Silk Ribbon Embroidery Help

Bird Wing from Brazil Cha-Cha

The owner of Exclamation Point! has just taken a class on silk ribbon embroidery and posted some information on her blog.   If you happen to live near the shop, do drop in and see the books and talk with the staff about this wonderful technique.
http://exclamationpoint.org/wordpress/?p=71

A friend loaned me several of Ann Cox's books and I can recommend them, too.  I adore River Silks silk ribbon as it is very sturdy, has a lovely sheen and comes in a very wide range of colors and several widths.  My only caution in silk ribbon embroidery is that the cards of ribbon don't have a lot of yardage and silk ribbon embroidery uses a LOT of ribbon.  You'll need more than you think.  The photo above is a bird wing from my Brazil Cha Cha canvas.  I used one card of each color on the wing which was about 5 inches long and perhaps three at the widest point.  The red stitches are satin stitches without a laying tool so I'd have a more feathery appearance and the overdyed yellow and orange ribbon is done in Japanese Ribbon Stitch.  You can see the entire finished canvas with the bird wings and tail all in ribbons here.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/10/brazil-cha-cha-stitch-guide-is-now.html


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Cha's Final Touches

Parrot Head with Beads and Embroidery

Yesterday I put the final touches on Cha-Cha from Leigh's Brazil Series.  I added a few extra silk ribbons to the end of the pink tail feather, I added a few violet beads to the parrot's head (mostly around the neckline where the Ultrasuede ended), and checked everything for missed or loose stitches.

The Bird

It all looks ok.

The Flowers, Leaves and Fruit

I think Cha is done.  It certainly isn't typical of my usual stitching, which is good.  My New Year's Resolution for 2010 was to not stitch my usual Asian-themed painted canvases this year.  I wanted to try new things and I've stuck to my resolution so far. (But it is only August!  Don't hold your breath I'll make it through all of 2010 Oriental-free.)

The River Silks ribbons didn't work the way I thought they would.  I had planned something more whimsical for the parrot but it turns out silk ribbons make fantastic, fairly realistic feathers and wings.  The extra embellishment I originally planned would detract from the effect.

Attaching the Ultrasuede parrot head, then adding embroidery and beads on top was pretty easy to do--much easier than I expected.  I like how it looks.  I also like the overdyed pink thread in the background, although the faded and splotchy look is not to everyone's taste.

In fact, this over-the-top style is certainly not going to be something every stitcher will want to mimic.  I just have to get out of my stitching rut occasionally and try something new.  I've been talking with a friend about light coverage stitches and integrating various sections of a painted canvas into a coherent whole.  You'll remember that the flowers and leaves are light coverage stitches. The background is all tent stitches to make it a muted background.  Contrasting those two areas with the solid parts of the fruit cluster (particularly the beaded grapes and the long fruit pod) I think helped it all look ok when I added the very solid and flashy parrot with its moving wings.  The image I had in my head the whole time I was stitching Cha was this Escher drawing.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A13L.html

Cha-Cha Finished

I tried to make Cha-Cha look like a piece of old faded fabric, from which the vibrant bird was coming to life into a 3-D existence from a flat two dimensional world.  I succeeded somewhat, I think.

The new challenge will be Cha's finishing but that is up to Leigh Designs.  Cha is on her way to live with Leigh as a model.  Which reminds me, if you are going to the St. Charles trade show in September, my O'jishi will make his debut as a finished piece of art in the Leigh Designs booth.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Cha's Tail Feathers Done UPDATED

Cha's Tail Feathers Completed

Cha's tail feathers are done!  [loud cheering]

The important thing to notice here is how the different feathers slant differently to match the orientation of the tail feathers as they were painted.  I had to figure out just how to position the slants but once I had that, all I had to do is cut a long length of ribbon and get to work.  I did have to fill in the tip of the pink feather where my first stitching didn't completely cover but otherwise, this was pretty smooth sailing.

