During this long weekend, I worked more on the floral burst pattern, but I still don’t have too much progress on it. I worked more on the plant stems and leaves.
As you can see, the plant stems look very unnatural because of the crookedness. If I have time I might redo the plant stems.
Another problem I had was with the French knots. I saw while reading an embroidery book that you should individually do French knots, but I did all of the knots without cutting the thread. Later, when just one of the knots fell out, all three knots had to be cut out.
Also, I learned that you shouldn’t make satin stitches too long, or else the stitches will look unnatural and makes it hard to fill the shape. I read in Mary Thomas’s Embroidery Dictionary that when making large shapes you should either make the stitches shorter by going half the distance, or by doing a long-short stitch.
Above is a photo of the original design. The circles that are divided in five are where the woven wheel flowers go. I traced the design onto the fabric by using a light box.
Right now I am planning on finishing the stems and leaves then I’ll work on the flowers. Lastly l will do the French knots, which I think are the most challenging part of this embroidery project.