My Debbie Mumm Halloween ornament is nearly done. All that remains are the cat's features. Since the face is three layers of satin stitch over four layers of felt, you need a sharp needle to add those. I used a beading needle but an embroidery sharp or a crewel needle will also work as long as it will go through the bead holes. (I used beads for the eyes.)
First I looked at my zerox of the canvas and the bits of orange I could see through the background stitching and placed the orange whiskers. I used one ply of some orange Gloriana silk I had. I copied the slant of the original painting as best as I could. Next I did the nose and mouth. I thought about using using three stitches for the nose/mouth, but I ended up breaking up each line a bit. This area is the most raised and to get a smooth look over all that padding, I had to break up the two horizontal lines that make up the nose and mouth. It is a little wonky but that suits Mr. Cat I think.
If your first attempt doesn't go well and you have to rip out, you are going to disturb the smooth satin stitches that over the face a bit but that's not a big deal. Rip out, add another layer of satin stitch with your black floss over the area you disturbed, and tray again.
The eyes are entirely beaded with white pearls and black rounds that are all the same size, 15/0. These are pretty tiny beads. I used black floss to attach them as I was afraid the clear beading thread I used elsewhere might show against all that black. I looked at my xerox again for reference. The eyes are painted in five rows (top to bottom) of three white stitches, four white stitches with a black one in the middle, five white stitches, five white stitches and three white stitches.
I copied that exactly. In the top photo you can see the eyes underway. I could have stopped right there but I wanted Mr. Cat to look like he was looking at Mr. Bat who had just landed on his head. The moral is stitch this to suit yourself. One stitch (or bead) can make a big difference in the expression. The second photo shows my first attempt at the beading. It's not easy to get beads to lay evenly over the curve of a heavily padded area. I ended up taking them all out and trying again. My second attempt worked much better.
To make sure that both eyes were even, I did them at the same time, working the top row in both, then the second row in both, etc. This helped me level the eyes as much as possible. The photo at the top is me working both eyes simultaneously.
And here is the finished design again. It was a lot of fun to work. I hope you enjoyed it and will try some of these raised techniques on your own designs.
By the way, The Needleart Nut has also stitched her cat, bat and pumpkin. Hilarious and different than mine. I want to pet her cat. I want to avoid being trapped on a desert island with mine. LOL
Happy Halloween!
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© Copyright October 3, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
