Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Progress on Lottie

tracing with the transfer pencil

Sometimes it's really hard for me to get inspired - then sometimes, all of a sudden, I see a pattern that strikes me and I'm just bit with a bug. I'd actually seen this pattern months ago but had hemmed and hawed about buying it because the last thing I needed was another unfinished project. But suddenly, Sunday, I found myself not only purchasing, but immediately starting on it...


I enlarged the pattern 170%, because I wanted Lottie to be a large work. I had to photocopy it in sections and tape the 4 pieces together. Then I used 2 sheets of tracing paper to trace it with my transfer pencil.


Then, came the fabric - I had a beautiful new pillowcase with subtle vertical stripes woven in - I thought they'd be a sweet background for my girl. I probably should have tested on a small section first? Because this fabric was a be-atch to transfer to! I had to go over the same sections over and over and over and still the lines were very faint in places. Oh, well. Learn for next time:


kind of faint

I had to start right away, because faint lines fade fast, so I sat down and did over 6 hours of stem stitching. I used 3-4 different blonde, olive-y shades for Lottie's hair, a nice bright blue for her dress and dark brown for her sash. After 6 hours:


after 6 hours of stitching

On day 2, I finished up her hair, fur, ruffles, dress and sash, the dotted border and her locket:


locket

This was a small change I made - instead of the bead necklace in the pattern, I drew in a heart pendant with a cursive "L" because in my imagination, Lottie is a sweet girl who is loved and cared for, in spite of her unusual appearance. I used one strand of gold metallic thread to make it dainty and teensy.

There were a lot of elements that drew me to this pattern, but one especially was the delicate rendering of the hands:


hands

I'm really loving this pattern and quick progress - just the flowers are left! It's really made my imagination go wild and and I've developed quite an affection for Lottie. Here she is, after about 12 hours of stitching:


after 12 hours of stitching

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who thinks Lottie looks like Chewbacca's daughter?

Claudia said...

holy chewbacca!
no affense to andrea but every time i see this pattern it makes me think of a cross between alice in wonderland and chewbacca...do see what i mean?

i love this pattern and what you've done so far, specially that gold necklace. can't wait to see it finished, it's AWESOME!

floresita said...

Ha ha guys, yes, I get Chewy vibes from her too, that makes me love her more. I think the colors I picked kind of emphasize the wookie-ness.

Also, sometimes when I look at her I see that squid-guy from Pirates of the Caribbean? All good connotations, all of them. :)

And, yes, I do see her as an Alice in Wonderland type, too. I'm sure that's why I gravitated to those colors...

Kristi said...

Oh, I am such a sucker for a WIP!! I love this so far. I loved seeing the process...it's so delightful to see what goes into a project...so lovely! ♥

Julie said...

She's great, I can't wait to see what she looks like finished.

Penny Nickels said...

Andrea is so cool! This looks amazing!

Anonymous said...

Yea she reminds me of chewbacca! Such a lovely design...and your stitches are amazing! Have a lovely merry happy day!

megan said...

Your patience and attention to detail never cease to inspire me. You are my embroidery idol!

sewitsforyou said...

she is turning out to be quite the beauty. I can't wait to see the finished product!