Saturday 10 February 2018

Winter Vegetables


Here are some vegetables that are more readily available in the winter time. A yellow onion and a bunch of watercress. The onion is done in long and short stitch with outline stitch and stem stitch. The watercress is done in stem stitch and broad stem stitch with couching and satin stitch in the leaves.


I traced the onion on to the fabric. Then drew guidelines to show the direction of the stitches. I worked from the darkest part of the onion towards the lightest part. When I switched to a lighter colour I did a few rows with one strand of the lighter and one strand of the darker colour mixed together.

The outline and the detail of the onion are done in outline stitch. The roots at the bottom are done in stem stitch. The long and short stitch covered the guidelines for the detail of the onion so I worked by following the pattern.




The tie on the bunch was worked first since I wanted it to look like it was in front of the stalks. I used the stem stitch done with two strands of wool. The stalks were worked in broad stem stitch. I filled in the stalks that looked like they would be in the front first and went along filling in every second stalk. Then filling the spaces up with the remaining stalks.  
As I switched to the darker green I started working the ones in the front first again. As I climbed up the stalks I couched the outline of  the smaller leaves. This way I had an edge to end the stems going behind the leaves.   



The small leaves are filled in with satin stitches. The larger leaves are couched around the same as the small leaves. The satin stitches go halfway across leaf and meet in the middle. The join is covered later with straight stitches showing the veins in the leaf.

2 comments:

  1. they look great! so original. I was a bit confused about how you stitched the elements in the forefront first, I thought you were supposed to start with the elements at the back and work forward?

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    1. Thanks Wendy, I use to think that too. I was always taught to draw what was in the background first. When drawing it is easier to erase areas that are going to be covered or draw and colour over top of them. When embroidering I do the foreground first so I can see what will be left to fill in behind. It helps avoid sewing into and over parts that are already stitched. This way the needle comes up under the edge of what is in front creating more depth.

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