Starting project

I have finally started the blackwork bellydancer which is to be my first proper blackwork project. I transferred the pattern to the fabric by printing out the design at the size I wanted it, tracing the main lines onto tissue paper and sewing along them, having first stitched straight lines for the edges so I knew where to position it.

When the tissue paper was torn away this is what I ended up with:

I decided not to worry about the skirt and coins just yet and will move the frame down and put in the guide stitching for them when I get that far. In terms for which stitch patterns to use I want something light/medium for the skin and skirt and something medium/dark for the top and coin belt, a distinction that will be emphasised further by using predominantly thicker threads for the darker garments. For the skin I am using the pattern called 'interlocking 'Y's' in the RSN stitch guide which is light and open in addition to each stitch forming a shape a bit like a waist. I have only done a small section so far:

The principle is working ok but I think I need to expand more of the single stitches into the lightest areas to create a smoother transition.

Summer bag

I have seen distracted by a side project. I always have a cloth hand bag for the summer and the one I have been using for the last few years is past it so I have been making a new one.

I used a variation on crazy patchwork and added some machine and hand embroidery as well as silver and gold trim. It is large enough to hold a pad of A4 paper. Now that task is over I will get back to what I am supposed to be doing.

Combination shading

At the end of my last post I questioned whether I could combine the two different types of colour shading techniques (breaking up the stitch and two colours in the needle) with shading by thickness. To test it I sewed two random lines of running stitch in different colours; the red line to indicate where there should be a transition from dark to light and the black line dividing green from blue.

Unfortunately because I didn't have much space left on my bit of experiment fabric by this point it had to be a bit cramped so the actual shading, which was the point of the whole exercise, had to be done very quickly. It looks more like blurring than real shading, the edges between colours and shades are simply prevented from being harsh lines rather than being gradual transitions. The over all effect is interesting though.

I'm not sure what I could use it for but I think I will find a purpose somehow. From a distance the impact is stronger than it appears here and is very striking. The only difficulty that emerged in terms of the combination of two techniques was where the red and black lines crossed over, shading between two types of shading method was tricky but I think it can be done. Whether it would be as easy with two colours that do not compliment each other as well as these two do is another matter though.

This completes the current set of colour experiments as I have run out of space, here is the full set:

I will now be moving on to my first proper design, the blackwork bellydancer I showed preliminary ideas for a couple of weeks ago.

Different technique

It occurs to me that I have been treating shading between colours as if it was shading between thicknesses, i.e. breaking up the pattern of one colour and filling in the gaps with then next, but colour operates in a different way. In silk shading transitions can be made by mixing colours in the needle, instead of having two strands of a single colour you have one of each. To try it I did a simple series of blocks next to each other.

This works extremely well even changing between colours and it is much smoother than the other technique. To test it further I did one of the shading outwards squares that I tried with black shading as it is slightly more complicated.

Even slightly more complicated shapes work with this kind of shading. However, it does limit you to two strands and doesn't allow for the change in thickness as well as colour which, we have already seen, gives a more dramatic look. I wonder if it would look ok to combine the two techniques with in needle shading used for thicker, darker shades and breaking up the pattern used for thin, light ones?

Autumn leaf

To explore the red/orange/yellow/green combination which has been causing trouble I decided to ignore blue and purple which are straight forward and have another go focusing on just those four. Given my musing at the end of yesterday's post I also wanted to move away from the rectangular shading experiments into something more fluid that would better reflect how I might want to ultimately use the colors and, since the colours are all vaguely autumnal, decided a stylised autumn leaf would be good. The idea is not to provide a realistic image but to shade the colours randomly within the prescribed outline. All the leafs I have done so far were basically the same shape so this one is different:

It also had the added benefit of forcing me to practice sewing gradual curves which I am still not all that good at. I chose the large 'lace' stitch pattern to keep it very stylised and used 5 thread colours (red, dark orange, light orange, yellow, and green) all with a single strand. Here is the result:

The difference between the light and dark orange doesn't really show up, I should have used a darker shade of green and the bottom left section is too light by comparison with the others but I still really like it. The lack of smooth transitions isn't a problem because the changes in colour are so quick that it isn't necessary and I love how bold and colourful it looks. I think I will come back to this when I design my first coloured blackwork piece.