Remembering...with a Burr Red Poppy

I was rummaging through some old photos of embroidery projects, and came across this Trish Burr red poppy that I stitched about ten years ago. I believe this is my first Burr effort.

With Armistice Day and the centenary of the end of World War I approaching on 11 November, it seemed like an appropriate project to share. Red poppies are used as a symbol of remembrance.

When I stitched the poppy, I was fairly new to Trish Burr, fine shaded work, and taking photos of my projects. I had some experience with shading, but I wanted more challenging projects so I could improve my technique. This was a nice piece with which to begin my Burr journey. It wasn't particularly difficult, but was immensely satisfying!

The poppy was stitched with a #10 crewel needle in single strand DMC cotton floss on cotton satin fabric. I bought a kit from Trish so the design was pre-printed on the fabric. The pattern is currently available in Trish's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners.

This project introduced me to my first Burr stem/vein in split stitch. I remember being intrigued by the use of adjacent split stitch and the colours used to achieve a rounded 3-D look. Prior to this, I hadn't seen such sophisticated and beautifully designed stems.

 

I had to figure our which colour went where on the flower, so I made a colour copy of the instructions and marked it according to how I thought the shades should be placed. When I look at this ten years on, I think it's overkill, but it was helpful to me at the time. If I was stitching this poppy today, I would analyse the finished petal to get a general idea of light and dark placement, lay out the colours required for that petal from light to dark, and stitch! I don't try to copy or replicate the original. I only use the original as a guide.

Here, the poppy is nearly finished. You can see the shading and directional lines that I've marked on the unfinished petal. I still do this when the need arises, but usually with less detail.

I can see places that could definitely use improvement. Hindsight and many years of experience are wonderful things!

The pink highlight on the bud could be better integrated into the green part. Some of my stitching direction is a bit wonky here and there. I also would love to be able to re-stitch the spines on the stems; they're too regular and need to be more random. I didn't know what I was doing with the flower centre. It turned out better than I thought it would!

Overall, though, I think the poppy turned out fine, especially for a first serious thread painting project.

At least, I think I can say that I've improved with time. That's good!

References

• Trish Burr's original poppy