doing the poppies

as Terri made some lovely comments about my work and asked for an explanation about the poppies - I decided to post it here.........

I have been doing these flower and landscape pictures for the best part of 2o years now - I still love the hand stitching and the composing of these little art pieces even if it is considered hackneyed and old hat.

So here is my method .................

I frame up 2 layers of cotton calico - I like a good base to work on and the 2 layers work well. Old cotton sheeting can also be used but I prefer unbleached calico.

Having decided on the size of the finished picture - usually about 4.5" X 4.5" I draw this square onto the fabric and paint it in plain old watercolour paints . I use very watery greens, blues, browns ........ and let them mix and blend on the fabric.

I then start to build up the background by using long stitches in single stranded embroidery thread or ordinary sewing cotton. I cover the whole of the background - blending and mixing colours as I work.

A detail can be seen here - it isnt vital to be too neat or precise -

Once the threads are beginning to cover I start to insert smalls pieces of torn fabrics - chiffons, organzas and sheer fabrics. Lay the colours where they are in your picture.

Once the ground work is done the details can be started as here in the poppies...............

Stitching small pieces of fabric for more intense colours and adding embroidery stitches for the final details .

Here are some of the other pictures I haver stitched using this method.....

I am happy to help and aswer any questions if you have any - it is so hard to describe exactly what i do ! But please email me if you want any more information !

Zaz;-)