The lady's maid and I have been trying on stitches. You can see two I'm considering above in her cotton kimono. First, I did the dark gray outline of her clothes and the fold lines in the same medium gray Oriental Linen (color Seal Skin) that outlines the head wrap of the cleaning lady Pearl. This is a slightly lighter gray than the paint on the canvas but I wanted the upper left and lower right areas to be balanced. I could have used the same grey DMC I used on the face lines but I wanted a different texture.
Then I choose Flax N Colors in French Blue for the dark blue outlines and Silk N Colors in Delphinium for the lighter blue areas. All three of the threads I'm using are from Thread Gatherer. Oriental Linen is a silk/linen blend, Flax N Colors is 100% linen, and Silk N Colors is 100% silk. All three threads have a different texture, although the Silk N Colors is a bit shinier than I'd like.
When choosing stitches, the first thing I do is look at the shape I need to fill. If you have a triangle, use stitches with that shape, etc. It's an easy cheat, and it emphasizes the designer's intent so this is a good place to start looking for a stitch. Jade's kimono is a traditional blue and white cotton summer one. (We've got a peach, so it is late summer in this design and hot.) When you look at the pattern, you have a diagonal line of ovals, alternating between an octagon and a smaller cross shape + and each shape is outlined in darker blue.
I decided right away that the cross shape should be four tent stitches and all the dark blue should also be tent stitches. The center of the cross will either be the white beads that came with the canvas or if they seem too prominent on the design (Jade's a respectable lady's maid, after all, and fancy clothes not appropriate for her), I'll use the same DMC cotton perle used on the white faces.
Here's an octagonal Rhodes stitch (bottom).
http://books.google.com/books?id=KgE1OpKIjVwC&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=rhodes+stitch+octagon&source=bl&ots=gDdHGcAdVM&sig=pbjIaxUtw3bGIdOYnwklNxYQAIY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
You'll see it in the top row. I love how it looks but this stitch is too fancy for Jade. I decided to tone it down by filling the octagonal shape with alternating long and short slanting stitches. That is what is in the other two rows. I've used my darker Flax N Colors for the outlines. Now I will think about this today before deciding what to rip out and whether to continue with the slanting stitches or try a third alternative.
You try on stitches just like you try on clothes. Pick the ones you like and see if they fit!
By the way, here is Thread Gatherer's website for you to learn about the threads I chose. Click on fibers and start exploring....
http://www.threadgatherer.com/
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
