Thursday, July 8, 2010

Plugging Away

Stitching continues on the mermaid grotto and goldwork sampler. . . as well as a few other projects. 

The mermaid herself is beginning to take shape, with the needlelace body and tail sections done and stitched to the background material and padding.



On the sampler, I've finished the pansies and white flower and started on the more geometric motifs that appear at the bottom of the piece.  I made a change in the color of the pansies, which I did in blues, since blue is my favorite color. . . and the yellow and tan colors of the original aren't.  I'm pleased with the change and think it works well with the piece overall.


 Today's problem -- the next step on the mermaid is a scary one. . . doing the top layer of her body and face.  As a counted thread stitcher at heart, I always DREAD situations requiring freer surface embroidery.  I want my little mermaid to be pretty and fetching. . . and not looking like a drawing done by a toddler.  So. . . fingers crossed.. . . it's on to mermaid finishing.

3 comments:

  1. Aunty Megan advises that you look at your books (hopefully you have some with stumpwork?) to look at the variety of faces there. (or just go for Tricia's version)

    Then practise on paper.

    Then practise on some little raised rounds. A couple of rounds of felt covered with linen only takes a few minutes to set up. Make sure you use the same count linen as your work and the same thread.

    I might be going overboard with the practise thing, but that's what I'd do. I've never done a face either - I don't like stumpwork people, even tho I like freeform surface embroidery.

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  2. Your Mermaid in her Grotto project is stunning! Thank you for sharing the process as you go through it. I have intended to take this calss when it comes out next year, but I better get started on the Gold Masterclass and the Floral Glove classes! BTW, your silk work looks great and the change to the pansies is quite nice. Since I usually work in counted stitches, you think I would get to it!
    Julie

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  3. Megan,

    The specific next step is doing the padding for the face. . . which is rather complex and done with linen thread. I'm not sure whether this would show up in a photo. . . but yes, I do plan to play on a doodle cloth a bit first.

    Before I get into that, I'm thinking about exactly how to do the mirror. It's supposed to be stitched as part of the muslin layer, but I'm pondering doing all or part of it as a detached stumpwork piece.

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