Sunday 4 November 2012

TAST Week 44 - Closed Base Needlewoven Picot

I wanted to use this week's stitch in a different way, rather than for flowers and leaves, but alas inspiration did not strike.  In the end I decided to try a dahlia, inspired by this picture:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I had grand plans for several rounds of petals in gradually darkening shades of pink, varying the thickness of the threads and the arrangement of the pins to get different petal shapes and sizes, but although I did enjoy the stitch, by the end of the second round I'd lost patience with it :-D! What I ended up with looks more like a pink daffodil, but is quite pleasing nonetheless.



I used pearl cotton no. 8 and DFN threads. For the third round of petals I used two pins arranged like a teepee to get a broader petal.

One thing I didn't really understand was how to finish the stitch off properly so I sort of made it up, which is probably why some of the petals are a little bit twisted. I finished off the centre with French Knots, which I am happy to report that I've now got the hang of.

My flower looks a little bit lonely all by itself in the middle of the hoop. I feel like I should embroider something around it, but not really sure what. Any suggestions?



3 comments:

  1. Beautiful, well done, Lilian! No advice on what to do. I would be just leaving it the way it is, as my stitching is samples. But, something green would be nice, when you decide on which stitches to use.

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  2. This is a stitch that requires patience! You have done very well and it is a lovely Dahlia. If you want to add something, how about getting inspiration from the photograph and add a leaf and a stem with a bud? Good luck.

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  3. this is really fabulous~!!~
    i had quite a fiddly time with this stitch so i can only imagine how challenging working it in layers like this must have been.
    i agree with the previous commentors; some leaves or maybe even create a bouquet and vase around it . . .

    :-)
    libbyQ

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