Oh and uh....I used this pattern because it is a variety of the pencil kind.
May 23, 2013 Inspired project
Funny how things can jump at you and put other projects on hold. I recently bought a magazine (People StyleWatch June 2013) that featured a polyester skirt and it had a greyscale floral print on a white background and I was thinking to myself that I would try to do something similar but with vibrant colours and so here we are. I wanted to do a similar greyscale project but I changed my mind and also decided to put my favourites on there and a bit more.
In looking at the greyscale printed skirt I started seeing repeats of certain flowers. I did some repeats in my version, however, it was not a repeat of the same type of flower. I also planned to add insect species because that is nature.
So, I started fishing out all of my traces of butterflies and retraced some of my own flower pictures from my extensive library(jpegs) and here is what I will put on this skirt so far:
Rosa nutkana (wild dog rose)
Lepidoptera
Nymphalis antiopa(Mourning Cloak butterfly) dorsal (superior) view
Lycaena cupreus (Lustrous Copper butterfly) ventral(lateral-side) view
Papaver sp. (White Poppy)
Potentilla fruticosa (Cinquefoil)
Weed variety (Tansy Ragwort???)
Anenome sp (Ranunculus species)
Spiraea japonica(Cultivated not Hardhack)
Rosa gymnocarpa (Dwarf rose)
Papaver somniferum (Red oriental poppy)
Diptera
Metasyrphus americanus (Hover fly, mock bee) Lateral(side) view
Gastropoda
Common garden snail. I don't know what species I embroidered. Lateral view
So far so good right?? I'm telling you, this is a big bite to swallow. I also know that I need a white skirt, and you may know that I can never have a plain thing happening, so, this will keep me out of trouble.
Well, I also know that I can pull this off before we get some real sunny weather happening in the month or two that it comes per year or so, and I will also wear this with my GEOX printed floral wedges! What a plan!
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| My GEOX Respira wedges!!! |
May 26, 2013 Nymphalis antiopa
I completed the Mourning Cloak in the first frame I finished. I have a video of capturing this butterfly at Campbell Valley Park, BC but I couldn't get a decent frame in focus.
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| Real life subject. I have seen this insect flying around near the college grounds, blackberry shrubs near roadsides, remote lakes, Crown land parks. This dude is all over the place! |
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| My completed version finished Frame 1 on May 26, 2013 |
Ok, so, I was on the fence about including this subject, and I didn't know if it was going to work with the general leaf structure I drew on my white skirt and I sort of put yellow flowers on this frame. Now, keep in mind that for the Tansy Ragwort the leaf structure is totally wrong on my skirt and doing it is WAY too much work at this point in time, so I feverishly did 16 leaves and slapped on a yellow flower of some kind. Basically, I wanted a very natural setting being that there will be some insect species floating around on my skirt.
Once I drew it on my skirt it was a done deal anyway only because the tool used was a 2H pencil perfect for white backgrounds and permanent (non-iron transfer) images.
You can see where the Mourning Cloak is situated with respect to the Tansy.
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| Frame 2 Completed This leaf structure is wrong for the Tansy but it looks natural This is also situated on the topmost right side of the front of the skirt I won't go higher than this |
June 3, 2013 Rosa nutkana and Lycaena cupreus
In looking at all of my traces of butterflies that I did, the trace that worked with the right size I needed came from the family that the Coppers belong to (Lycaenidae), so naturally I found a species that exists in the lower mainland of BC which is the Lustrous Copper. It may be slightly out of my range geographically, but my book offered a nicely coloured ventral view of it anyway.
Also, in dealing with dog roses, I know for a fact that they are quite easy to do and fast. And I love roses anyway. I also decided that in any frame that they are in, I will not include rosebuds being that right now, I see too many fully opened blooms in places where I know they exist (roadsides and such and such)
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| Frame 3 completed June 3, 2013. This is bordering my hemline and this is how it's situated This is located in the bottom right side of front of skirt (Get a load of the compound eye I put on the Copper) |
This brings this pretty much up to date.....keep you posted. Working on Frame 4.
June 8, 2013 Rosa nutkana and Potentilla fruticosa L., Papaver sp.
I had to finish the dog roses right next to the other frame because it made sense.
These are the real life subjects that exist pretty much everywhere around here.
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| Roadside roses. This is a large shrub. |
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| Potentilla fruticosa L. Geez, another member of the Rose family. |
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| Frame 4 finished June 8, 2013 |
The Cinquefoil of course is not finished because I couldn't fit it in my 18 cm diameter frame.
