More Beads, More Fun

Guess what I did last night....


You are right, more beads and more basketweave. It's slow going, almost like those endless backgrounds each piece seems to have, but this will look spectacular and also set off what I have planned for the rest of Luna's costume.  So stay tuned.

If you get tired of watching me string beads on Luna's gown, head over to read Amy Bunger's  November newsletter.  She shows off customers' stitching, that scary eyeball she did for the Halloween House (eeek!), Tony Minieri's latest French brocade ribbons piece, and the two Home Study pieces she plans to do next year.  And more.
http://www.amybunger.com/current_enewsletters.html

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

More Gown Inspiration

I'm working away on Luna's gown.  Here's an overall progress photo which is not as good as the ones where I use the scanner but you can see how things are going.  I'm skipping around a little, trying to see how this will all look before I totally commit myself to solid beading at the hem.

Here's some inspiration--beaded gowns from Giorgio Armani.  The cut is similar to Luna's gown but these gowns are totally beaded or covered entirely in sequins or crystals.  This will help us better visualize how Luna would look if she came to life and walked off the needlepoint canvas.  Rachel's right, the beads will weigh down the hem if they are clustered there, but this is a velvet gown and the beads the tiniest crystals, just sparks of light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS_UK0ap5DE

Thinking about these lovely dresses keeps me plugging away at my beads and basketweave.

I've posted two new articles on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog.  The first is a link to Gone Stitching's stitch guides list on their website.  Since they have a wide selection of Judaic-themed pieces, this is a really good place to look for guides to such items.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/10/gone-stitching-does-stitch-guides.html

The second is about Adrienne Spencer's guides.  Adrienne is a teacher and writer of custom guides for both needlepoint designers and regular stitchers like you and me.  She does lovely work so do check out her gallery.  She tells me she plans to update her website late this year with more information about her stitch guides, so bookmark this for a return later.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/10/adrienne-spencer-designs-custom-stitch.html

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

Basketweaving with Beads

I'm still basketweaving Luna's gown, but I've added beads to the mix.  The lower part of her gown has beads scattered here and there.  I'll basketweave around them once I work my way down that far with my Impressions.

I'm using tiny size 15 round beads in black and also gray.  So far it is hard to see a difference in the color.  I'm hoping that will be clearer the more densely the beads are clustered together.  If not, I'll have to switch to using silver beads instead of gray.

I think the hem will be solid beads but I'm not sure yet.  My beading will has to hold out!

Thanks for the interesting comments about stitch guides yesterday, by the way. I never thought of a stitch guide as a time saver but of course it is.  You have your thread list to go shopping with, and the pathway of stitches set out for you.  All you have to do is find time to stitch.

Which might be the hardest part of this whole needlepointing thing, come to think about it....

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

Why Stitch Guides?

I've got a question for you today.  What do you want from a stitch guide?  Or do you see the point of using them?

I'm still tent stitching that amazing gown....

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

Madame X

The main reason I wanted to stitch one of Leigh's Ladies of the Night series is the challenge of working a piece with so much black on it.  How on earth do you stitch a piece with black hair against a black gown with a black cloak and black birds and not have it be a blot of black ink?  Of course Leigh Designs separates these areas through the use of gray and purple, but still....

I hope the use of texture will make the black areas separate.  I'm not sure you will be able to see the differences I put into the canvas except in person but I am going to try.

This is one source of inspiration--John Singer Sargent's Madame X portrait.  Isn't that gown amazing?!
http://www.themasterpiececards.com/famous-paintings-reviewed/bid/23543/Famous-Paintings-Madame-X

Before I forget, I updated the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog with a short article on Bongo canvases which have guides available.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/10/bongo-does-stitch-guides.html

Jane, back to basketweaving that amazing gown and watching Sherlock on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/watch.html

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