Today Janet Moyer is back to talk about Juanita, the Mexican Lady canvas from Melissa Shirley that is an adaptation of a Linda Carter Holman painting called “Secrets.” You can see the unstitched canvas below, courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for Needle Nook of La Jolla’s website. Janet is working the 13 count version of this piece, although it is also available on 18 count needlepoint canvas.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2
Janet finished the roses this week and the following is her description of how she did them.
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"Once I committed to the fabric Calla Lilies (white stars on white fabric) I knew I would probably have to change my mind about using silk roses and sewing them on by hand. Sure enough, it was just too much. The silk flowers were too high and even if I trimmed them I knew matting and framing the piece would be difficult with too-high flowers. (You can only use so many spacers on a mat). So what to do for the roses?
I thought and thought about it and tried a number of different stitches which I didn't like (too fat, too heavy, too competitive with the lace shawl). I needed to use two shades of yellow, and a pale orange for the flowers. I tried basketweave (too boring),stem stitches (nope), then satin stitches (not my favorite stitch to do but I dutifully tried it). I bought a lovely hand-dyed silk ribbon (too big). While I love beading I thought that all-beaded roses would be too much glitter on the piece and I already had a lot of sparkle. I looked at my stitch books. Nothing satisfied me. Finally in desperation I went to Michael's (a local crafts store) and bought the colors I needed in beads, floss, and tiny ribbon. I went home and sat at the table and said THINK! Desperation sometimes produces Inspiration.
After sewing yellow floss in a 5 spoke pattern on each rose on the canvas, I began to weave the tiny ribbon under and over the floss. So far so good until I realized I would have the same problem with the ribbon standing up too high that I had with the larger ribbon. The resolution for me was to turn *over* the ribbon over every so often and tack it down with a matching bead. Eurkea! It worked and the results are on the screen. I think the roses look like the fully bloomed, blowzy roses you see in an old fashioned garden – fragrant and beautiful and one just wants to inhale the gorgeous fragrance of them.
One of the challenges of stitching a painted canvas is to come up with your own stitch guide. I never do one completely before stitching (how do those professionals do it?) as I have to play with the colors, the stitches, and try different things. This is a busy piece as I chose to interpret it, with color, decorative stitches, sequins, beads, and trim. I violated my own 60/40 rule and had a great time doing it.
Next week I will show you the completed canvas and tell you Juanita's story. Aren't you curious?
Janet in La La Land
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NOTE: If you would like to look at Janet’s first version of the roses, look for her March 30th blog entry. Her calla lilies, the other major floral motif on this piece, are shown in the April 6th entry. If you are at the mirror blog (below) choose dates from the list at the bottom of the page.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
If you read this from the Yahoo 360 blog, use the calendar in the middle of the left-hand column.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
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