9 things you should know about biscornu

9 things you should know about biscornu - and my own crazy ideas to add.


I love biscornus. Do you also? Of course, you do :D

I have collected some facts and links about biscornus, and added some of my own ideas. (And I have to admit, I have long wanted to write one of those posts that start like "X things you need to know…" Silly, right?)

1. A biscornu is a - usually small - cushion that is formed by two squares sewn together. Its distinctive shape is given by the fact that each corner is sewn to the middle of one side, making it really interesting.

(The pattern for my Easter biscornu you can find here.)


2. The name comes from French. Some say it means quirky, irregular, others say it means two-horned. Where the thing itself comes is unclear, at least I could not find any information about who made the first one. If you know, please share it in the comments.

3. A biscornu is usually embroidered in cross stitch or blackwork, but I have seen other embroidery on them, too. I love this hardanger biscornu by The Victoria Sampler, I am planning to make it one day.

4. The embroidery pattern is usually designed so that one side is dominant, and the other side (the backside) has just a small motif. But there are also two-sided biscornus, like the Easter-biscornu above.

(The patterns for these are here and here.)

5. The embroidered design is framed with a line of backstitch, which is then used to sew the two pieces together: you whipstitch going only under the thread, and not in the fabric, making one whipstitch in each backstitch. That's why it is important to have the exact number of stitches in the backstitched lines.
I simply love the look of this whipstitching, and was using it in other finishes as well. See, for example the sides of this bookmark.

If you need more detailed instructions on how to make them, look here and here, for example.

6. A biscornu is usually quite small, between 5-10 cm but there is nothing to stop you from making smaller or bigger ones. I have made a big one, and a few very small ones.

This one was about 15 cm across.

These are really tiny:

7. A biscornu usually has a button in the middle, that is sewn so that the two sides are pulled together, as you can see in some of the pictures above.

But it is not compulsory, you can omit it or substitute with something else, like beads, ribbons, a charm etc.

Here is an example where I used a tiny ribbon bow:

And here is one where I did not pull the middle together, so the biscornu has a rounder shape, and I like this as well.






The pattern for the snowflake biscornu you can find here.


8. A biscornu is usually used as a pincushion, but it is also perfect for a hanging decoration, Christmas ornament etc, you just need to add a cord.

9. There are many variations, the most interesting is perhaps the 15-sided biscornu. I have never made one (it is also on my "to try one day" list), but you can find a really good tutorial here.


I hope you like this little summary.

Please, come back in a few days to read about variations on the biscornu (and other shaped pincushions) that I have come up with. COMING SOON!

New biscornu pattern

Hello, friends,


I have been doodling a bit - and all of a sudden it became a biscornu pattern.

I added a little narrow band as well, this way you can choose whether you want to sew it together as a biscornu or as a small pillow with a side.

I hope you like it. Happy stitching.

Edit: do you want to see how it looks stitched? Here it is, in this post. Just scroll down.

Blackwork biscornu for St. Patrick's Day

Hello,

I am back with more reports about my knitting - crochet course, with some more felting and some embroidery, a finally finished long-time WIP and another freebie - this time it is blackwork for St. Patrick's Day.



Here is a picture from one of my lessons. We just started our knitting unit, and I used this technique that I called the "human knitting machine" to teach the kids the basics. It was great fun! I learnt this at the university. It works the same way as finger knitting or the knitting looms, we just used the kids' hands instead of the pegs.

And here come some more pictures of my homework for the course.

To try out different materials, I did some crochet with a thick cotton cord. The flower shape, as well as the third one, in wool, was done with freeform crochet: I used no pattern, just started and then went on to see what happened. It was fun.

I tried out shadow knitting. I borrowed a book from the library, this one and tried to create my own pattern. While the book has some lovely modern looking pieces, and I found a few interesting pieces on the internet too, my experiment turned out a disaster. I wasn't thinking clearly, I should have realised that the pattern will become too long - I should have adjusted it accordingly. There was no time to do another experiment, and now I am busy with the next course, but this needs to be put on my list of "To try again". I certainly recommend trying this, it looks complicated but it isn't really and it is cool.

