At it again!

I finished stitching the background of Emily's skirt--needle-blending again!

If you choose the right color family of floss, the effect of needle-blending is quite subtle. So subtle, in fact, that you won't see very much difference at all between the first few combinations of thread color.

In the photo at left, I'd started with four plies of DMC floss #3753 in basketweave, staggering the bottom stitch every other canvas thread so a line wouldn't be formed across the skirt. I moved on to three plies of DMC floss #3753 and one ply of DMC floss #3752, stitching five canvas threads deep. Continuing to subtract one ply of lighter floss and adding one ply of darker floss, I snapped the photo when I'd finished three plies of DMC floss #3752 and one ply of DMC floss #3753. As you can see, it takes awhile before the skirt starts to darken.

The photo on the right shows the finished skirt background. I stitched four plies of DMC floss #3752 across the canvas, then started cutting in DMC floss #932 in a 3-1, 2-2. and 1-3 ply combination. By the time I reached the bottom of the shirt, I was using four plies of DMC floss #932. I then used this same floss to stitch the fold lines that I'd previously skipped.

Is Emily finished? Not yet! While pretty, her skirt looks a little plain to me--I'll be back with some final touches soon!