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Large Cathedral Window, 18 1/2″ x 40″, chunky wool yarn and primarily #5- to 7-cut wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Heather Etches, London, Ontario, 2023.
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY HEATHER ETCHES
The addition of personal messages in our art is as good as therapy, and very rewarding. I recently created two designs to represent family members. Starting with the cathedral-window shape as the basic outline for each piece, I thought of how I could use these mats in a room with no windows, making these hooked pieces into the “windows” in my living space.
The first piece is a large window design, approximately 26 inches wide at its base and 45 inches long. The second piece is much smaller but utilizes the same window shape.
In the first window, I drew a female figure in the left-hand corner of my design. The upper right-hand corner features a spiritual figure, something like an angel, peeking out of a cloud, giving its blessing over the other figure, who appears to be taking a step toward the blessing. I focused on hooking these figures first and then filled in the geometric stained-glass background. My goal was to avoid having two of the same color groups next to each other.
I kept the second and smaller window design true to the style of typical cathedral windows. I followed the same design ideas that I used in the larger window.
Using a primitive form of shading—a technique that uses up most of my leftover wool and yarn in various cuts—allowed me to work in basic color groups. I simply sorted all my leftover “noodles” and bits of yarn into plastic containers, labeling each container. I randomly selected the wool strips/yarn ends from their designated boxes to be hooked into the linen. This technique allowed me to create the look of sunlight coming through each geometrical pane.
For the larger piece, I hooked #7-cut black wool around the border to stabilize the design first and then used the same material to outline the geometrical pieces, previously drawn on the linen backing using a Sharpie pen. I did not cut the ends of the black wool because I wanted to emphasize the border and leading once the small panes were hooked. However, my initial hooking of the border and outline did not provide the emphasis I wanted to demonstrate; therefore, I gently pulled out the hooking and then rehooked each cut strand a second time to give better definition to each area.
In the second design, I used a dark gray color for the border and outlines, a four-ply wool that I hand dyed to represent the leading. Again, I did not cut the strands of yarn until the piece was finished.
Small Cathedral Window, 14″ x 20 1/2″, four-ply wool yarn and primarily #6- and 7-cut wool on
linen. Designed and hooked by Heather Etches, London, Ontario, 2023.
Once fully hooked, both pieces were rolled up in between damp towels for 24 hours. I then unrolled the towels and pressed the hooked pieces flat with a hot iron. I left them for a few days to thoroughly dry.
I used two types of finished edges for these rugs. For both windows, I serged/zigzag hinged around the edge of the linen, leaving a good one inch of the backing to be pinned and basted to the hooked back. I traced the shape of each of the finished windows onto a piece of sturdy cotton fabric. I then did some fine hand sewing to attach the cotton piece to the back, turning under about half an inch, trying to hide my hand stitching as best I could. The corded and whipped edge of the larger piece was done in a two-ply black wool. The smaller piece was then enhanced and personalized using buttons and odd pieces from jewelry representing my memories of that person’s life (i.e., a button featuring a family crest; a leaf button to represent that this person was a gardener; a red heart expressing affection and love, etc.).
To hang the pieces onto drywall, I hammered some very fine finishing nails into the wall and gently pressed the piece onto the nails to allow it to hang evenly.
Making hand-hooked memorial pieces, be they functional or decorative, is a great way to spend time with yourself and cherish the spirit of a loved one, even if that person is one’s own self.