Switching Things Around

The temporary holding stitches are back in Grace. The last time they were in, I jumped into short stitch holding. However, the correct next step would have been to put in the superimposed work. As I was redoing thigs, I figured I'd follow the correct process.

The instructions say to use shell powder for the transfer, but I went with the paper transfer method. It hasn't failed me yet.

For now, I only transferred the lines for the folds and the outlines for squares that decorate the bottom of the kimono. These outlines are held down with tiny couching stitches which will then be covered in either gold or silver colored thread with a metallic thread.

I've put in three silver squares so far and they're quite shiny. They're meant to emulate gold and silver leaf.

This Saturday is our monthly Japanese embroidery stitching day. I'm hoping to put in the remaining squares and cover the outline with a green twisted thread.

Mr. Frog Came to Visit

This weekend I had a visit from Mr. Frog. I'd been working hard on Grace for the last two weeks and made great progress. I put in the short stitch holding on the kimono and was getting the majority of the foundation done.

I had some doubts but thought I was doing well, until I sent a progress picture to my teacher. See, I put in all the short stitch holding on the green foundation but there were a few areas that didn't look quite right to me. I figured maybe it was because of where I put in my temporary holding stitch.

You'll have to click on the image to get a bigger picture but you can clearly see my short stitch holding. These should sink into the foundation and become invisible. After discussing it, it was decided that I should take it out and see if it was doable without damaging the foundation.

The frogging happened from the back. I was never so grateful of how picky (and anal) I am with my stitching. Because I put in my stitching consistently going from left to right, it was very easy for my to remove all the stitches (including knots).

Since I was there, I decided to also take out the short stitch holding on the upper part of the body. Being a picky person, I knew I'd end up redoing it anyways as I wasn't a 100% satisfied of it either. It took all day but I'm happy to say my foundation is still good and I'll be able to make a second attempt. We had a nice group discussion on how I can do a better job, and here's a few things we decided:

• my temporary holding stitches will be put in 5mm apart (I initially had them at 8mm)
• short stitch holdings will be 1cm in length. I initially had them at 8mm but I think the stitches were too short, making them more angled than they should be
• there will be at most 3 columns of temporary holding stitches on the narrow part of the kimono

At the end of the day, I had enough time to start the temporary holding stitch.

Since Mr. Frog was visiting, I decided to extend his stay for one more day to work on the Contrast Color Wheel. Remember that weird green? It turns out the color was right but it was in the wrong section. After reaching out to Jen Goodwin, we quickly realized I had an extra green.

I really should have listened to my instincts. The lighter green looked nothing like what it should in the image but I figured maybe it was lighting. This meant I needed to remove all the light green as well as the darker green.

The unpicking although not fun was painless as the back of my work was neat. I could remove some areas without disturbing what needed to stay in.

I spent all of Sunday unpicking, with a little bit of time at the end for some stitching.

So after a whole weekend of unpicking, I was quite happy to see the back of Mr. Frog and I hope I won't get another visit for a long while.

Japanese Embroidery Phase 6 - Class

Our Japanese embroidery class was held last week. We were a mix of advance and phase 1 students. In order to use the time wisely, phase 1 students started on the Wednesday in order to frame their pieces and learn the basics of handling the flat silk. The advance students (there were two of us) came on Thursday and the class went on for four days. It was very exciting to pack up my embroidery things the night before. I forgot how much stuff we cart around.

On the first day of class, we looked at short stitch holding. As I've done my homework, I could jump right in. Short stitch holding is one of those techniques that is super Zen. It takes a long time to cover the foundation and it requires you to be in a very relaxed frame of mind as you want loose stitches. You don't want to pull too tight or it will show up on your foundation. Especially on that smooth flat silk, you want it to disappear. I struggled at the beginning, but it got better as I went along.

The same technique was used on the obi, but in this case we are covering a foundation of twisted thread. We also have areas where the dark and light colors meet. For those areas, the thread used is a combination of both. The goal is to blur the area where they share a hole.

At the end of the day, I have no visible update. Which is the whole point of the technique!

Second day of class, we started work on the face. In Japanese embroidery, we stitch foreground to background. So I could only go so far on the face before I had to stop.

