Saturday 19 December 2009

Peacock bag - finished at last


I finally finished the bag I've been embroidering for the past couple of weeks. I wanted to use metallic threads to give a shimmery effect to the peacocks, but when I started I had no idea how difficult they would be to work with.










I had a false start when the knots at the back started to unravel after I had cut them off too short to re-tie (five hours' work down the drain and I had to start over). I sought the advice of my swap-bot girls and one of their tips was to use a bit of Fray Stoppa. It worked a lot better for keeping the knots intact, but made them super stiff. This, along with the general unco-operativeness of the thread ends, which refused to stay put when I tried to weave them into the backs of my stitches, forced me to spend quite a while neatening the back of the embroidery with plain thread:

6 comments:

marionjoy said...

this is so sweet sam .. congratulations..

Unknown said...

Thanks, marion!

Unknown said...

Totally awesome job, Sam! I've never used metallic threads before, but it sure add a wonderful effect to the embroidery. I think your time and effort really paid off ^^

MafiosaGrrl said...

Hi again! I was going to say, that with metallic floss, I usually separate the strands, it makes it a lot easier. I've also found that the darned rayon knots ALWAYS unravel- it's like it's too slippery to get a good hold. So I tend to use the double over, looping knot for that kind, it's really secure that way.

Unknown said...

Thanks, chick chick and MafiosaGrrl...I should have gone to girl guides to learn my knots. I will try separating the strands next time too :-) I love these threads so much, I am determined to use them again!

Helen said...

Thanks for visitng my blog Sam. You have your comments set up to "no reply blogger" so I can't email you back directly, thought I'd pop in here to say hello. Hello! LOL Love your Kaffee square quilt on flickr, its stunning!

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