Notice that I left the middle of the long pink and red tail feathers unstitched where there is a dark purple vein.  I decided that looked better than couching a thread or doing a line of stem stitch down the middle.  The feathers turned out to be much more realistic in silk ribbon than I thought they would.  River Silks ribbon does a fantastic job of creating realistic feathers!

UPDATE:  I almost forgot to say that I decided my original plan of tent stitching the dark purple tail feather with JL Walsh silk/wool didn't work as well as I had hoped. The fact that one feather was not in silk ribbon seemed distracting so I just added ribbon stitches on top of the tent stitches and now the purple tail feather is like its neighbors.  When you stitch something it is hard to know if your plans will work out as expected so you have to be flexible and ready to abandon ideas that don't work.  Fortunately, one can often just stitch right over a plan that didn't work out!

I have a few little touches to add before Cha is actually finished, but I need to wait for good natural light to decide whether the things I plan are a good idea or not.  I also need to check for missed stitches, which I do by holding my pieces up to the sun to look for empty spots.

In other news, yesterday I accidentally posted the wrong link to Summer Truswell's auction.  Sorry!  Here is where you can go to look at the items she is selling and read about where the money will go.  It's a good way to pick up some lovely finished needlework either for your collection or to give as a present in the upcoming holiday season.
http://summerlouise.blogspot.com/2010/08/truswell-needlework-garage-sale-2010.html

I'm going to work on the skulls iPhone case for a bit until the weather clears.  I hope to finish that this week so I can get back to Stars!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

One Half of Cha's Tail Feathers

Last night I stitched about half of the tail feathers.  Part of the pink/raspberry feather needs to be finished and most of the long red feather is undone.  But I am making good progress.  I probably won't finish the tail feathers tonight but I certainly should have them done by the weekend.  Then only the finishing touches remain before Cha-Cha is done!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Cha Tail Feathers Underway

Things were calmer last night so I started on Cha's tail feathers.  You may remember that the purple feather was tent stitched earlier.  I want it to really recede among the feathers.  I worked the yellow feather next, then the orange one.  It took a while to get the lines of ribbon laid in so I didn't start on the two larger feathers last night.  I need to pick the silk ribbon colors I will use in the daylight anyway.  Once I have all the shades of pink I want for that feather, I will work it next.  It and the last big red tail feather both have a vein.  I'll have to decide whether to work that on top of the ribbon somehow or totally ignore it but those sort of decisions are best made once the tail feathers are finished.  Then I can lay threads on top and see what I think.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

From Background to The Next Thing UPDATED

Cha's background is done!  HURRAH!

While stitching all those zillions of tent stitches, I've been busy thinking about Cha's tail feathers and the next project.  I'm not ready to reveal either item yet, so I'll distract you with some of the fun stuff I've found on the World Wide Web, ok?

The DMC blog is starting a new project, a needlepoint flower.  This project is suitable for someone who is relatively new to NP and wants to move from endless tent stitches (Boy, can I relate!) to projects that use a mix of stitches and colors.  Since the DMC threads used for the project are easily available to most folks, this is a good learning project.  Here's the link to part one.
http://dmc-threads.com/?p=3166

UPDATE:  Part Two
http://dmc-threads.com/?p=3204

Part Three
http://dmc-threads.com/3217/needlepoint-stitchalong-part-3/

Pepita Needlepoint has been busy building a needlepoint news site that automatically finds and posts links to stories about needlepoint.  The stories seem to be grouped into three columns, one for forum mentions, one for feeds from NP blogs, and one for items from online newspapers (this time of year it's full of county fair stuff and ads to sell NP via Craigslist).  There is some advertising because Pepita needs to pay to have the site hosted.   I'm not sure how interesting this is going to be but trend-watchers may be interested in this.
http://www.needlepointnews.com/ 

