Saturday, August 21, 2010

From neckline to hemline


There are a lot of values of blue in the dress Judy Harper's July angel is now sporting!

From the neckline to the water line, the dress was needle-blended using four plies of DMC floss #3755, 3325, 3841 and 775 in staggered basketweave. That was the easy part!--I'd used this "recipe" any number of times to create skies for lighthouses.

The water, however, was a trickier matter! There was no single blue/green color family in DMC floss that would give the smooth gradation I was looking for in the water--I would have to needle-blend this area, too! Working from the top down, I began with a combination of two plies ofDMC floss #3755, the darkest color in the "sky" area, and two plies of green DMC floss #992.

The two plies of green floss remained constant as the water gradually darkened using DMC floss #334 and #322. I gradually dropped the green floss out of the equation and used solid blue, ending at the bottom with a blend of DMC floss #322 and #312. All this stitching, of course, was only done after a lot of trial-and-error experimentation on doodle canvas!

It's time for this little angel to earn her wings, so I'll be working on that area next!

5 comments:

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

Beautlful!

Cool City Stitcher said...

Someone said that "you're the best at needleblending.." It's true, you are.. This is beautiful!

Possibilities, Etc. said...

The blending on the water is truly ingenious! She's looking really good. The colors are beautiful.

LIZ said...

The shading is amazing! You are definitely the blending queen!

Jan said...

Blending par excellence!! You seem to top yourself with each new piece. This is going to be stunning! Can't wait to see her completely stitched.