Another thing I learnt is called tvåendsstickning in Swedish. It means two-end-knitting, but it is usually called twined knitting in English. The basic technique is that you knit with tho threads, even if there is only one colour. They usually used the two ends of the same yarn ball, hence the name. The first stitch is knitted with one yarn, the second with the other and so on. Between each stitch you twist the threads. It makes a thick, firm fabric, there is hardly any stretch in it. Traditionally you have to do it with z-spinned yarn, that's what I was using for my mittens. I think it works with the usual s-spinned yarn, too, it only looks a bit different. I designed the pattern with the flowers myself, and on the palm side I was just improvising.

This is what it looks like on the inside. You can see how the twisted yarns create almost like a cord on the wrong side of the fabric.

Another homework was to take a knitted woollen sweater or something, felt it in the washing machine, and experiment with it: embroider on it, cut it apart etc. This is what I made out of two pieces. It's a vest, the collar and the sides come from one piece, the "body" from another. I added the crocheted band on the shoulders and around, and the embroidery. On the right side there is a Hungarian motif, on the left a Swedish one. I myself dyed the thread to match the rest.

Two pairs of socks that I also made. The first is knitting the traditional way - although that is still quite new to me. The other was knitted toes-up, and with an afterthought heel. Both of them were made on circular needles, instead of the usual double pointed ones, using the magic loop. I love this technique!

We also had a group homework: we had to create a piece together, on a chosen topic within "communication". We chose "power". We created a puzzle, and this is my piece. I collected a few pictures from the internet for inspiration, and then used a piece of a felted woollen pullover as background, then needle-felted and embroidered my interpretation.

I have collected quite a few links for all these techniques, if you are interested, go and look at my Pinterest page.


My old visitors can perhaps remember how I started to do some weaving on a huge piece of cardboard - perhaps two years ago? Shame, I know, but now I finally managed to finish it.

Although the edges became strangely loose, I still like it a lot. In the middle it is quite nice - not too densely packed but the boucle yarn has made a good, solid fabric, and still soft. I will use it as a scarf. I will take it off the cardboard and tie the ends tomorrow.

And finally, my freebie for you today. I made a blackwork pattern that reminds me of clovers, so I thought it would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. But with another colour it might give a different effect.

I made it into a biscornu pattern, I hope you will enjoy it. Some more clover patterns are coming soon.

Edit:
If you are interested in St. Patrick's Day patterns, why not take a look at my other freebies here, here and here?

A geometric pattern for a biscornu - freebie!

Hi, summer crafting continues but this is the last week. Next week I am back to work. Crafting will not stop, of course not, but I might have to slow down a bit. :)


This is what happened since I last posted. I finished two small cross stitches: a teddy bear and an owl.
The teddy was done following a pattern from a magazine, as usual:

With the owl, I was looking through my stack of patterns, and of course, I could not find anything I really liked. Then I thought, I have been improvising with surface embroidery so much, what if I try to do something similar in cross stitch? So instead of a pattern I looked at a few owl photos, started with the eyes and the head above the eyes, that was the most difficult part. The rest of the body was easy. And the colours: this is for a little girl who loves owls and her favourite colour is pink. :)

Perhaps I can now draw the pattern for the owl.

I am almost done with warping my loom. I have threaded the reed and the heddles, now I only have to roll the warp up, but for this I need help.

I also started on my second quilt. This is going to be a king size (or something like this, huge, anyway, to cover my bed). Half of the block are done. The other half will be the same block but with different colours.
I am following this pattern, although I made a mistake when I was putting my blocks together, so they are not exactly the same as in the pattern. But I don't mind. :D

And finally, I have been drawing some geometric patterns in my cross stitch program. Here is the first one: just the right size for a biscornu, but it can also be used as a separate motif for a card, or as border in a row - in this case omit the backstitch line around it, that is only necessary if you are sewing it together as a biscornu.

Good luck with it, happy stitching.

Summer crafting: quilting, embroidery and a cross stitch freebie!

Hello, hello, I am still here enjoying my summer holiday. Apart from going to the sea yesterday (Oh, how lovely it was!) I was at home all the time and was keeping busy with all kinds of crafts.

First of all, I finally finished my first quilt. Do you remember? I wrote about it ages ago, when I started quilting it, I realised there were mistakes and that put me off it. Now I took it out, finished the quilting in a day (decided not to worry too much about the mistakes, just continue), made a scrappy binding and sewed it on with the machine. It is far from perfect but for a first quilt it is not too bad. If I may say so. I just love it :D

I am planning to make more quilts, definitely. I have already chosen a pattern and even cut the fabric for a huge overcast for my bed, but didn't want to start it until this one was finished. Now I can start it. Soon! But I also plan to do some small practise pieces to learn quilting, while I am doing the piecing for it. I hope that one will be much better. And I am thinking to sew the binding by hand!

