Eye spy with my little eye!

Yesterday I hopped on the train into Leeds for another monthly meet-up of the Stitch Art group. This month's theme was 'eyes', which didn't give me much of a clue what we'd be up to. Well, it was a lot of fun. We were doing an activity based on Georgian eye charms, or Georgian lover's eye jewellery. I hadn't even known these existed, but apparently they were miniatures of a loved one's eye. You could have a painting of your beloved's eye made into a pretty piece of jewellery, and wear it secretly so others couldn't see who'd captured your affections. They were made popular by royalty, and while the originals might've been beautifully painted and covered in precious or semi-precious stones, our versions would be more modest.

We used canvas for our base. It was leftover from other use, already painted with acrylic and cut into small pieces. I chose this rather Barbie looking pink and shaped mine into an oval, though we could use whatever shape we wanted. We added two or three layers of felt to the back, and sandwiched them together with a whip stitch or blanket stitch. Then sewed on lots and lots and lots of beads!

There was also a little zine to show examples of actual Georgian eye charms and more ideas of ways to decorate ours. As the session was only two hours long, none of us got as far as adding our eye, so I carried on stitching when I got home.

I used felt and embroidery thread, rather than painting an eye or adding a photographic image of one. I think it turned out better than I expected, and I've already started making a second charm.

My second effort's being sewn on a scrap of plum coloured velvet.

I think this might be the start of a new obsession. Just how many of these eye charms can I make?!!!

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