June 12, 2013 Anemone sp Redoute colour scheme
During the time I was working on the anenome, I have two on this skirt, however, the picture I took will belong to another frame. This lighter blue variety was one last minute add-on design that I had to add blue because the red/pink was becoming overwhelming. So, I used one project from Trish Burr's Redoute Flower Anemone Simple, which worked out great.
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| Frame 5 finished June 12. This is on the lower left front/back of skirt |
June 14, 2013 Revisit of Potentilla fruticosa L., and Triticum aestivum (Wheat)
Frame 6 was the quickest one completed because it was a continuation of frame 4. I therefore added a spray of wheat to create colour gradients and perhaps some depth.
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| Frame 6 finished June 14, 2013 |
June 18,2013 Anenome sp, not Redoute
OK, so it may be part of the skirt that begins to repeat itself, I know for a fact that this is my own design and colour scheme with a bit of a change to the stamens and anthers of the centre of the flower. Instead of using the standard french knots I decided to use delica and seed beads for the centre giving it a bit of a shine. My own special touch. I also made this one a bit more darker than I expected.
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| My own picture. I had to get this one in time as they were almost finished. |
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| My version. Frame 7 completed June 18. This was the smallest frame |
June 20, 2013 Spiraea japonica not Spiraea douglasii ssp douglasii.
This frame crossed over from Frame 7, but my space is becoming less and less as I get into finishing the area that I planned to do work on. I see this growing EVERYWHERE I go, so I am pretty sure I am seeing both varieties around here. (I see Spiraea douglasii ssp douglasii along greenbelts (riparian zones and naturalised parks))
Keep in mind that Spiraea is also very cultivated and I realised I was seeing this type along roadsides where I normally walk here and there because businesses and Crown Land love to plant this low maintenance shrub but anyway.
And I found out that leaves are a great filler for space.
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| This is Spiraea japonica that I took a snapshot from Crown Land |
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| Frame 8 finished June 20, 2013. |
June 22, 2013 Rosa gymnocarpa dwarf rose
Here we have another set of wild roses that I frequently see on local trails and such and such. I wanted to make this frame of roses smaller than my other set which in real life is true since these roses are quite a bit smaller than R. nutkana. Anyway you see it, I can't get enough of roses it's sickening.
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| Frame 9 finished June 22 |
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| Rosa gymnocarpa picture taken on Teapot Hill |
June 25, 2013 Rosa gymnocarpa finished
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| Frame 10 finished June 25. Easy, just missed that one from frame 9 |
When I originally traced and 2H penciled my skirt I knew I had wanted a red flower on the skirt. As the weeks droned by I then temporarily forgot what I traced and looked through my papers I then remembered. I had taken a lot of poppy flowers that existed around the college but were all pink poppies and so I had to rely on my bought project books and some pictures from books. Anyway, as it turned out, I remembered why I only wanted one red poppy on my skirt. The truth is, before it was done it looked as though my skirt was bleeding red and similar shades of red and I just knew that one was enough. Overwhelmingly red. But it offers a good balance that offset the mass of blue that was hogging the colour scheme.
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| Frame 11 finished June 26, 2013. Posterior view Last frame |
June 27, 2013 Insect and invertabrate add-on
Well, I decided to do a very quick add-on of a garden snail and hover flies. These flies are kind of cute as they are beneficial to the garden.
As always the lighting is bad right now as we had nothing but rain since the first day of summer, so, I also want to point out that these did not really have a designated frame but were put randomly wherever.
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| Used Stumpwork techniques for this little dude. |
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| Not very detailed because they are supposed to be small. I have 3 of these on here. |
June 30, 2013 Finishing up
With a little extra time on my hands I figured this time I would line this skirt because I know it will protect the work for longevity and wear and tear. I did get this fabric on sale that has machine embroidery on it and to me it pales in comparison. Suprising huh?
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| Finished front |
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| Finished vent, invisible zip |
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| Lining. Been blue-bombed |
I would also like to stress that at this point, massive embroidery work as much as I try to avoid it tend to self wrinkle when I have to change frames so often. Now, if I had a large area hoop that would take into account the whole area at one given time then it won't look so wrinkled.
*********I need to invest in one of those************
Got to get rid of the blue-bomb. But that is it.
PS: Elements planned but omitted: Cornus florida.(Pink flowering dogwood)
I intended to put this on here but honestly, it was too much for me to reach my end-of-June deadline
Well, another goal accomplished. Back to other projects. Stay tuned...
