Wave
Bent Creek
stitched on mystery fabric with DMC,
with a few conversions
I finished this last night. I found the threads and chart from when I previously attempted to stitch it, and just decided to bite the bullet, restart it, and get it finished. If I remember right, I bought the chart the last day I worked for my former company (also Prince William's wedding day). I had to drive to our head regional office down by Dulles Airport and hand in my computer, and then stopped at the LNS in Fairfax on the way home. So I've had it a while.
I stitched it on some mystery linen-y fabric I got at one of the stitching group meetings. I got a bag of small cuts that someone didn't want, and I've used quite a lot of it so far this year. This one just went with the country tones of this little patriotic piece, so it was a good choice. I used most of the colors that were the DMC conversion, but I did change at least one of the reds. They are now 814 and 815; the original color for the top stripe was supposed to convert to 3802, and that doesn't go at all with this other colors, so this was a better choice.
I think if I were a professional designer (and I am not, because I can not draw. I just stitch and critique . . . liberally) I would stitch one version in the hand-dyeds I designed with, then another version in DMC. I think they all realize that not every stitcher can afford hand-dyeds ('cause buttwipes and Sofia the First pajamas do not pay for themselves!), but it would be nice to know consistently, that, if you convert it over, you'll get a picture to be proud of. Because sometimes my color theory skills are off and the floss aisle at Michaels is not the place to be figuring out how it's going to look.
But anyway . . . it looks good and I am very proud of it. My plan is to make this into a painted box. I have some long overdue housecleaning to do tomorrow, and then, hopefully, our plan is to go to Hobby Lobby. They seem to have a better selection of boxes and things to paint like this, so we'll look there. Maybe we'll get lucky.
It's finally starting to be liveably warm here in Crazyville. My crocuses popped the other day--I forgot I planted them. There is a bunny who has been pestering my tulips--back off, dude! I bought some sunflowers. We'll have to see how well those grow.
That's all from here. Have a great weekend!
7 comments:
I agree with you completely about designers showing a model in regular DMC as well as hand-dyeds. The DMC conversions are just an afterthought for most of them.
You made some good choices on this piece and it looks great!
Rachel, I love your WAVE finish. I think it will look super on the top of a box or even as a doorknob pillow.
Have a fabulous weekend!
Robin in Virginia
A lovely finish! I think the main reason we stitch in one or the other and show a model in just one is because we either have to stitch both ourselves or pay someone else to do it: at 1 cent a stitch those stitches sure can mount up lol. I tend to do most designs in DMC now. Overdyed threads can be pricey and it puts more pressure on people to buy often to never use that colour again.
Congrats on your finish. I've always found Hobby Lobby and Michaels the best places for boxes. Looking forward to seeing it finished.
WAVE looks great! The fabric is a nice choice to go with the country feel of the piece. I agree that hand-dyed threads are a big expense and I feel that the variegated ones often don't give the same look as the model due to variations. I usually just use the DMC conversion or my own conversion, with maybe 1 hand-dyed thrown in the mix, if at all.
Carolyn
What a fantastic finish - I love it!
I love this one, Rachel! Great call on the color change--it will be a wonderful box finish :)
Post a Comment