This necklace was my first attempt at stumpwork embroidery. I’d been wanting to try it ever since I saw an artwork by Lucy Martin, the Preciousness of Life. When I saw it in the Fashion and Textile museum in London I knew I had to try it for myself.

I used floristry wire for the skeleton, and I used two strands of thread for the embroidery as I didn’t want to invest too much time in case it fell apart when I cut it out. If I did it again I’d do the stitches in a circle rather than radially, but in this one I was trying to cover the wire in a less obvious way than I’d seen in other examples.

To turn it into a necklace I used hot glue to attach a wire and a circle of felt for backing. If I were to make these for anyone else I’d use a more professional method, but it seems sturdy enough.

This was a very satisfying, quick project, and I’m thinking about how I could use these techniques to make products for my shop. However it would be a big time investment to make them to a standard I would be willing to sell, so they would have to be at a much more premium price point than anything I’m selling at the moment.

Here are some photos of the process: