Colour play canvas work 4

This week’s progress has involved some unpicking, much as I am reluctant to unpick! I’d torn the edges of the pink backing fabric from my flower for the Great Scunthorpe Embroidery Challenge. I wanted the frayed edges to spill over the velvet and the outer edge, and I’d already done the stepped diagonal stitches, which I liked and didn’t want to cover up. It wasn’t very much to unpick, and was soon re-done.

One of the torn scraps was anchored down with straight stitches on the left hand side. Then a petal of the hand made felt was attached over the corner.

I then echoed the pink straight stitches attaching the velvet at the bottom, to attach the bottom edge of the pink fabric. I did more rows of irregular straight stiches in different colours and weights of thread, including a row of the knitted ribbon which matched the greeny gold sari silk strip perfectly. The flower is just laid on top to see how it will look…..

…… before doing more pink straight stiches and starting to fill in between the two rows of zigzag.

I put more knotted stitches near the eyelash yarn, in different textures and colours; they could hardly be called French or Bullion knots! There are more cushion stitches near the bottom right, coming up to meet the straight stitches.

The bottom is nearly finished, leaving across the top to do. It’s fun to work on, and the colours are feeling more comfortable than when I started. It just needs a final push before I get distracted with the next project at “In the stitch zone”.

Colour play canvaswork

I’ve started attaching the velvet and felt to the canvas background, stitching through the velvet with Sylko in the same colour with tiny invisible stitches. I didn’t want the felt to be even all the way round, so manipulated the velvet, pinching it up to make little folds and pleats, which make valleys and mountains to stitch into later.

I lined the felt up with the velvet at the bottom, as I didn’t like the way it looked separated through the scrim. The fold in the felt …….

……. gave me the idea to make a feature of it, so overcast a ridge up the side and across the top, which extended with diagonal stitches in the same perlé on to the canvas.

I had some eyelash yarn in the same tones as the metal, and did big straight stitches from under the scrim with the “eyelashes” hanging down. With a little care, they hang down well on the front and the back won’t be seen!

I then did some eyelets, and part eyelets in two shades of pink perlé between the diagonal zigzags. Using the fine pink perlé, I did long straight stitches in various lengths to anchor the velvet across the bottom.

I continued the straight stitches in varying lengths, it almost looks like freeform Bargello.

I wanted to add some blue to draw attention to the tiny glass beads, trying a selection, but none of them was quite right. They are much more turquoise.

I’ve done little French knots in a really fine turquoise rayon which wanted to knot, but not where I wanted! I used a perlé in shorter stitches, more of the mauvish one, then some turquoise and mauve in more broken lines. The bottom row is more green and ends in a straight line at the bottom. And finally so far, some more cushion stitches in the variegated ribbon to echo the other bottom corner. It’s all a bit random at the moment, but hopefully will blend from one area into another as it progresses. I’m loving the colours and textures, and seeing it evolve.