Fat, Thin, In Between (Bitch) UPDATED

With the background stitching in place on Bitch (remember, I plan to add beads to the darning circles when everything else is stitched), it's time to look at the lettering on the design.   This canvas is somewhat unusual in that the lettering varies in size a lot, which will allow me to try various stitches and threads in different places.  The top and bottom rows are all one thread wide while the letters on "bitch" are huge and the "just kidding" row letters vary in width a great deal.

I can treat the various rows as samplers of many threads and stitches, but I do want to make choices for each row that looks good with the other rows.  Using shades of a blue-purple will help unite the rows.  Repeating the same thread or stitch across multiple rows will also unite them.  "Bitch" is already prominent due to its size.  What other words do I want to emphasize?  I decided to work the top and bottom rows the same way and to emphasize one word in each row.  Rummaging in my stash of threads, I choose a size 8 perle cotton from Finca and Silk Lame Braid (for size 18 count) from Rainbow Gallery.  I'll use the very dark purple Silk Lame Braid for my emphasis words and the more matte perle cotton for the rest.  

 I ended up using tent stitches in the dark purple Silk Lame Braid and tall, skinny cross stitches of various heights on the other letters. Here is the end result--

Top and Bottom Rows of Words Finished

It's hard to tell from the photos but the perle cotton cross stitches give a nice texture to the letters while the Silk Lame Braid is smooth.  A really dark color doesn't show much texture so plain tent stitches worked best for those words.   I'm debating whether to add purple beads to the spaces where the cross stitches meet on the letters but I'll wait to decide about that.  Now I'm turning my attention to the second row from the bottom.  I've started working padded satin stitches using one ply of High Cotton on "kidding" and will work "just" the same way.  The texture of High Cotton is matte, making it a nice contrast to the perle cotton and silk-metallic mix of Silk Lame Braid.  The padding also raises the letters to add texture that is hard to capture in photographs.  (Click on the small photograph for a better look.)

Once I finish stitching "just kidding" I plain to embellish the letters slightly.  You'll have to stay tuned to see that....

UPDATE:  Pat's working on her lettering, too.  She's finished the top row in all tent stitches but with sparkly Silk Lame Braid.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-first-full-line.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 10, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.