Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Dressing the Bird

The body form is covered entirely in detached buttonhole stitch on a silver wire. The instructions mentioned that starting is a little bit fiddly. I found it much more than a little bit fiddly. I took 3 attempts to get going! One of the reasons that I did not work on this while on holiday is that the stitches are tiny and I need really good light and magnification to see what I am doing. The whole project is really quite small.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

I was concerned that my stitching was too dense and therefore covering the silver wire entirely. There seemed little point using an expensive and beautiful thread if it did not show.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

Given the difficulties I had starting in the first place, I was loathe to start over but I was even more loathe to stitch the entire body and not be happy with it. It took me another two attempts to start the second time, this time keeping my stitches a little looser and more spaced out.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching
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3 comments:

charlotte2 said...

Thanks, for pictures I can see where I went wrong now my stitching is too tight. I will start again. Lovely work.

8 November 2012 at 09:45
Rachel said...

The first version was pretty, but I agree, it is better to be able to see the silver!

8 November 2012 at 14:07
Susan Elliott said...

This technique is one I learned at a class at the Plimouth jacket exhibit at Winterthur. Our project was a little turtle thimble holder based on an original in the Victoria dn Albert. Perhaps you've seen it? I've only been to the V&A once when I was 22. I think I'm due for a visit.

30 November 2012 at 13:34

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