Gold coins

I have struck a problem doing the coins for the hip scarf. Although I have gold thread I am uncertain that I can make them look good. I had a go and this is what happened:

It looks a bit pathetic really and the satin stitch is very awkward on evenweave fabric because I can't get a smooth edge. A couple of practices later and I have come to the conclusion that coins won't really work. The satin stitch looks ok in photos but stands out from the fabric quite a long way because the thread doesn't bend, so it would get damaged very quickly, and I am still having trouble keeping the edge smooth.

The other two experiments are to test the idea of creating an outline and then filling it with a blackwork stitch pattern. They are more practical but are unsuitable stylistically in this case because the rest of the bellydancer is quite naturalistic and they are too stylised to fit in with the overall image. Therefore, I think I am going to have to give up on the idea of having coins at all. I will experiment with gold thread at some point and possibly come back to the idea when I am more experienced.

Deeper shading

Having finished the top I went back to go over the darkest parts of the shading on the hip scarf. This is what it looked like before:

 And here it is with some sections made darker:

The change is subtle but a definite improvement. There is greater contrast which makes the folds look larger and adds to the overall illusion of a 3D figure, though I think it could do with softening at the top left hand corner still as it looks rather angular.

Hip scarf 3

I have done as much as I can on the hip scarf without going into the corner.

The left edge needs to be darkened as do a couple of other areas just to enhance the effect of folded cloth but it is really working quite well. I just hope the same is true for the top which has much thinner shaded sections so it will be trickier.

Hip scarf 2

Things seem to be working ok. I had to unpick a bit of the 2 strand stitching I had done along the top edge of the scarf because I miscounted, so I am using shorter lengths of thread now to ensure that I am not encouraged to do too much of a single thread thickness at a time. Shorter strands means fewer mistakes.

The shading seems to be working but I will have to do a bit more before I can be certain.

Starting the hip scarf

I have started to sew the shading on the bellydancer's hip scarf. Since I want it to be much darker than the skin and the skirt to provide contrast I am using a slightly darker pattern and shading using thicker threads and additional stitches rather than removing stitches. I also chose a more elaborate stitch pattern to add interest. Here is what I have so far:

I hope it is going to be dark enough, I can always add extra stitches though so it is better to start out too light. As you can see the quick shading transitions mean that I have been using multiple threaded needles again.