I’ve been working on the Royal Persian Blossom project over the last few days. It’s quite soothing to be back to crewel work after the demanding silk work of Trevilian’s Cap. One of the reasons I have multiple projects going at once is so I can move from one technique to another.
The satin stitch border around what are called the “Upper Vine Petals” in the instructions were fun to work. I like working satin stitch around curves – taking those short, angled stitches to fill in the gaps on the curve is fun.
Adding the stem stitch in gold to the inside of the satin stitch really made the blue stand out. It’s one of the classic color combinations – blue and yellow. Every time I see it I think of France! When it came time to stitch the leaves inside each of the petals, I ran up against a problem.
I decided to work the left petal first, filling in the four leaves inside the larger shape. Taking time to look at both the photo of the finished piece and the instructions, I was all set to begin.
Then I looked again at the instructions and got confused. The image was reversed! The leaves were on opposite sides of the shape so the colors weren’t in the right places. I looked again.
Checking the diagram below, the leaves still were reversed from what I was seeing in front of my own eyes. The leaf of the left side of the diagram curved downward: the leaf on the left side of my embroidery curved upwards. What was going on?
Then it clicked – the instructions were showing only one side of the whole design – the right side. I had started on the left side of the design so the diagrams were “backwards”.
Honestly, it took me a few minutes to work this out. Now that I’ve worked it out, I’m off again happily finishing the next section of the piece.
Sometimes, I think I’m losing it completely! What about you? Do you ever get turned around when working on a kit? Please, tell me I’m not the only one!!
Of course you aren’t the only one. I mix things up all the time, especially when I am tired. The only thing to do when instructions make you scratch your head is put it all away until the next day when you are fresh, which usually shows what the problem was right away.
Great advice Jane, and it works for just about everything, not just stitching. I usually get up and walk around for a bit, put on a load of laundry, make a cup of tea etc and then come back and look with fresh eyes. Unfortunately, I’m noticing that the frequency of confusion is growing along with my age!
I also get confused! Jane has it exactly right. Get up, leave it for a while, then when you come back to it you’ll see the problem.
I concur!!
The worse thing for me is when I go to bed and then my brain relaxes and I ‘see’ the solution!
That means I must get up and give it a try. Then it’s almost mid-day and I’ve once again lost a night’s sleep.
It happens with all sorts of crafts and even daily life.
You’re doing fine from where I am sitting.
Oh my, yes! Sometimes I have to go do something else completely, before I can return and see where I went wrong. I’ve learned to accept that mistakes happen and not let myself get too upset about it. C’est la Vie!
BTW, your blossom is coming along beautifully. I wasn’t sure I would like it at the beginning, but you have really changed my mind. It’s just lovely.
The Royal Persian Blossom is in my future, but I am enjoying following your progress on it now. This project caught my eye well before you began your work on it, because it was so beautiful. With more study, the challenge came to the forefront. It appeared quite intimidating. With your narrative, I’m beginning to build a new perspective: one that sees the parts that make up the whole. I think it will prove to be much less intimidating than I initially anticipated. Thanks to your sharing, we see how to tackle the challenges, one question at a time.
You’re really made great progress with this complicated design – just lovely! I, too, have to keep reminding myself that stitch guides are guides….
You’ve progressed quite far on this project and it is lovely! Thank you for sharing about all of it. I have the pattern but have had to delay starting it, but will be able to manage it better thanks to your efforts.
Mistakes notwithstanding this is looking absolutely brilliant. We all do things like you did and the advice to leave it for a while and come back with fresh eyes is very good. I can’t help wondering how this would look done in lustrous silks ……
You’ve read about my struggles with finishing the Floral Glove Needlecase, you know I get tangled up! Still, we get there in the end. Pause, regroup, think again usually does it for me…
Sometimes I amaze myself by how much difficulty I have understanding something quite simple! When the penny does drop, I consider myself utterly stupid
Your Persian Blossom is looking splendid.
It’s wonderful! Small mistakes are a part of embroidery and they make Your work unique.
I have made mistake many times, especially when I was doing cross stitch on linen. I haven’t made any mistake in a kit only because I have never bought any. Royal Persian Blossom is number one on my crewel wish list.