Pictures:

I wanted to show my ongoing embroidery pieces to you. Do you ever stitch without a pattern? Just like doodling? Long ago I posted some improvised embroideries I did on felt, now I have some more on all kinds of leftover fabric.
Most of them I started at school. With year 5 classes I do a hand sewing unit, and with year 6 an embroidery unit. With most classes there comes a time when everyone is happily (or grudgingly) settled down with their work and I don't need to run around showing them the different steps. I sit down among my students and take out something to work on. It cannot be something very complicated because I am often interrupted, and of course, my main focus is on the children. But I found they like watching me actually make something, not only explain all the time, sometimes they even get inspired by my work.
Then it happened that I threw that piece of fabric with the needle and thread in my bag so I could stitch a bit on my way home, or while waiting at the dentist etc. That meant that next lesson I had to start a new one, right? :D


So here they are, not finished yet but they will slowly become something.

I also have this piece of Hungarian folk embroidery that I started a while back and pick it up once in a while to practice the special stitch it uses. It is very typical of the Hungarian area in Romania, and it is done with a stitch similar to the open chain stitch (see Mary Corbet's video here) except the stitches are laid very close to each other. It was not easy to learn and I am still not really good at it. First I constantly took it out but that is quite difficult, so I decided to just go on and hope to get better in time.

The next piece is a little experiment. Stephen bought for me a pile of old snaps and hook-and-eye fasteners once and I was thinking perhaps I could use them for decorative effect. So I sewed some hooks on the fabric, wrapped some thick thread around them, and the plan is to sew them down couching-style, also add some stitches around the hooks. We will see what happens to it. :)

The cross stitch I made I have already shown here (the birds), but now I am planning some more. I have to finish 3 squares for the charity quilts till the end of September, so I am working on those now. After that I will make some things to sell in my webshop. I have been working on some patterns, will show them later. But there is a small one, a biscornu pattern that I would like to share with you.

It is a red biscornu again, I just love red embroidery, but of course, you can use other colours too.

Please enjoy it and feel free to share it with others.

Click on the picture to get the pdf pattern. Happy stitching!

Valentine's Day Biscornu

It does not often happen to me that I am prepared in advance. :D Now, however, I remembered that Valentine's Day is not so far away, about four weeks from today. That means there is still enough time to make a few little gifts.

What about a lovely biscornu in lovely pinks? Or, if you feel like purple or blue - go ahead, change the colours, pick your favourites, get creative :)

I got a bit carried away, couldn't keep the two sides in the same style, one is more controlled, symmetrical while the other is a bit whimsical - but I have a feeling it will look quite good when put together. There is place in the middle for a nice little button.

I think I am also going to stitch this soon but didn't want to wait until I have a finished product to photograph. Perhaps someone can stitch it before me? Race you? :D :D


Please enjoy, and send me a photo if you make it.

Click on the picture, as usual, to get the pdf download. In case you don't have Google and can't download it, write a comment and I will send it to you in an e-mail.

New pattern: Red Biscornu

Hello, everyone,

I hope you are having a wonderful summer and have lots of stitching, sewing, knitting etc. done.

I have another small pattern for you today: a biscornu. It is based on some folk motifs, as so often, and I think the wavy line all around will look lovely agains the zig-zaggy edges of the biscornu.

I hope you like it. Click on the picture, and download the pattern in a pdf.

Here are some pictures of the fabric and magazines I bought during my trip.

We had a lovely time, by the way. We took the car, and drove all the way down to the Mediterranean in Slovenia, spent a few days there, then quite a long time in Hungary, visiting relatives and friends, visiting lovely places. All in all we travelled through 13 countries :) It was really good, but at the end, after four weeks, it was also very good to come home. :)
Here are some pictures:

Tatra mountains in Poland

Lake Balaton in Hungary

The Mediterranean in Trieste, Italy

Füzér castle ruins in Hungary

I have done some stitching, but not too much during the trip, however, since we came home, I have almost finished my embroidery competition piece. I am not sure if I can show it here, I should ask first. I have to send in the pictures in a few days now.

Will be back with some updates on my work soon.

Until then, enjoy stitching the biscornu, and send me pictures if you make it. :)