Japanese Embroidery, 2
Once the padding was done, the next stage was the flower petals. These were fairly quickly done, in satin stitch. I tried to keep the stitches in the right orientation by starting in the middle of each petal and working the halves separately.
Have I mentioned before how much I love the effect you get with flat silk? The stitches almost glow, even in poor light!
The instructions for the other elements weren’t quite as clear as I expected them to be, although I can’t quite put my finger on why. That said, I could fill in the gaps with a bit of guesswork, so it’s all good.
French knots for the flower centres, using hand twisted thread. I found the needle harder to thread here, because the twisted thread was quite heavy, and it untwisted easily, too. This is a problem I’ve noticed with my hand twisted thread before, and I’d love to know whether there is anything to do to avoid it!
The leaves were satin stitch, again in twisted silk, while the stems were in stem stitch. The pattern didn’t specify, but I took absense of specification to indicate using the silk untwisted. It keeps the stems light and delicate, anyway.
So, finally, after nearly thirty years, I’ve finished the forget-me-nots!
Now I just need a pot to put them in….
The next episode of Slow TV Stitchery is up – Episode 25 – on reaching the fourth border, and the pleasures of lute music. Do go and have a look!
Gorgeous! The silk glows!
It looks lovely! So has this given you the taste for more?
Wow – stunning!
How dainty they look, and the lustre of the silk really brings them to life.
Yes, lute music is lovely to stitch to isn’t it? I wonder if it’s the cleanness of the sound and regularity of tempo, melding with the pace and regularity of stitching? I enjoyed the Bach in your previous post as well – must post a few words from Mum’s diaries on Bach.
Yes, filament silk spoils you for everything else. A pretty result. You can always twist the silk up a bit more if untwists too much as you are working. Dampening can help fix twist, too.
I know there is a slow stitching movement, popular at the moment, but 25 years? Worth it though as this is so delightful and the play of light on the silk really shows up well, even on the computer screen.
Oh goodness, how lovely these have turned out. The silk makes all the difference and the pretty bright colours.
Very pretty!
This is such a beautiful design, I love the flat silk and the effect it gives to the satin stitch – quite different from a stranded cotton.
Flat silk looks great but I hate working with it.