Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tutorial, part 4

Hi folks!
Since I wasn't sure what colors I wanted to use, I used a random number generator to pick my DMC floss colors, for the base, and then the accent colors. It's an interesting combination, I kind of like it.

I'm filling the body of the brooch with long and short split stitches, so that there's a shading from light in the center, to dark at the outer edge. It's a nice effect, and can really glow in the right light. First I establish the direction of stitching with long stitches. I'm not worried about the long carry of thread on the back, since that's all going to get anchored, with the future stitching. I'm also using two strands of floss, and the Milliner's needle, since that's going to be rugged enough to stitch through any glue that might have gotten into the middle section (there will be glue in the middle section, there always is) As a note, do remember to separate your strands of floss, it will give you better coverage, and look better.

here's the random long and short stitching. I'm running the dark thread almost down to the center section. It's what I consider the dominant color, and I want it to show through the whole piece.

Continue with the second color, occasionally hitting the inner edge. Make sure to come up at the outer area, and come down close to the center. That helps with the directionality of the stitching. Also, I encourage you to split the previous color's stitches, that will help with the blending effect.

Finally, put in the lightest color, occasionally going out to edge of the shape. This is a highlight, and it just looks more luminous if you occasionally carry the highlight right into the darkest sections.

The main section is done (before embellishing, there will be embellishments of course) Go have another cookie.

Happy stitching!

No comments: