Experiments for the Chorus of Angels Tablecloth

With sixteen angels to do, it seemed like a good idea to work out a plan of action. My first idea was to have green capes with red stitching and red capes with green stitching, so that was the first thing I tried. Red on green is certainly working, and looking at the comparison between petal stitch or an upward pointing stitch for the trim on the cape, it seemed to me that petal stitch was the clear winner, so I put that in place.

Yes, definitely, that works.

And I like closed feather for the trim around the shoulders, too.

The red neckline and hem – not so much. It looks like a failed attempt to link the trim on the cape, rather than a harmonious trim on a dress. Ugh!

Part of the problem, I think, is that the border is too narrow, but I was afraid of the red pulling itself forward too much.

So, here’s what I’ve settled on.

The cape is edged with Mountmellick stitch, which makes a rather charming edging stitch. I think of it as a cross between blanket stitch and chain stitch, even though it’s not really, and wasn’t used as such originally. The dress edging is much broader than the first one, two rows of up-&-down blanket stitch face to face, and you will note that I’ve patterned them, with a V-shape alternating with a short pair of stitches. Then I’ve added two rows of cable chain stitch to broaden the edging further.

Chorus of Angels Tablecloth

Some of you may recall this design, which Mam and I were thinking of developing into the background for the crib figures I inherited from one of my great aunts. I’ve not managed to think of a way to make it work in embroidery yet, so I keep on looking at it and thinking “No”, and moving on.

Sigh.

However, it has occurred to us that using the same angels as the basis for a design for the Christmas tablecloth might work quite nicely, and will give us another chance to play with the shapes and design.

So, sized for the purpose, planned out and tweaked. And we’ve decided, rather than embroidering directly on the tablecloth (if you’ve ever embroidered a tablecloth, you will have a fair guess why we aren’t!), we are going to prepare the applique separately and attach those to the tablecloth.

We’re using quilting cottons in red, yellow, and green, and we’ve got everything cut out and pinned approximately in place, and now we’re not sure what to do next!

So there are some experiments ahead. I’m thinking of restricting the colours to stranded cotton in the same red, green and yellow (as far as possible), and using a variety of interesting edging stitches. And we both have samplers of those in our embroidered Coat of Many Flowers and the Little Jacket!