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| Cat Topiary without French Knots |
There are only four topiary bushes on dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden design but they seemed to go on forever! Since I choose to stitch them in a variant of skip tent that uses cross stitches instead of tent stitches (using two plies of my DMC cotton colors), they did take a while to stitch. All the topiaries are shades of medium to dark green against the blue tinted other bushes, so they stand out from the background, but I wanted to make them stand out even more, so once the skip tent was all finished on all four topiaries, I added tiny French knots (one wrap only with the two plies of DMC cotton) along the yellow highlighted edges of each bush. That gave a rather leafy edge to the bushes. In the photo above you see the cat topiary before any French knots were added. See how the cat shape blends into the bushes behind it slightly? The other topiaries have the same problem to a lesser degree.
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| Topiaries with French Knots |
This photo shows the cat with its French knots in place. The addition of small French knots helps lift the design somewhat and defines it. By the way, remember my complaints about how the layer of tulle that lies on top of the canvas prevents my basketweave and any satin stitches from being as smooth as they normally would be? The same layer of tulle really helped give my French knots something to hang on to. Ordinarily I would not be able to use French knots on a skip tent area but the tulle really helps in this regard.
In other words, tulle is a plus on top of your canvas sometimes and sometimes it isn't. Choose your canvas carefully if you are going to use this technique.
Once I finish the tiny French knots around the feet of the cat statues, I can turn my attention to the gate, which is the last remaining large element of this canvas.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
4 comments:
Hi Jane,
Please remind me why you chose to add the tulle layer. Won't the tulle be fully covered by all the stitches? You are one brave woman, this canvas is more of a challenge than I originally anticipated - go, girl, go!
You will recall that I won the raffle of Patt's Asian Sampler. I FINALLY finished it!! I am very happy with it and can't wait to send it to the finisher to have it backed with an easel stand. Woo hoo!!
I look forward to visiting Chilly Hollow each morning. Many thanks for your devotion to your needlepoint and your readers!
Meg
Hello, Meg. I am thrilled you finished Patt and Lee's Asian sampler. Patt would love to see a photo and so would all of us at Blog, so don't forget to send one when you get it back from the finisher.
As for the layer of tulle, I stitched the misty blue background before the tulle went on. The tulle covers the background and keeps it muted. As I stitched the background, it was way too prominent when I finished it. Rather than ripping it all out (I do like the stitch I used) and trying a darker blue, I layered tulle on top. I knew from using tulle over Red Geisha that it darkens and mutes the colors it covers. I know now that I could have just put a piece of tulle over the background area but when I put the tulle on, I didn't realize it would cause my stitches to be less smooth. I'll know better next time. We find things out as we stitch and learn.
Looking good! You are almost there! Cheering for you from here!
I love the dimensionality (is that a word?) of the topiaries! Duh, it took a few of your posts for me to actually realize that there were topiaries back there. (Thinking of getting new glasses!)
Thx for answering the tulle question. I forgot why you used it too.
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