Rachel at VirtoSew has written a well-thought-out article about copyright, theft, and chart sharing on her blog.  It's worth reading on its own merits but I am posting about something I've already talked about recently to remind us all that those who steal impact designers, who stop designing because they can't profit enough, and then we have fewer design choices.  It hurts us all in the long run.
http://www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk/wordpress/2010/08/03/piracy-isnt-cool/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Six Rows to Go UPDATED

By stitching quite a bit yesterday, I managed to work seven rows of background, leaving me just six to go.  Those six will take several evenings but the end is in sight!  I'm holding off stitching Cha's tail feathers to keep me going on the background rows.  Wish me luck!

While I stitch and think about my next project, you might want to do a little thinking about your next project as lots and lots of new monthly clubs are available.  Chaparral has added the Give Thanks little boxes to their series of clubs.  Click on the photo to see the stitched individual pieces that show the fall foliage, flowers and fruits that decorate each item.
http://www.ndlpt.com/html/series.html

2 the Point has gone in for seasonal designs, one with birds and one with seasonal symbols such as sail boats.  These are all small with stitch guides written by Terry Christopher.
http://www.topoint.com/canvasclubs_qrt.htm

What's the Point? has two new clubs, one a Nutcracker ornament set and the other a bird watcher's club.  Again, click on the photo to see the entire set.
http://www.whatsthepoint.biz/clubs.php

The final club is from The Needlepointer, who have a tiny village to stitch.  What fun!
http://np.theneedlepointer.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=85

UPDATE:  I just discovered the cute village is from Squiggee (Gail Hendrix), who has a lovely photo of the designs on her blog.
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/08/bubbles-and-squeek.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Rows Upon Rows (with Tips)

I worked on more of Cha's background last night.  I have 13 rows to do, but each row (this is an 18 count canvas, remember?) is 12 inches long.  My calculator tells me I have 18x12x13 or 2808 tent stitches left.  Eeeeekkkk!

When I can't stand it any more, I'll take a break and stitch a couple of tail feathers.  In the meanwhile, here are some online tips I've stumbled across.  First of all, since I am working a lot with silk ribbons, here is what River Silks says about starting and ending silk ribbons.
http://www.riversilks.com/stitch_instruction.html

DMC posted about how to cut a skein of perle cotton for easy use at the top of this article.  It'll probably work for many types of thread skeins, unless you are like me and you hate using pre-cut threads.
http://www.dmc-usa.com/majic/pageServer/130100031i/en_US/Getting-Ready-to-Stitch.html

e-Rose has found a great silk threads comparison table.  There's a link to it on her blog.  Many of the brands and some of the shops are English so if you want to mail order something exotic to substitute for a silk you are bored with, this is the place to find help.
http://elmsleyrose.blogspot.com/2010/08/silk-thread-comparison-table.html

Hope all this good information comes in handy while I count down toward the end of stitching Cha-Cha.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Still More Background Stitching

There seem to be miles of background stitching left on Cha, even though most of last week was devoted to it, but the end is in sight.  I think I have about a week's worth of stitching left!  Above is a photograph of the overall canvas as of yesterday morning. I've done more tent stitching since then but it doesn't really look like it.  That's the mystery of backgrounds--they seem endless!

Yesterday, Kathleen K. asked in the comments why I was not doing basketweave in the background.  Take a gander at the background in the above photo.  See the streaks of darker color here and there that gives this canvas the look of faded fabric?  My background thread is an overdye that shades from pale pink to pale rose and back again.  If I was basketweaving the background, I'd not only be using even more thread (I've used about a skein and a half of my JL Walsh so far), I would be creating diagonal streaks instead of horizontal ones because that's how basketweave is done, which would look odd.

