Tag Archives: couching

Stump Rings Applique Completed

Posted on by under applique, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I finished stitching the stump rings piece that I showed the design work last week. It seems a little busy to me but I am leaving it alone for now. I really like how the colors shift into the next and the overall look from a distance. I just don’t care for it up close.

Here it is with cropping. Somehow I ended up with the center of the spirals too close to the center of the piece. The camera has a hard time capturing the sheer fabric and the shift in colors.

Now on to my machine stitch applique piece.

Three More Color Studies

Posted on by under Color, Level 3 Stitch, machine stitching

I finished three more color studies this week. I think there are six more to complete and I will have covered all the color schemes on the list of homework.

This one took a while as it is hand stitched with tons of yarns and threads. Now that I look at it, I think it could use just a bit more yellow. The yellow is the background fabric peeking through

I really didn’t have a good plan for this one. I decided to try another machine cut back applique and just follow the lines of the dye on the top green fabric. That dragonfly shape was in the dye pattern. It needs a bit more contrast in value. I was thinking of using some machine stitched “leafy” thread lace over the top. What do you think?

This is my favorite one this week. It has some really dark fabric in it and so it is really hard to photograph. It looks better in person.  Now on to more colors!

Second Nuno Felted Paper Fabric Lamination Sample

Posted on by under hand stitching

I started working on the next sample of the nuno felted paper fabric lamination piece. I had decided to couch some small sticks down to the surface. So I collected a bunch of interesting tamarack sticks on my walks in the morning. They are quite bumpy and textured.

Couched Sticks Currently Stitched Down

So here are the ones that I have currently couched down. I used one that is nearly covered in lichens too. But I’m not very happy with the result.

Couched Sticks First Option

I was originally planning on adding a lot more on the left side but didn’t like that either. So now I am playing around with different layouts.

Couched Sticks Second Option

I think part of the problem is that the sticks on the right are very dark and the rest of my sticks are lighter. But the overall problem is that the sticks are too textured. With all the texture in the background plus the texture on the sticks it seems too overwhelming. I can see this much better since I took a photo of it. I will probably take the sticks off and start again with smooth sticks and see if I like that better. What is your opinion?

Couching Begun

Posted on by under fibers, hand stitching

I got started couching various bits of yarn down to the nuno felted paper laminated silk piece.

Paper Fabric Lamination Nuno Felted Silk with Couching

The photo above shows the entire sample which I am in the midst of stitching. I have a lot more couching to go.

Close Up

Here’s a little closer view. I am using up scraps of yarn that I have in a variety of green shades and a few reddish-brown ones too. I think this one might take a while.

Nuno Felted Paper Fabric Lamination Sample

Posted on by under hand stitching

I’m sure that I don’t need to start another hand stitching project right now as I still have several in the works but…

Nuno Felted Paper Fabric Lamination

This piece is a portion of a sample that I made for my Nuno Felting with Paper Fabric Lamination online class. It was originally 4 times this long but I cut it up into 4 pieces. I am going to try 4 different techniques, one for each piece.

Possible Yarns to Couch Down

This one is going to have mainly green yarns couched down. Looking at it on the screen, I can definitely see that it needs some darker values in there for more contrast. I really love the texture but then the question is always how to finish it. So instead of being too afraid to move forward with the bigger piece, I will try different ideas on the smaller pieces. I can just think of them as samples and not be intimidated to finish them as I might have been with the larger piece. You can enlarge the photos to see more of the textural detail.