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Tuesday 9 April 2013
Silk shaded cat embroidery
Painting with the needle. This cat is embroidered in long and short stitch using a combination of Anchor and DMC stranded cottons on a dupion silk fabric. Traditionally this technique would be worked with silk but with the amount of colours I used the cost would have been huge.
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Hello Margaret
ReplyDeleteI love your cat (and all of your work that I have seen) and having just mastered long and short stitch with great help from Trish Burr's books would love to try stitching this cat. Did you have a pattern or did you have a photo as inspiration?
Evelyn - Canberra
Dear Evelyn , thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I am very glad you like my work. I do know Truth Burr's book and I think you have probably learned from the best silk shading book there is. The cat embroidery was a present for my dad of one of the family cats. I worked from a really clear photograph . I traced all the important markings and made sure they were on my silk. The actual embroidery is 8x10 cms . Order of work is important. Tail first then back going into the chest and neck. Head last working inside of the face towards the middle. Sometimes I took my needle down into the stitch to give a more furry texture. I have another cat to put on my blog when I get a good photograph. Good luck and get in touch if you need more advice. Margaret .
ReplyDeleteSorry Evelyn the above should read outside of the face towards the middle.
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all.
ReplyDeleteI work the other way around.
Eyes first,because if they aren't realistic the picture won't work.
Then the rest is easy.Fur lends itself well to short and long stitches.
I think looking at your work closely you could have used a few thinner strands as in a single strand cotton it would allow you to put "finer" detail in the picture
I forgot to add really well done though
ReplyDeleteHello Needler speekman, thank you for your comments . it is always fascinating to hear how other embroiderers tackle this kind of subject.
DeleteThat is just amazing and impeccable. The cat is very realistic and masterfully embroidered. Impressive and cool work.
ReplyDeleteDear Shelley, thank you so much for your comments. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSuper ! wspaniały haft podziwiam!
ReplyDeleteI want to do this for my a level coursework as it would introduce a new skill. I am doing cats for the project so would love to try this. What material did you use. I have lots of thread as I love cross stitching. I use DMC threads. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lucie, thanks for commenting. The base fabric was a silk dupion with a calico base. I stitched through both layers as the silk would wrinkle if you didn't have a base. You need a dupion without many slubs in it. It maybe better if you use a flat silk on a calico base or a very closely woven linen. Linen would not need a base.
DeleteI'm flattered you want to stitch a cat inspired by Lonnie. please send me a pic if you would like when you are finished. I would love to see it. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions. Marg