While I get back to my stitching, I have a fun link for you this morning.  Amy Bunger's staff have released her August newsletter, and this time it features guest appearances from former First Lady Barbara Bush, a new thread, and a vampire.  The newsletter also reveals the subject matter for Amy's next How'd You Do That? DVD....
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_August_2010.pdf

As a reminder, Elaine Magnin's big sale ends today.  I don't know if the shop will be open much longer but visit now to pick up beauties like the Canvas of the Day or the Sophia kimono above at great prices.
http://www.elainemagnin.com/noname770.html

Gone Stitchin's August sale starts tomorrow, with all canvases (except for trunk shows and Judaica designs) on sale during the entire month at 20% off.   The canvas above is one of Leigh's Floozies, partly stitched by Beth of ThreadworX which will be offering a companion stitch guide and thread set for anyone who wants to stitch Chardonay Charla or any of her seven friends.
http://www.gonestitching.net/

If you want to see Alehouse Annie, the first canvas Beth stitched, go here and then click on "the Floozies."  Be prepared to smile at their jaunty hats, their choice of beverages, and of course their period dress.  Their charm is timeless, of course, but they are very 1890s otherwise.
http://www.threadworx.com/kits.php

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Cha's Wings and K's Flowers

Cha's wings are done!  I hope you like how they turned out.  The two wings are quite different. The right one is more realistic but the left one is smoother and probably will look more like the tail feathers once I get them stitched.  I have lots of background still to do.  Once I finished the wings last night I spent an hour and a half working background and only got five rows done.  I won't be finished by the end of July but I won't go far into August, either, before it is time for another quilt block on my Stars piece.

Kaffe Fassett's Fire Flowers

In other needlepoint news, my email box got a notice from Ehrman that their 2011 catalog was available online.  Here's the link. This year these traditional designs (often on 10-12 count and almost always kitted with wools) are particularly strong in floral patterns.  Above is Kaffe Fassett's Fire Flowers (chosen because I love his mastery of color and pattern but also because the colors are similar to those in Cha-Cha), but there are a great many others you will want to see, particularly if you are a fan of Beth Russell's William Morris-inspired designs.
http://www.ehrmantapestry.com/newprod.cfm?Currency=1


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More Feathers, More Ripping?

Yesterday was full of errands and chores so I didn't get as much wing stitched as I had hoped but I still have a photo to share of Cha's right wing.  I am not happy with the lowest orange line of feathers since I've decided longer looks better but they will be easy to remove and restitch.  It is just hard to do long straight stitches on a curved wing. I'm going to leave the orange tips of the feathers until last and probably do very short Japanese ribbon stitches there as I did on the other wing.  Regardless, this is progress that isn't tent stitches so I am happy!

In other news, Linda's posted a quick review (with photos) of Ruth Schmuff's new books.  These are the hard copy form of her Stitch Encyclopedias that originally were just on CDs.
http://nystitchingsisters.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-new-favorite-books.html

Janet Perry's done a review of the new Painter's Palette threads.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/painters-palette-thread-review

Needlepoint.com has a contest going on their blog.  The price is a $25 gift certificate.  Once you enter, click on one of the header items (Naturally I choose Sale--LOL) and then look on the left side of the page.  Click on Needlepoint U to see their online classes, clearly labeled as to difficulty level, complete with a Yahoo Group to help you with questions and problems.
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=556

If your wallet is empty these days, how about a free elementary embroidery book posted online?  Mary Corbet has the details and a link to the book which-- although old-- has great tips for those doing needle painting of flowers, for example.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2010/07/elementary-embroidery-online-book-free.html

My final link this morning is for sampler lovers.  The Museum of Fine Art in Boston is looking for help finding samplers similar to one in their collection.  Tricia of Thistle Threads suggested they harness the power of the Internet to find sampler lovers who might recognize the motifs on this sampler as occurring other places.  So go and help the museum out, ok?
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2010/07/distributed-sampler-intelligence/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Feathers Which Have to Be Ripped Out

With the weather improving (high today is only going to be 94) I have started working on Cha's right wing.  Unfortunately, I don't like how the orange sherbet line looks and will be ripping it out tonight to replace it with a smoother version.  But you can get the general idea in the above photo.  I'm not sure about the tiny orange stitches at the tip of the top red feather, either....

