Embroidered post card - part one

I have been taking an online class with the fabulous Sharon Boggon called Sumptuous Surfaces.  I've long been an admirer of Sharon's lush style, her penchant for piling more and more embellishment onto a square than you'd think it could take, without it looking the least bit crowded. Sharon has us working on linen, which is really a treat.

I highly recommend the class, and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the process shots from the sample piece that I'm working on.  I've listed the different stitches that I used.  Most of this piece was worked in size 5, 8, or 12 perle cotton, or in silk threads.  Towards the end I added buttons and beads.   

I pulled threads to mark off the postcard-sized piece of linen and traced the outline of my spiral design lightly in pencil.  I used Portuguese stem stitch and coral stitch to do the outlining.
  

I used an irregular Cretan stitch to do pulled thread work on a low relief area.  Pulled thread is also called drawn fabric work, and shouldn't be confused with drawn thread work where you actually remove threads. 

I added a buttonhole stitch border all around the outside, working it up into the hole left by the drawn thread border.

Part one
Part two
Part three

Copyright 2010 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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