Talisman Cloth

I put a lot of thought into a Talisman Cloth, it’s not just slapping together five embroideries and calling it done. Each cloth is made with images and colors that matter to the person the cloth will belong to when it is done. I work in the colors and flowers and gemstone shades from their name and day of birth analysis. I also work in their favorite color(s). And each image is chosen to be pertinent to them, their culture, faith, personality, passions, etc. So, while the cloth is, in fact, custom embroidery, it’s not “just” custom embroidery.

The owner of this cloth’s favorite color is blue. Pertinent colors from her analysis are “vista blue” (kind of a purplish-tinged light blue), blue and green. Stones that are special for her are her birthstone — amethyst — and amber. Primrose and gardenia are significant to her; she was born in the year of the ox (or water buffalo) and her zodiac sign is Aquarius. Most of these things will make their way onto the finished cloth so that when it is in its’ owner’s hands she will be holding something deeply personal and unique to her.

And so now, another Talisman Cloth project is officially underway!

The Making of a Talisman Cloth

We begin by plotting it out. Each talisman cloth is comprised of five embroidered fields. There is one center piece, surrounded by four corner pieces. The finished cloth itself determines how I lay the embroideries out — it can be sort of like a wheel effect, or it can be more of a kite effect, or it can be any number of modifications thereof. This particular one is laid out with the center upright and each of the four corners upright aligned to center on the diagonal. When displayed, then, all of the embroideries will be facing upright and the image will be squared rather than a diamond. This particular embroidery is being done on an 19 x 19 piece of black acrylic glitter felt which should really display the embroideries well.

The Center Piece

We first embroider the center. Usually the image chosen for this spot is something of a religious or spiritual nature. In this case, I have chosen a Celtic style knotwork cross in varying shades of blue thread. This image cross is comprised of 20,923 stitches in three threads, one of which is “vista blue.”

And now, on to the next!

The Bottom Right Piece

In this spot, we have an angel because no Talisman Cloth is complete without an angel! I chose this particular one because of the water jug — the owner of this cloth is, after all, an Aquarian! — and I loved the detailing in her wings. Vista blue and amethyst detailings are worked into her wings, suggestive of the birthstone of the owner. This angel’s mission is to bring nurturing and life energy to the owner. She is comprised of 21,549 stitches in 15 threads.

The Top Left Corner

So for this spot, we have a Chinese Zodiac ox (or water buffalo), which is the symbol for the year of this owner’s birth. Beneath her ox is a garland of Primrose, the birth flower for the owner. A total of 5 threads were used to create the 11,077 stitches in the 4.5 x 4.5 (120×120 mm) image.

And this one is complete … so it is on to the next element …

The Top Right Corner

Here we will find the zodiac chart for Aquarius. This is 28,903 stitches in 8 threads. Worked into this image are all of the colors associated with her name and day/date of birth, as well as her zodiac sign.

And now we have only one more spot remaining …

The Bottom Left Corner

And in this spot we find a dream catcher because everyone should have one! This dream catcher is composed of 8 threads, in a total of 8,587 stitches. All of the pertinent colors and gemstones (amethyst and amber) are worked into this final image.

Putting It All Together

And here is Ellie’s finished Talisman Cloth. In all, there are 91,039 stitches, and there were 39 threads used — some of those are actually duplicated between embroideries though. There are 26 unique threads.