I hope to get the wing half done tonight.  Stitching with silk ribbon goes quite fast once you figure out the angles and stitches you want to work with.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Another Wing for Cha

I've finally finished enough tent stitch around the second wing to get started on it.  As you can see, I used the same wide diamond stitch that is on the bird's back but changed the color from pink to red and am doing the stitch in vertical columns instead of horizontal rows.  The loose red thread is on top of the canvas because I may continue the stitches up further.  Until I start the silk ribbon feathers I won't know exactly where the wide diamond rays should end.

The heat is intensifying again and I am also painting doors here so don't expect much progress on Cha in the next few days.  I'll probably return to background stitching as I am sure to be exhausted after going up and down the step ladder to reach the top of the door.  Sadly, I am height challenged, both in terms of inches and in terms of dizzy spells so painting takes a long, exhausting time.  But the doors will look like a million bucks once I am finished with them!

Not to worry, you will have lots to do until I get back to the feathers on Cha's wings.  All you have to do is visit Canvases Be Gone and see the old dede Odgen pieces Dale is selling off at incredible prices.  Plus she has quite a few Kelly Clark canvases at 40% off and there is a Christmas canvas sale going on to.  You really do have to do a little browsing and see what treasures you can unearth!
http://www.canvasesbegone.com/

I've also posted a new article on the CH Stitch Guides blog. It covers the Kindergarten Nativity set from Labors of Love and David McCaskill's stitch guides.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/07/davids-kindergarten-nativity-and-custom.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Cha's Wing

I actually finished Cha's left wing Sunday but since I needed to do more background last night I waited to post about it until this morning.

The left wing is done all in River Silks silk ribbon.   I am holding off deciding whether to do anything else to the left wing until I finish the right wing, but since I have plenty of background to do before I can start the other wing, I am going to leave you in suspense.

While I tent stitch you can read what the River Silks website says about starting/ending their ribbons.  It's very interesting and works quite well.
http://www.riversilks.com/stitch_instruction.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

New Stitch Guide Source and Sales

Julie Pischke's Sassy Sea Horse

Last night I--you guessed it--did more tent stitches in Cha's background.  Today I'll be able to continue stitching the left wing.  It just took a very long time to surround the area with tent stitches so that I wouldn't disturb the wing stitches by doing background next to them.  On the positive side, there is only about a quarter of the background left to stitch after this week's background stitch marathon. Look on the bright side, I always say!

I posted a new entry on the CH Stitch Guides blog this morning.  It's all about French Knot in Texas, their revamped website, and the huge number of stitch guides available from them.  You'll want to check it out to see if your favorite designer canvas has a guide from French Knot.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/07/stitch-guide-heaven-french-knot.html

I stumbled across a mention of Peacock Alley Needlepoint in Michigan's having a 20-40% off sale of everything in their store (except for their Shorebirds trunk show and the Michigan kits plus their threads are 10% off).  They specifically mention all the Lee leather goods being on sale as well as the HP lacquered boxes they have in stock. All in all, a good time to go shopping but remember that the sale ends July 31st.
http://www.peacockalleyneedlepoint.com/Peacock_Alley_Needlepoint/Home.html

Finally, Old World Designs in California is having a Julie Pischke trunk show this month as well as a special show of circus-themed canvases from many designers.  If you love summery beach canvases inspired by Key West or are a Big Tent fan (who isn't?) you will want to check these out in person the next time you can get to Menlo Park and the shop.  Sadly, there aren't many photos online, but if you want to explore Julie's website and then call the shop, check the second link.  Got a favorite circus canvas?  Email them to see if it is available and get the cost.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/

http://www.juliepischkedesigns.com/index.shtml

The Stitching Destashing Blog has just listed new items.  There are a lot of small Christmas-themed painted canvases and quite a few very nice counted thread projects.  Have a browse.
http://www.stitchingdestashing.blogspot.com/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Dancing Ribbon Wings

Cha's Overall Progress to Date

I've been working away on Cha's wings, trying to get in as much tent stitching in the background next to them as possible.  Above is an overall view of the canvas to date.

