Prawn Star appliqué.

This little prawn started out as watercolour sketch while holidaying in Spain. My gorgeous friend Anne bought a kilo of prawns and patiently waited for me to assess everyone until I found the prettiest. I promised to make an embroidery from the watercolour so here it is.
         A few layers of felt padding on a white paisley printed background started it off. I thought the paisley shapes echoed the prawn outline. I used a pale orange silk for the main colour of the prawn and then built up layers of colour with old scarves in pink and red. As they were transparent it meant I could achieve a watercolour effect. Aqua and orange polyester threads were used to give the ink sketching effect. I had tried black but it seemed too harsh for the embroidery. Finally I hand quilted parts of the background to give interest.
       A relatively free style embroidery, it really felt as if I was drawing with thread as I added the detail. I think I will translate a few more of my watercolour sketches into embroidery.

Watercolour and ink sketch

Appliqué prawn and hand quilted background fabric.

Detail of the sketched effect created with polyester threads.

Detail showing the fabrics layered up to give subtle shading.