I have been rather busy (i.e., no stitching H-Q rows of the May stitch on Glittering Kimono) with the Rabbit Geisha's burned places. Yesterday I showed you the patched areas. Look back at the very last photo in yesterday's blog entry and you will see that there is a distinct dip in the burn hole area, with the scorched canvas well above the patch on the back side. Any stitches put on top of this are likely to have a dimple in them because there is a hole. So I used another technique to handle this problem--weaving.
Patching is not the only way to mend canvas. You can also pull away a thread from the edge of your canvas and weave it across the area. In the photo above you'll see that I have done this. I used a #20 needle so that the loose canvas thread would go through the eye and wove the thread to build up support. I also started my background stitch over the burned corner area, just to see how it would work up. First, I did two rows of basketweave outside the painted canvas area. This stabilizes the patches a bit more and also will be useful in finishing. However, another problem cropped up as I worked.
Look very carefully at this close up of the same photo. See where the burned NP canvas threads broke as I stitched through them? This is one reason I put the patches on the back. I had no idea how stable the scorched canvas would be. Before I did any more stitching, I grabbed my plant mister and sprayed the canvas. (The thread I am using for my background stitches is DMC #794 and since most DMC colors are pretty stable--except for red and very very dark colors like navy and chocolate--I risked the color running.) Once the burned canvas and the patch were damp and more flexible, I continued stitching the background over the burned corner. The more flexible damp canvas (I didn't get it really wet, just flexible) took the stitches better and this morning when the spot is dry I don't see any more broken stitches. There might be some under the stitching and the patch, though.
This photo shows what the corner looks like stitched. Note that some of the brown burn shows between the stitches. Someone asked (Was that you, Nancy?) in the Comments if I planned to repaint the burned area. The answer is no. I have no idea how burned canvas will take to paint or a marker so I won't risk that. We'll see how prominent the burned areas are after stitching. I may scatter beads on top to distract the eyes (beads hide a LOT of sins!) or maybe the finisher will use trim or something similar to hide this. We'll worry about it later. The first step is to get the background stitches in successfully.
The final photograph also shows that I pulled out my woven canvas thread and restitched it vertically instead of horizontally to better support my horizontal stitches. I made sure to dampen this area and to soak the thread I was going to weave with to make it very flexible. I also added another row of tent stitches around the outside as I realized that I had miscounted the background. I didn't want to compensate. Besides, three rows of tent stitches are probably better for the patched areas as that is where the finishing stitches will go.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
