Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Fashionably warm


Liam, the country gentleman, is ready for a walk in the woods or a stroll to the stables!

When I finished stitching his tweed coat, I moved on to the trousers. For this area, I used a thread new to me: Annabelle's Playhouse, which is made of 100% worsted wool. It's manufactured by Rosebud's Studio, which also produces Felicity's Garden, but the two threads are as different as night and day.

Annabelle's Playhouse is a heavy thread--too thick for basketweave on 18 ct. canvas but fine for 13 ct. canvas. It will work, however, for decorative stitches on 18 ct. canvas, especially if you switch to a larger needle as I did. Worked in a slanted gobelin stitch over two threads, Annabelle's Playhouse provided a nice heathery effect for the trousers.

The pocket handkerchief was worked in tent-stitch stripes with DMC floss #991 and 434 to highlight the green and rust shades in Liam's scarf. I added fringe to the ends of the scarf with some looped turkey work using Sheep's Silk "Acorn Woods." With the addition of a button for his coat, Liam is good to go!

What an interesting study in textures this project was! I have one more gentleman in this series to develop before moving on to something completely different, so stay tuned.

6 comments:

Mer said...

Love this! Looks great. Wish you had an option for me to share on twitter to draw some more traffic to your site! I love sharing your finished projects! Can't wait to see the next in the series!

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

He looks snug as a bug in a rug for winter. Nice job with all these textures, Anne.

Edy said...

Will the gentlemen be available at any time soon? They are so debonair that I must add them to my collection.

Anne Stradal said...

"Soon" is a relative term, Edy! I'm not done with the series yet, and I've been told stitch guides would be helpful. With everything else on my plate, I'm thinking Spring '12 is a good bet for canvases w/stitch guides.

Cool City Stitcher said...

I love the various textures you've gotten with needle and thread on canvas. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

Another fabulous finish! And I love the touch of color in the handkerchief to go with the scarf. No one does details like you!