Hoppin' to it

I have finally finished writing up the instruction for my Golden Lotus design. Now that the instructions are done,  I am concentrating on the second in the lotus series – On Golden Pond.

My last post described the process of making the gilt edged detached petals for the lotus flower.  I have since started to work on the surface embroidery.

 

I statred with the foundation work, applying the lily pads of silk dupion.  They have been fused to the base silk fabric using Mistyfuse ™.  It is a very fine fusible web, ideal for working with fine fabrics.  It doesn’t stiffen the fabrics excessively and the fine structure of the web means there isn’t any telltale results left after fusing.  It is great for fusing layers of organza!

Next came the layers of felt for the lotus flower. 

As you can see, once I started applying the threads and wires,  I have jumped all over the place.  I did some initial planning on what threads and wires I would use where, but was keen to see what the overall effect would be.  Thus there are lots of bits started and unfinished.

For the smaller lily pad I have couched Gold 376 couching thread from Benton & Johnson.  This thread has gold coloured synthetic strips wound around a cotton core. It is a very pliable thread and it is easy to manipulate into the tight corners.  I have used a silk thread, Matilda’s Own Daruma Silk Colour 149, for couching.  The thread is 50 weight, not quite as fine as the YLI silk threads that are commonly used for goldwork.  The Matilda’s Own silk is made is Japan and come in 60 colours.  They are distributed by an Australian company and are readily available here.  I use them for my embroidery as well as needle turn appliqué and paper piecing for quilting.  I like them a lot – they are fine, reasonably priced and high quality.

 

Today I plan on working on two smaller lily pads that will appear above the lotus flower and finish the long and short stitches on the flower.

I am using Madeira stranded silks for the long and short stitch.  The decision to use Madeira threads was really based on the availablility of colours.  They are also quite reasonably priced.

Oh - and I have started doing some online entry level studies in Financial Services and hope to do a bit of work on my next assignment too. My embroidery seems to have been put on the back burner and I am missing it greatly but I am trying to make it of equal priority.  So much to do – so little time.  Ah well we can only but try!

Hope you all have a great day.

Comments

[Suzanne Muir]

Absolutely lovely, so far! The Madeira silks gave a really nice result. Thank you for the detailed description of the materials used and their characteristics. Good luck with the studies!

[Gold n' Stitches]

Hi Suzanne thankyou for taking the time to check out the design, I have just jumped over to your blog - very nice. I love crewel embroidery and have just this minute been cruising around the internet drooling over projects. I also have Trish Burr's book Crewel and Surface Embroidery, often look at it but haven't had a go yet. You have done a wonderful job of this piece -, and the photo's are great.

PS Love the slippers as well!

Sandy

[Mahalakshmi]

Absolutely wonderful.You are very talented.I really envy your talent.