Sleeve Thoughts and Test Stitching

Last night I did a lot of test stitching on the sleeves, trying out various thread colors to see which looked good with my beads that match the background color perfectly.  See the swatches done in skipped tent stitches on the left?  The top dark blue is a dark blue silk perle from Rainbow Gallery, the second down is a dark blue Silk Lame Braid, and the last is DMC cotton floss in a darker shade of blue than the background.  Each was stitched, then had the dark blue beads attached on top.  The beads go where there are no stitches so that you don't have to do each stitch as a bead.  I also slant the beads like a reverse tent stitch \ so that they seem to lay / like the skipped tent stitches.  Don't ask me to explain why beads done backwards look forwards but they do!

I finally decided that no color I tested looked better than the background color so I used the same DMC cotton floss (#794) for my sleeves as the background split pavilions.  Squint at the very bottom tip of the right sleeve and you'll see beads set on top of the skipped stitches.  It's very subtle and really doesn't look like what I wanted.  So I pulled out the beads, thinking that maybe another shade of blue would be better.

I still like the idea, though, and I went ahead last night and tent stitched every other thread intersection with my DMC #794 on the left sleeve.  This is how it looks.  In person I like the texture and look of this without beads!  I know it doesn't look as good in photographs.

I will rummage around my bead stash today and see if a slightly different color bead will do better.  I still like the idea of a beaded sleeve but using the exact color match does nothing for the canvas.

Yesterday's comments talked about using a thin metallic or perhaps rows of beads or perles.  We already have sparkly thread in the dark blue areas where the sleeve lining shows and a lot of sparkle in the gold lines on the sleeves.  Maybe that's why I like the skipped tent stitches so well--they are a contrast to all the metallic already on the sleeves....

Anyone have better ideas than my current left sleeve look?  I'll try another color of bead and a thin metallic thread like Accentuate and report back tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
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