Date: February 2013
I am finished one door panel of the casket needlecase. A stumpwork lion is going to sit regally on the mound. He doesn't exist yet. In fact I have to make the leopard's door panel first - and then the leopard, and then the ship....the wrapped drawers...ok, rambling here.
I am really proud of this. I bought the kit impulsively and optimistically, full of dreams for the future and remembrances of the past. It sat in a cupboard for a few years and then I started an even more daunting task - an embroidered casket course. In the excitement of materials arriving I jumped in, framed this up and started stitching. I think it looks beautiful.
As mentioned before, it is one strand of au ver a soie silk over one thread in the linen weave (not quite sure how to express that). Where the pattern is deeply coloured, every thread is covered. Where it is paler, then it is every second thread that is covered. I really like that effect. It was interesting also working with the linen and the natural imperfections in the linen. As I've not done this kind of project before - tiny tent stitch on 36 count linen - every part of the project was new to me. I'm pretty impressed with the effect but at this stage, probably pretty confident that I'm not going to do my embroidered casket in tent stitch on linen. It allows for beautiful details in the embroidery but is very time consuming.
Previous Posts
Summer Progress on the Casket Needlecase (January 2013)
Starting the Casket Needlecase (December 2012)