Nasturtium roundel – leaves

Onto the leaves next.  There was quite a bit of work in them, but I’m very pleased with how they’ve turned out. To start with, I added the leaf veins in a single line of split stitch.  In the other leaves I’ve done I put them in last, but with the shape of the nasturtium…

Nasturtium roundel – stems and seeds

With all the outlining done, time to start filling in the design with long and short stitch. I’m starting with the stems and seeds. The stems in particular are too narrow to allow for shading, so I’ve done them all in one shade of thread, Madeira stranded cotton no. 1409. As the stitching itself changes…

Nasturtium roundel – outlining the design

Off we go with the stitching, starting with outlining the motifs in the design in a single line of split stitch using two strands of Madeira stranded cotton in appropriate colours. For this project I’m using green in three shades, 1410, 1411 and 1412, for the leaves and 1409 for the stems and seeds: Yellow…

Nasturtium roundel

A new project: same technique, for a stylised design of nasturtium flowers, leaves and seeds. No stitching yet, but getting it set up ready.  First, drawing over the design with ultra-fine Sharpies onto some gold organza: With the drawing removed but still pinned onto backing paper: I then painted this in, using diluted acrylic paints: Peeled…

Oak leaves – background and finishing

I’ve tried something a little different this time, and I’m happy to say that it’s worked out nicely. First things first, though, and the usual drill of painting the back of the embroidery with diluted PVA glue and cutting it out: Now for the background: some green cotton velvet, but applied to that a disc…

Oak leaves – stems and acorns

I’m finishing off the embroidery today! For the stems, I used Madeira stranded cotton no. 2213 for a bit of highlighting and 2214 for filling in the rest: For the acorns, I used 2208, again for highlighting, and 2209 for the rest: And that’s the embroidery done!  Right at the start, I mentioned that I…

Oak leaves – third and final green

Finishing off the leaves with the final shade of green.  This is comprised of one strand of Madeira stranded cotton 1411 and one of 1412, filling in all the space left. The first leaf: And the second: And the third: The veins up the centre of the leaf look dark, but that’s just shadow cast…

Oak leaves – the second green and shading

Time to add a bit of shading. The leaves are going to be light on the outer edge, getting a little darker as they head towards the centre; the first stage in the shading is to add another round of long and short stitch using one strand of the first colour, Madeira stranded cotton 1410, and…

Oak leaves – the first green on the leaves

The first two greens, actually. The ends of a couple of the lobes of each leaf in the design fold over, and I stitched them first, using Madeira stranded cotton no. 1409 (which I’ve just realised I didn’t take a photo of last time, but never mind. It’s a pale green): I’ve going the stitch the…

Oak leaves – outlining

The first thing to do is outline all the shapes to be stitched in split stitch, using two strands of stranded cotton. For the leaves, I’m going to be using Madeira stranded cotton numbers 1410, 1411 and 1412: For the branches 2211, 2213 and 2214, and the acorns 2208 and 2209: The leaves outlined: And…