Once I have the background next to the edge of the wing done, I can work on the wing itself. As you can tell from the photo, I'm using silk ribbon embroidery on the wings.  I started with the edge of the left wing and once the entire length was done, I went back and starting doing another row of stitches to cover the rest of the wing.

I'm changing colors to match the paint colors. When I told Leigh I wanted to use silk ribbon on Cha, she sent me a selection of colors to match the canvas.  (Leigh Designs distributes River Silks.)  It's gorgeous stuff!  I can use as long a length as I can manage without strangling myself and the ribbon doesn't fray.  It comes in a huge array of colors and also in three widths (I'm using 4mm, the narrowest).  It's easy to stitch with and fast--my wings would be done if I didn't have to do the tent stitches around them first.  If you haven't visited the River Silks website recently, you will enjoy the new design of their gallery of items stitched with their ribbons.
http://www.riversilks.com/gallery.html

I'm going to have to do the background on the other side of the left wing before I can start the red area, so you won't see progress on this tomorrow.  I'll post about something else instead of treating you to photos of more background!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More on the Parrot Head

Embellished Ultrasuede Parrot Head

Glenis asked in the Comments yesterday if the stitch guide I'm writing for Cha will have alternate ways of finishing the parrot head for those who don't want to attach Ultrasuede to their canvas.  The answer is Yes.  One could easily just tent stitch the head the same way the body was done, add the wide diamond and diamond ray stitches on top and then add the eyebrow as the above photo shows. Whether you embroider on top of tent stitches or on top of Ultrasuede, you'll have a pretty similar look.

I prefer the smoothness of the Ultrasuede but I know some people won't be able to buy Ultrasuede in the right plum color and some people won't like the look.  Others will chicken out when it comes to cutting out fabric and appliqueing it onto a NP canvas, even though I thought it was really easy to do.  Doesn't matter. You can stitch this canvas successfully with a very similar look to mine without ever touching a piece of Ultrasuede.

And for those who wondered, yes, I did more tent stitches on the background yesterday (sigh) and started on the wings but I did not make enough progress to do photos of that yet.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Embellishing a Parrot Head

Embellishing the Parrot Head

Today's progress report shows the parrot head all decorated up!

This was really much easier than I expected.  I simply referred to my sketch plan to carefully continue the two stitches used on the body of the bird.  It is hard to do a straight line on top of a smooth fabric but I went slowly and carefully and did pull out lines that were too crooked.  Since I was using a small sharp beading needle and one ply of silk, I could remove stitches easily without leaving holes one could see in the Ultrasuede.

If you look carefully at the photo, you'll see that the embroidery on top of the parrot's head is done in two colors of silk--hot pink for the 3/4 wide diamond stitches and the diamond ray stitches inside the first stitch, then dark grape for the diamond ray stitches alone between motifs.

I discovered scattered hot pink stitches looked too busy but when I pulled them out, I felt something needed to be in the empty spaces.  So I used thread almost the same color as the Ultrasuede to stitch the single diamond rays.  This gave me texture where I wanted it but didn't make the stitching too busy.

You can also add texture by scattering tiny French knots or beads, but I wanted something even simpler and subtler.

