Architectural elements: Moldings

The first sections I stitched on the tall case clock canvas were the moldings, which are really quite easy to execute in needlepoint with just a few simple stitches.

The thread I chose was DMC #5 perle cotton #712. I like using perle cotton for these architectural details: its slight twist gives the impression of wood grain while its thickness provides depth to the area being stitched.

The dentil crown molding was composed of a row of slanted gobelin stitches over two threads, followed by another row of the same stitch over three threads, ending with mosaic stitches for the dentils. The chair rail was worked in a slanted gobelin stitch over three threads, followed by a single row of tent stitches below.

The wainscoting was stitched in a slanted gobelin over two threads, taking care to miter the corners. The floorboard began with a single row of tent stitches, followed by slanted gobelin stitches over four threads.

I've started the wallpaper, using four plies of DMC cotton floss #712 to fill in the off-white areas. Already I think you can see that the perle cotton is doing its job to make the molding predominate over the wallpaper, which is as it should be!