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.
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| Watercolour and ink sketch |
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| Appliqué prawn and hand quilted background fabric. |
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| Detail of the sketched effect created with polyester threads. |
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| Detail showing the fabrics layered up to give subtle shading. |