For those who wondered, yes, I also did more tent stitching in the background last night.  I am trying to surround the wings at least as I am going to start on the feathery parts and I don't want to disturb the stitching along the wings with tent stitching.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Attaching a Parrot Head

Ultrasuede Parrothead

After a few more rows of tent stitches in the background, I attached the Ultrasuede parrot head to my canvas using a very strong pair of magnets.  Then with a tiny sharp beading needle, a ply of the same dark purple Gloriana silk used on the body of the bird, and my thimble at the ready, I carefully stitched around the perimeter of the fabric to attach it.  I used simple, small straight stitches and usually had no trouble penetrating the Ultrasuede.  The only hitches were when I had to pierce a canvas thread also.  I used the thimble then.

It took a while but the head is securely on now.  I will decide later whether to couch a thread around the edge of the head.  I stitched tiny stitches along one side of the eye hole to keep the fabric snug to the underlying canvas.  I will wait to see if I need to continue once I attach the long strip of ribbon floss above the eye to make the black streak painted there.

Once the eye is finished, I will embroider on top of the Ultrasuede.  I am thinking a scattering of motifs as I sketched out, not covering the fabric with a lot of embroidery.  We'll see how that works out tonight!

So far the hardest part has been cutting a smooth eye hole to allow the stitches and bead of the eye to show through.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Designing a Parrot Head

Last night was more rows of tent stitch while I sketched, then erased, various layouts of stitches for the parrot's Ultrasuede head.

The photo shows you my latest layout.  If you squint you can see where I erased smaller ray stitches around the bird's eye.

I finally decided simpler was better.  This afternoon I hope to start attaching the head so I can try this out.

It occurred to me on re-reading yesterday's posting that I wasn't too clear about the steps in stitching the parrot's head. Let me try to fix that:  The first thing I do before I even put a canvas on stretcher bars is to make a color copy of it.  For Cha I made two color copies because I already knew I wanted to do things that might involve cutting up one of the copies to use as a pattern.  I have one copy in reserve to check if I cover up things I have to stitch later.  The other copy was scissored to cut out the paper parrot head above.

I attached the paper head on top of the painted parrot head so I would know where to stop tent stitching the bird's breast and lower body.  I want the Ultrasuede piece to meet the tent stitches but not overlap them.  Once the tent stitching was finished, I put the paper head away for a while.

When I was ready, I used the paper pattern again to cut out my piece of plum colored Ultrasuede.  I used my sharpest scissors for this.  The eye hole is the hardest to do.  I punched a hole in the middle of the eye with an awl, then inserted my scissors tip to make the first cut.  I'm going to have to smooth out the hole with an Exacto knife later on today once the sun's out.

By the way, the Ultrasuede came from Orna Willis who sells small sets of assorted colors.  I didn't buy mine--I won them in a contest.  Luckily there is a wonderful plum square in my assortment.  A corner of that is now the parrot head.
http://www.ornadesign.com/shop/product.php?productid=114&cat=1&page=1

The plan is to use my strong set of magnets to hold the Ultrasuede in position as I carefully stitch around the margins (using one ply of silk and a very sharp needle plus my thimble) to hold it in place.  Once that is done, I'll start adding the stitches on top whose placement I worked out in the drawing.  The plan is to continue the three-quarters wide diamond stitches at the base of the bird's neck, then put a few of the diamond rays radiating from the eye.  The last step will be to put the wide black streak over the eye. I'll use the same Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss used on the beak and claws there and tack it down with tiny stitches in the middle of the ribbon floss.

SharonG taught me to do that.  She used the same technique with 1/16 Kreinik ribbon on the free dragonfly kimono pattern she did for the American Needlepoint Guild.  She describes her technique (used to put in the grass) at the bottom of the second page of instructions for her project on the ANG website. I stitched this in purples and blues as a wallet insert.  It's gorgeous!
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/dec.php

Back to Cha.  I have only a vague idea how this will look or whether it is going to make the canvas look the way I want, but how can I challenge you guys to make a leap into painted canvas stitching if I'm not willing to try new things publicly myself?

Wish me luck!  [Jane holds her nose and leaps off the cliff into the deep water below.  Wheeeeeeee!]

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow