You've seen a peek of this in a previous post, here's the official post introducing my next Japanese embroidery phase. As you know I switched things around starting Eternal Grace (phase 6) before cords (phase 5). The class was held with November but before I arrived to class, I had a few things that needed to be done first.
I realize now that I don't have many pictures of the process, but it's really a lot of the same thing. It's basically outlining all cords using Japanese running stitch. They need to be outlined to make sure that they are 7mm thick all the way through. This is required as sometimes the framing will distort the design line. Stitches are between 4mm and 6mm long, but when you can't go around a curve you switch to a line of held thread. Time consuming but super easy and zen.
One of the cords is called "rein effect", it's made up of twisted silk thread stitched over a base of couched metallic thread. I stitched mine with gold but it can also be done with silver to coordinate with your color palette.
Two of the cords are called "double central braid" and require padding, but they need to be outlined with metal thread (again the color used should coordinate with your palette). I actually outlined mine with Japanese running stitch using white couching silk first and then added the gold outline. The gold will peek between the stitches and give off a pretty effect.
Looks like a lot of work and although you need to have some sort of pre-work ready for class, you only need enough to get your cords started. Because let's be realistic, we'll barely get a few inches stitched on each cord during the four days of class.
While I was doing all this pre-work my mind was thinking about colors, more on that in a later post.
