Summer 2024: Google ended its email subscription service in 2021. I believe I've found a replacement, but haven't had time to test it. I have been stitching a little bit here and there and have some posts ready for when the email subscription is active again. Fingers crossed, I'll have time to rouse this blog out of its dormancy sometime this year.

26 May 2017

French Rose

Original version of the thread painted embroidered rose 'French Rose'
Original French Rose by Trish Burr
I've stitched many Trish Burr designs over the last several years. (If you like Trish Burr you're in the right place.) This is my favourite: French Rose. In fact, this is probably one of my favourite embroidery projects ever.

I loved the rose from the moment Trish posted a photo of it on her web site. There was something about the glow in the centre that caught my eye. I remember waiting very impatiently for the design to become available!

The rose is based on a botanical illustration by Redoute with some excellent editing by Trish.

It was finally published in Colour Confidence in Embroidery and I started working on it as soon as I could get my hands on the book.

The original design called for DMC cotton floss, but I decided to switch out the non-green bits for silk. I was curious to see how the silk played off the cotton. I also used a piece of a favourite 'crummy' silk for the ground fabric. (The 'crummy' silk is a very slubby off-white silk shantung which provides a bit of background texture.)

I changed the red and gold parts to Au Ver a Soie Soie d'Alger, a spun silk thread that is wonderful to stitch with. I also tried protecting the ground fabric with cling film for the first time and it worked quite well. The 'crummy' silk is notorious for getting dirty around the edges of the hoop no matter how much care is taken to keep it clean.

Thread painted rose: petals in silk, leaves and stems in cotton (design by Trish Burr)

I can't stress how much fun this design was to stitch. I didn't want it to end and could have happily spent longer on it. It stitched up fairly quickly as I recall and it's not a difficult project.

The only frustration I had was that Soie d'Alger is a bigger thread than DMC floss so the shading is not quite as fine as it would be with DMC, but the glow of the silk was worth it!

It was very difficult to photograph the glow. Here's the best example:

Showing the glow of the silk embroidery threads on a thread painted rose (design by Trish Burr)

I liked the play of the matte finish of the cotton against the gorgeous glow of the silk. Here are a couple of closeups of some of the elements.

Detail of thread painted rosebud in silk and cotton threads (design by Trish Burr)

 Detail of embroidery red rose. Thread painted with silk (design by Trish Burr)

It's a stunning design. Trish really outdid herself on this one and that's saying a lot! One of these days it will be framed.

Thread painted red rose (in silk) complete. Design by Trish Burr

References
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2 comments :

  1. Anonymous17 October, 2024 13:56

    I I always come back to your version. Every time it pops up on my Pinterest feed. It is breathtaking! You’re a huge inspiration to me! Thank you!

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    1. mc18 October, 2024 13:10

      Thank you so much for your kind comment. The silk makes a huge difference. It's even better in person. Photos really can't capture the beauty of the soie d'Alger. This is still one of my all time favourite projects; it's probably in my top 5. (It's still not framed! :-) )

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