Note: All this stitching happened during the holiday period. I'm publishing a post a day in order to catch up. Afterwards, updates will go back to my regular posting schedule.
The second project I started over the holidays was Hanabatake by Margaret Lee. This piece was featured in Inspirations magazine issue 95. I'm working this design from the kit that is put together by Inspirations which I showed you in September.
Like in all my projects, I like to be prepared. I had my colored sketch ready to use as a reference. When I made this sketch, I noticed that the design outline didn't match Margaret's final stitched piece. There are some places where she had switched the smaller flowers around. While stitching it, she probably decided it looked nicer that way. I made note of these changes in my drawing.
The beads came in baggies which I transferred into these little containers. I found this setup much more efficient as I can easily grab the beads I want.
My fabric came with the design already printed on the fabric, which is great as it would have taken some time to transfer all the lines. Unfortunately, the design is not quite centered on the piece of fabric I received. I only realized after I stretched the fabric on the stretcher bars. Something to look out for next time.
Before I can start beading, I had to put in an outline using the Japanese running stitch all around the piece. This is to delimit the stitching area.
With the preparations done, I could start. The instructions start off with the smallest flowers, which doesn't make sense if we are stitching this in the Japanese way. The Japanese way dictates that the foreground be stitched before the background. Since the smaller flowers are filling the background, I decided to start with the bigger flowers first.
I had a very hard time understanding the instructions. I had to re-read the instructions many times and I unpicked my flower a few times before I was happy. Luckily the fabric is very forgiving.
(click on the post to see the animation below)
Once I had that first flower done, the others were very easy to stitch. Compared to the few hours it took me to stitch the first one, the rest were a breeze.
At the end of day one, I had the first flowers stitched. My first attempt is the one in the upper left corner. I did notice that my attempts got better as I went along.
The second project I started over the holidays was Hanabatake by Margaret Lee. This piece was featured in Inspirations magazine issue 95. I'm working this design from the kit that is put together by Inspirations which I showed you in September.
Like in all my projects, I like to be prepared. I had my colored sketch ready to use as a reference. When I made this sketch, I noticed that the design outline didn't match Margaret's final stitched piece. There are some places where she had switched the smaller flowers around. While stitching it, she probably decided it looked nicer that way. I made note of these changes in my drawing.
The beads came in baggies which I transferred into these little containers. I found this setup much more efficient as I can easily grab the beads I want.
Before I can start beading, I had to put in an outline using the Japanese running stitch all around the piece. This is to delimit the stitching area.
With the preparations done, I could start. The instructions start off with the smallest flowers, which doesn't make sense if we are stitching this in the Japanese way. The Japanese way dictates that the foreground be stitched before the background. Since the smaller flowers are filling the background, I decided to start with the bigger flowers first.
I had a very hard time understanding the instructions. I had to re-read the instructions many times and I unpicked my flower a few times before I was happy. Luckily the fabric is very forgiving.
(click on the post to see the animation below)
Once I had that first flower done, the others were very easy to stitch. Compared to the few hours it took me to stitch the first one, the rest were a breeze.
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| Flower 5 |
Well done, that's coming along nicely.
ReplyDeleteHow do you do those photo animations, btw? Is there an app or a widget?
Can I say 'Have a great weekend' now?? ;)
This is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteLooking good, what an interesting and amazing design
ReplyDeleteInstruction writing is more of an art than people realise until they've tried it. I am also working from instructions at the moment and finding the experience less than straightforward!
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be so pretty! I feel sure I could actually do this, maybe when the Small Boy is older and less likely to grab the beads!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely project. I can just see how amazing it will look with so much beading, and the fabric is really cool too. You made a great start!
ReplyDelete