I had a bit of collar and two little leaves to put in first. I loved stitching the collar, it's such a pretty color. But those leaves, especially the bottom one really gave me some trouble. I knocked out the top one and kept struggling with the angle of the second. Until my friend came to me and said: "Dima, is that the right color green? I don't remember using that shade. It doesn't go with the green of the kimono". It wasn't funny at the time, but it helped break the ice. I proceeded to remove both leaves and was able to get through it.

With that the rest of the face could be put in. The foundation is done in a really soft twist and it's the softest thing you'll ever touch (even thought I shouldn't be stroking it lol)

This is where you can start seeing some visible progress. 

On day three, Grace got hair.

We took a break in the middle of the day to have a special talk. We decided, in order to inspire and encourage the phase 1 students, we would hold a mini exhibition. Not everyone brought pieces, and some of our stitching group did not attend, but between four stitchers we were able to contribute 18 different designs. It was lovely to see them all together. I originally took a video, but somehow lost the footage, so you're missing the third table in the picture below.

Having had a lovely show and tell, we went back to our stitching. With my foundation in place, I needed to put in temporary holding stitches. I really struggled with getting the curves just right. I think I was starting to tire at this point, as my brain was no longer processing the concept of "temporary". It doesn't have to be perfect as it will be taken out later.

Finally we come to the last day. I considered starting work on the inner garment of the kimono, but I decided I wanted to finish the face. I spent half the day putting in the short stitch holding. You can barely see it in the picture below, and I'm so happy with it.

Once it's in, I can take out the temporary holding stitch. This is where the panic set in and I finally understood what they meant by temporary. When I pulled out the white thread, I noticed there were little nubs sticking out destroying my pretty foundation. Those were the stitches that held the long white thread in place. I lost my mind (in my defense I was tired and fasting, not a great combination), until my teacher calmed me down and showed me how easily they can be taken out from the back.

By then I was really glad it was the last day. I was quite happy to pack up everything and go home. I'm happy with my stopping point. I met the objectives I set myself and even got more done than my teacher did when she took the class herself. However, I don't want to look at this piece for at least two weeks. Which worked out as our next monthly meeting was being held on April 23.

Japanese Embroidery Phase 6 - New Start and Homework

Since our last online class with our Japanese embroidery teacher, the COVID situation has been getting better(?). At least well enough that we felt comfortable enough to plan for an in person class in April. As there were no guarantees and there was a chance we'd have to cancel and do a zoom class instead, I decided to have a backup plan. 

Sadly not all those silks were for me

I purchased both my phase 5 (Himotaba the extended version) and phase 6 (Eternal Grace). As they each cover two different techniques, cords and short stitch holding, I felt comfortable enough to ask my teacher if I could switch the sequence a bit. If we met in person, I would work on Eternal Grace. If it ends up being a zoom class, I would work on cords.

Once our teacher confirmed her flight details, I got the green light and started to work on doing some pre-work. My design came printed on kimono fabric with gold woven in. It's really pretty in person. I've noticed online that there are many different versions of Grace. With guidance, many stitchers changed the color of her kimono to suit their tastes. My color selection came from a friend who had stitched hers with a green kimono and coral obi. I really liked her palette and she was kind enough to share it with me. Lucky for me she takes such great notes. The colors are from the Heian period, which I really love. Bonus: it will go very nicely with the Himotaba and Hiogi as both follow the same palette. 

As I've done this previously with Hiogi, my teacher was ok with me starting some of the foundation. This would help save time in class.

My mission was to put in the foundation and temporary holding stitch on the right side, the obi that sits right under it and then the rest of the kimono going all the way down.

For the obi, we have light and dark areas where the obi is folded. I tried to play with the length of the stitches so I wouldn't just have a block of light and dark. Those shared areas will be smoothed over when I put in the short stitch holding and then the outlines later.

There is a color change towards the bottom of the kimono. Mixed in with the lighter green is a metal thread. I went with a lovely white gold. It gives it just the right amount of shimmer.

The obi is done in twisted silk, but the kimono was all flat foundation so it was imperative that I put in the temporary holding stitch in order to protect it.

The pre-work took two weekends to put in and I really enjoyed it. I love foundation work! With this my piece was ready for class.