Kimberly Servello's Embroidery Blog

Kimberly Servello - Pattern Drawer and Embroideress

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Nicola's Bluebird (continued)

Today I'm working the green section of the bird.  I have tried both 1 strand of soie d'alger (on left) and 1 strand of Accentuate (on right). Both threads are by Au Ver a Some.  

Question for you - which do you prefer?  I'm not going to sway you by  telling you which I think I prefer.

The blue section you can see part of was done in speckling with one strand each of d'alger and Accentuate.  It has great sparkle - almost looks like glitter, but you can't see it in the photo, unfortunately.

I'm off to work and will check back in when I get home.

Thanks for your help.

Kimberly


12 comments:

  1. Hi Kimberly!

    Definitely the green on the left of the photo, I think its the d'Alger. It might be just my monitor, but the green on the right looks a bit too neon and doesn't go with the green as well. Plus the one on the right looks like a wider thread - the left one just looks right to me. Its looking awesome, can't wait to see it finished!

    Mary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the second paragraph - green = blue. I'm still half awake, sorry!

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    2. At first when I read your and Coral-seas response I was confused - you both mention the weight of the d'alger being better for the piece. Then I re-read my description and saw that I caused the confusion - no surprise there. I meant my other left :) as we say here - I reversed the descriptions! For sake of clarity:

      The thread on the left is Accentuate.
      The thread on the right is Soie d'Alger.

      And you expressed exactly what I thought.

      Thank you.

      Delete
  2. The thread on the left (soie d'alger) is a better colour match to the green paint (on my monitor) and I think it is a better weight for delicate leaves so I probably prefer that thread.

    CA

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    Replies
    1. Coral-seas,

      Please read my response to Mary Martin above. You chose the same thread that I thought looked best as well. That's 3 for 3, so I will proceed with the Accentuate. It's the sparkly thread, though the sparkle doesn't show up in the photo. I'm even more pleased because of that. I'm surprised to find how much I'm enjoying adding sparkle to this piece. I was also shocked to see how thick 1 strand of D'alger looked in this application.

      You use sparkly threads on your butterflies, right? What types of sparkly threads do you prefer? In the past the only sparkly threads I used were the historically accurate (Elizabethan) ones.

      K

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  3. The one on left is perfect...so no doubts we all have the same thinking !

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  4. Oh how funny, I am going to say I prefer the brighter one. I think the one on the right is perfect. It doesn't "blend" with the painted background quite so much but I prefer that. I rather like the way it shines. It is quite a colourful bird after all. You need an opposing view in every group! Cheers, Melissa

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  5. I vote for left - seems to be the popular vote. I do hate to run with the crowd :) but the left looks better!

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  6. The finer thread on left accentuates the delicate swirls better. But I sort of like the vivid green. So Accentuate in vivid green. Adding speckles in the blank space was creative. Was that your idea? Did Nicola leave the interpration up to you? I want her to pick me, a lowly mortal to embroider a bird.

    Wendi

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    Replies
    1. Hi Wendy,

      Apparently Nicola gave detailed instructions to some. But she left mine entirely up to me. I think because it's a smaller piece. Trust me, it's not because I have more advanced abilities. There's a crewel piece that's gorgeous and probably beyond my current abilities. The woman that stitched it is one of Nicola's students, meaning studies at RSN. **Green with envy**

      Yes, speckling between the motifs was my idea. It arose out of a desire not to cover Nicola's beautiful painting in that area. You can't see it in the photos but the speckling stitches have Accentuate thread running through them so they all glitter. I carefully laid each stitch so that the sparkly part was on top. No, I'm not obsessive. :)

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  7. I can see what Dilly Dalley and Wendi mean about how the right thread just adds pizazz to the green. It did look too heavy though, so I didn't go with it.

    If I had the time, I would order AVAS's 100/3 in that color and use it in that area. I'd still outline the motifs in Accentuate though - what you can't see in the photo is how much sparkle the left thread has. I've decided to add as much sparkle as I can since this will be an evening bag.

    Thanks to Everyone for your input!
    Kimberly

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