Stitch By Stitch....

 

Slow But Steady Progress... 

I Left You last week, Dear Readers, with the beginning of the Brocaded gown being stitched on the Medieval Lady I am adding to the Tapestry kit from Janet Granger. It is very slow going! At first I just needed to see whether the shading of the brocaded cloth would look authentic enough in this scale of stitching, and whether the colors worked well together. It does, and they do, so I had no excuse but to get stitching! The problems I encountered first had to do with my inadequate sketching of the shaded areas of the gown. I was somewhat ambivalent in many spots about exactly where the "shadowed folds" started and ended.  And my initial sketch had allowed for too many subtle shadows... in this scale I was going to need to "consolidate" multiple cloth folds into single definite shaded areas. This is particularly necessary on the sleeves and bodice part of the gown. Those very parts that I had not even attempted to ink in the brocade "pattern"! That had to be done before I could make any progress.

Once that was done, I still didn't have the courage to start on the bodice...

But perhaps I could make some progress on the shadowed side of the skirt...

learn how the folds look once they are stitched...

The stitching requires that I work with all the colors simultaneously,

 because I am not confident enough of my chart!

So I stitch a small amount of the "pattern" color,

 keeping within a certain area of either the shadow,

the  highlight or the true color.

Then I add the "background" color for that particular area,

 and make sure I like the result before I get too far along.

The number of times I unstitched an area can't be counted!

But eventually I decided  I had to make a start on the bodice area.

I start with the darker shadows because they define the shapes.

The bodice area is small.... not many stitches of each color!

And adding to my uncertainty about the shadows was the little dog!

The darker shadow color was too close to his fur color...!

 It would confuse the eye!

I had to shift my shadows a little

 and make sure the brighter "pattern" colors

 landed in the few tiny spots next to the dog!

This is the sort of design dilemma that I will remember

 for next time I am charting a project!

But I forged ahead... stitch by stitch....

And unstitch and restitch.....

And of course, while you are stitching it

 you think it really is not going to work....

Too much detail in too small an area.

I probably should have "simplified" my "pattern"

 on the small sleeve and bodice area.

But I kept on... trying to make the 

shadows and highlights fall naturally.

And once the entire sleeve is finished.... 

it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would!

The missing shadows are not really missed!

And then the right sleeve... 

which has even smaller surface area 

and much more of the pale "highlight" colors.

I would stitch two stitches and then change my thread color!

But it really does make the gown begin to look as it should!

Another really difficult area

 is the shadows under the arm and sleeve on the right... 

where she is reaching over to pat the dog.

Again, it needed to stand apart from the dog color

 and needed to have some fold to the cloth

 which then extends down the length of the skirt.

I am fairly certain that none of this is "detectable" to the casual observer...

but I am confident that the subtle changes do make a difference in the long run.

And the long run is really only evident as the skirt grows in length...

Subtly shifting to the highlighted colors on this side of the gown.

And still preserving the shadow of the fold in the cloth... 

only one or two stitches wide!

Believe me, stitching this is not easy!

But progress is being made!

And I am loving how it looks!

I have yet to design the "pattern" for the folds of the gown at the feet... 

yards and yards of draped folded brocade!

 Yikes!

Slow and Steady, 

Stitch by Stitch...

I am really enjoying this project!