In mid-July this year, during the hottest summer weather, eight of us traveled to Muhu to Igaküllä Leida Kirstu for an internship in Muhu embroidery. We are studying national handicrafts at the Räpina Gardening School and we were interested in this great blog and the newly published book We were fascinated by Leida's embroidery and beautiful patterns. We were lucky and the master kindly agreed to accept us.
What we saw and learned on site exceeded our expectations many times over.
What or who did we admire in Muhu? Of course, Leida herself the most. How is it possible to be so cheerful, lively and lively at the age of eighty? Leida's horizons are very broad, in addition to embroidery and composition lessons, we gained knowledge about folk medicine, medicinal plants and life itself. Although most of us met Leida for the first time, we quickly felt as if we were old acquaintances.
The beauty of Leida's embroidery is breathtaking. As soon as we arrived at Igaküla, a wonderful exhibition of Leida's work awaited us. When she asked everyone to choose one work to try to embroider, it caused a complete bewilderment. Of course, you would like to be able to embroider all these beautiful patterns, but which one to choose to boldly imitate when you are almost a beginner?
A small part of Leida's works that she had arranged for us at the exhibition, and the youngest and most talented embroiderer at work with her mother.
We made a choice, however, and by the evening of the first day of embroidery, the first poppies, strawberries, rose hips, and rowan berries appeared from under our nimble fingers. Not quite as beautiful as Leida's, but still cute and each with its own face.
What was new and initially surprising for us was how Leida has embroidered tiny flowers, such as strawberry flowers - strawberry flowers can be made very easily and quickly using twisted knots. The result is embossed and enlivens the entire embroidery.
Here you can see tiny flowers embroidered in twisted knots, you can also make strawberry flowers and a very beautiful skirt embroidered on blue.
Leida's embroidered skirts were a special attraction - in addition to the amazing Muhu patterns she created herself, she embroidered them in shadow and white embroidery and used many different stitches.
On the penultimate day, under Leida's guidance, we each got to draw a composition of our own choosing. We picked up plants from the nature of Igaküla and drew them on paper - just as Leida has always recommended. To our surprise, they turned out quite beautiful - "like real"!
Compositions straight from nature.
We also learned how to embroider With Sirje Tüür at Männiku craft workshop. Sirje embroiders Muhu embroidery a little differently than Leida, using a binding stitch to guide the thread. This way you can paint with the thread and needle - it's incredible that the thread goes and stays exactly where you want it to on each stitch. With a binding stitch, you can create an incredibly curved arch with one stitch and the edges of the petal remain beautiful.
Männiku Craft Room is an exciting place.
Like Leida, Sirje is an incredibly positive person, and there is plenty of admiration and wonder to be had in the Männiku craft studio for a long time.
Sirje Tüür teaches double crochet.
At the end of our internship, we were fascinated by Muhu embroidery, and when we arrived on the mainland, our first stop was a craft store to look for fine woolen yarn.
We got a lot of inspiration and courage from Muhu - even if you're trying Muhu embroidery for the first time in your life, it's possible to master the basic embroidery techniques in a few hours, and the rest is just a matter of practice.
It's especially good to embroider while sitting under a bush when it's hot.
The unforgettable streets of Igaküla.
We are very grateful to Leida, Inna, Sirje and Toomas for this wonderful time in Igaküla. Muhu Island and Igaküla will remain in our memories for a long time. I won't write more now, because all my free moments are now spent embroidering :)
Annika Põltsam and other happy interns From Räpina Horticultural School.