Wednesday, July 27, 2022

More Stitching....

 


Great Progress...!

It was Dreadfully Hot all last week, Dear Readers, making it impossible to even Think about working on anything at all, no matter how little! The temperature was in the nineties farenheit nearly every day. A few thundershowers passed by every other day, but most of them missed us and we remain much too dry in this part of the Valley. Where I work, only 35 miles to the North of here, they have had twice as much rain as we have had all month! It cooled off on Monday night and has been quite comfortable, even chilly in the 50's in the morning! Needless to say, I got very little done last week. But I actually surprised myself by finishing the stitching on the brocade gown.... just a few stitches at a time! In the above picture you can see where I had gotten by Saturday morning. My chief problem at this point was figuring out the folds for the cloth as it "pools" on the ground. My first sketch was very inadequate!

Here you can see the chart before I had
 refined any of the details at the bottom.


And while I didn't get the design all figured out before stitching more... 
This picture shows the final chart. 
I had to really try to see where the folds would fall
 and where the highlights would be the most pale
 and where they would fall in the Lady's own shadow.


I started by completing the highlighted side of the gown
 because the folds there were the simplest.
I worked the blue trim at the hem first,
 and then brought the folds down to meet the hem.
It stayed pretty much the same as the original chart.
The tricky part was the front center folds...
 the cloth needed to angle differently than the tapestry Lady's gown,
 so I needed to really think about placement of the folds.
And as always, at a certain point,
 I needed to just start stitching to see if it would look okay...
 and after a while it is too late to make changes!


And it was so hot... I was taking a lot of breaks
 and forgetting to take any pictures!
So here the front fold is completed.
And I think it works pretty well!
This cloth has to feel heavy... not light and flighty!


And then starting to work the "shadowed" side of the gown.
Notice I stuck one of the spring meadow blossoms in
 to overlap the hem a little bit...
(it is hard to spot!)


And then I needed to make the hindmost folds
 look natural and fit in the space...
The Lady in Waiting is Not treading on her Mistress's Gown!


And I did the last shadowed fold after I had done the farthest back one,
 the better to judge how they related to each other.
It needed to be shadowed, but highlighted enough to look like a fold.....
Yes, I was overthinking all these parts!
And now the gowns are finished!
But the "Tapestry" is far from done, Dear Readers!
I have plans for the remaining space...
 as well as all the lovely "meadow flowers" to add.

But here you can see the "tapestry" sections together....
And I am aware that there is all sorts of extra canvas above the Ladies....
The only limitation is the space it needs to hang in!
So all in all, Dear Readers,
 while it seemed like only a little more stitching...
 I actually made Great Progress!



8 comments:

  1. ¡Admiro tu visión de las proporciones, luces y sombras! Está genial.

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  2. This is simply awesome. You made the the folds look like heavy brocade the way they spread out on the bottom. How wonderful to be able, with a painters vision, to make this stunning piece of mini embroidery.
    Hugs,
    Drora

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  3. Wow Betsy! Your artistry really shines here with an amazing eye for knowing how the light hits folds and pools of fabric on the chart and then your talent for translating that into the beautiful colors in the stitching! It's absolutely breathtaking! And no, I suppose if you were to step on your mistresses gown you would not be part of the court for very long! I can't wait for the cascading flowers!

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  4. It’s beautiful Betsy! Looking amazing! I hope the weather cools soon. Lots of fires across the US currently.

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  5. I LOVE the look of the finished gown Especially the shadowing and the folds of the fabric as it puddles on the ground. It's really LOVELY Betsy!
    I didn't realize until now that this was one panel of a larger picture but the two of them together look totally in sync and once the background is completed the two of them will look Stunning on the castle wall!

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  6. They're so pretty! I love how the finished gown looks.

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  7. Hello Betsy, The gown of the lady turned out even better than the design. The folds fall very realistic and the cloth looks like it is a heavy brocade. Well done! And such a speed. it is great progress!

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  8. I can only agree - you made indeed GREAT progress. And regarding the hot temperatures you had to deal with it's even more amazing that you've been able to achieve so much and manage to finish the lady with here challenging gown. The result is breathtaking - it really has the appearance of heavy cloth as it should have. Bravo for finishing your first own stitching chart in such a gorgeous and awesome way. And now with hopefully nicer temperatures I'm wishing you loads of stitching fun for the background... or whatever the remaining space might inspire you to. Being the proud owner of two cushions made by you with a theme which can not be named in this time of the year I know how well you're able to use remaining cloth... ;O)

    Hugs
    Birgit

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