idea what chemicals these pens have left behind that may become a permanent blemish in needlework art.  Manufacturers may have changed formulas over the years, and we have been told nothing.  Chemicals may cause something drastic over time, like rot and stains.

Another example would be what happens to plastics after 20 years or so.  That means any product used for needlework that contains petroleum should be avoided, including some synthetic textiles.

Be very wary of adhesives and glues (mentioned above), including backings that have adhesives that are sold for framing needlework.  Think.  In addition to chemicals, these contain ingredients that very tiny organisms like to eat.  We know this because they leave tiny traces of their presence behind.

Glue/paste and starch were/are sometimes made at home, using flour and/or potatoes.  These are also attractive to tiny critters.  When you put needlework away in storage, it is wise to soak out old starches made from potatoes.  Not only are you dealing with food, but with one that will cause oxidation and turns textiles brown.

Jeri Ames in Maine USA (81)
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center

I remember tales of altar frontals that had been stiffened with flour and water. The mice loved to eat the paste and destroyed many textiles.  A.B.

Jeri Ames is, or has been, a member of The Embroiderers’ Guild of America 50+ years, American Needlepoint Guild 47 years, Embroiderers’ Guild (England), International Organization of Lace 40+ years, The Lace Guild (England), International Bobbin & Needle Lace Organisation (OIDFA) 22 years, Costume Society of America,  Arachne (internet  lace correspondence), plus several local guilds.  She owns an up-to-date library containing 4,000+ books about embroidery and lace, another room devoted to needlework magazines and bulletins going back 150 years, and a studio.

Fellow stitchers.  Please taken Jeri’s good advice to heart.  It comes from knowledge and experience.