I started with a sample piece of the silk dupioni fabric, backed with Floriani Dream Weave interfacing to keep the silk from shredding, and a variety of threads, beads, and stitches (slightly out of focus, but you get the idea):

and decided that the feathered buttonhole “vine” with french knots and pearl beads was the prettiest for a flower girl. The other bands are just too dense, particularly with the ribbon that will be used as a sash on the dress, though I’ll remember them for other projects.

So here’s just the vine for the neckline, before the knots, done with two strands of DMC floss:

(And yes, that is my lap, on the couch, in front of the TV — the best way to do handwork without noticing quite as much how long it can take!)

And with the french knots, but before the beads, done with a pale green Caron silk:

And here is the bodice almost completely embroidered — it just needs the pearl beads on the bottom line. The sash will go below that, which is a one-sided feathered buttonhole stitch. I’ll use the same pattern on the back, on either side of the button placket.

The sheen of the silk really makes it difficult to photograph. I’ll have to take it outside for a truer representation of the colors.

My hands are hurting this morning, from keeping the stitches so uniform and tying all of those knots. When I was younger, doing cross-stitch kits, I just couldn’t figure out how to do french knots, but now I really like them.

I like the way this is turning out; I think it’s better this way than it would have been smocked.

At long last, after seeking fabric and notions all over the state and the internet, I have spent the last two days working in earnest on a beautiful dress for Nora to wear as she plays the role of flower girl for her uncle’s wedding in a few weeks.

I’m using the Pascal/Alice Blue Gown pattern from Sew Beautiful (second cover down on that page), but without the smocking. It was my intention to smock the bodice, but then I realized what a pain hand-pleating the fabric really is and decided to embroider it instead.

The fabric is silk dupioni, in a sage green color. It looks alternately gray or gold depending on the light and presence of a flash, but outside in the sunshine is definitely green.

Here’s the bodice marked up with tailor tacks for embroidering:

And two perfectly piped sleeves that I finished today with the help of a Threads magazine article on how to get your piping to stay flat (lots of hand basting, but worth it!):

And here is the back of the gown, folded in half — the amount of skirt you can see is only a quarter of the fullness. You can vaguely see a picture of the back of the original dress in the magazine on the table.

There will be embroidery on the back bodice as well. More on that process as it progresses this week.

The goal is to get it done to the point of handwork finishing this week, as we’ll be spending next week with my parents for some much-needed rest and relaxation.

Here are some images I’m contemplating for my February Take it Further piece. Initial thoughts are here.

This one is my favorite:

I’m not certain this will be a fiber piece yet — I may go for paper collage instead in the interest of time. To be honest, I’m not very motivated on this one.

The Take it Further Challenge for February is based on the question, “What are you old enough to remember?” or this color palette:

taken from this thread combination:

I’m not sure if I’ll use the colors yet.

I am 31. Most of my memories are based around what songs were on the radio or playing in either of my families’ homes. When I was six, or maybe a little older, I made a tape recording of myself singing. My choices? Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” and “Maneater” by Hall & Oates. Hilarious.

My mom and step-dad took me to one of Bob Marley’s last concerts, in Santa Barbara — the “Survival Tour” that is now out on DVD and used in PBS pledge drives was filmed at the very concert we were at, in 1979. All I remember is the usher giving me cotton for my ears when we first got there, and climbing all the way up to the lawn in the back of the Santa Barbara County Bowl. I was three and a half.

Now to try and sketch something that says something about these memories.

“The Road Ahead,” pre-quilting, fused cottons, 8 1/2″ X 11″

This is my piece for the January Take It Further Challenge. The challenge was to use this color palette:

or the concept of admiration for a person.

I started with both, sort of, in working from a spot on the road between Los Alamos and Santa Fe where it seems one could go anywhere, thinking I could create the landscape in an abstract way with embroidered words describing people who make it possible for individuals to make a new beginning, such as “mothers, artists, teachers, dreamers,” etc. As I worked with the fabrics, though, I abandoned that idea and focused on the shapes and proportions and colors instead.

Here it is with quilting:

It’s not finished at the point, because my plan involves supplies that I don’t have on hand. I have not yet decided on an edge finish, but I will mount the whole thing on an artists’ canvas, painted with the title and a couple of poetic phrases yet to be chosen. Oh, darn, I’ll have to go to the art store.

Assuming this turns out the way I would like it to, it will be my donation piece for the silent auction held by the Empty Bowls Project here in Los Alamos, to benefit Self Help, Incorporated.