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Original French Rose by Trish Burr |
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.
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:
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.
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.
References
- Needle 'n Thread Review: Colour Confidence in Embroidery
- Needle 'n Thread: Cotton or Silk Embroidery Threads for Silk Shading? (Features my version of French Rose)
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!
ReplyDeleteThank 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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