Catra's Two Borders

Beads Test

Now that the cat and background are done, it's time to tackle Catra's bottom border. The real issue after I got it stitched was whether to add beads to the border and if so, where?  I had decided that ivory was the right color of bead since that brought out the color of the hieroglyphs, so I pulled all the beads from my stash with the same ivory color as the hieroglyphics and laid them out on my canvas to see what I liked.  I discovered some pretty gold beads so I included them as well.

You can probably tell I decided that putting beads on top of the orange boxes was the way to go.  Which do you like?

I liked the ivory squares and the "paw print" pattern the best.  However, something in every orange box seemed too much to me so I skipped every other box.  Here's what I ended up with.

Second Beads Test 

As you can see, I tweaked the paw beads a bit to make them a little less crowded-looking.  Now I was ready to find a frame.  I wanted to use a pre-made frame as Catra is going to be entered in the county fair and I don't have time to have her professionally framed.  I measured the dimensions and discovered that the Egyptian Cat was 10 inches wide by 11 1/4 tall.  That's not going to fit in a pre-made frame.  What to do?!

I decided I would add a second border under the first so that Catra was 10x12 inches.  Most pre-made frames are 11x14 but with a mat, she'll fit in a frame.   Here is what I came up with.

Second Border

The second turquoise border you see is the same stitch used in the backgrounds behind the cat and in the orange boxes.  All I've varied in the three places is the thread weight, plus I added a running stitch to my second border to hide the empty spots behind the stitch.

The stitch is a variation of Parisian Stitch, turned on its side.  For the background behind the cat, I used orange size 12 perle cotton.  For the orange boxes in the original border, I used the same perle cotton, but doubled in the needle to provide more coverage.  For the new border, I used one ply of Watercolours and after I finished the stitch, I added a horizontal running stitch (over two, under one) to cover the white canvas between stitches.

I like it.  I think it looks like a roughly woven linen, which would be appropriate for an Egyptian piece.

Next time, I'll reveal the finished Cleo's Cat and talk about what I plan to blog stitch next.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 11, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.