Shadow work

Hello everyone..

Lots of "other stuff" have been keeping me away from blogging lately - festivals (Dussehra is over,but the mother of all festivals,Diwali, is due next week) ,official work,little things here and there etc etc. Iam just not able to sit down peacefully and stitch for some time.Oh,how I wish I could.

All I could do were these..

One of my friends had asked me if I knew shadow work and could I teach her the same. I stitched a few small samples just to show her. These are stitched on cotton handkerchief ,which I felt was transparent enough (but not quite enough) . I tried the Pearl cotton thread first (the red one) but the results were not too satisfactory.The thread gives you a lacy shadow and not a filled look.

Then I tried stranded cotton (3 strands) which is what you see below. This was meant to be a blue on blue shadow work and it actually is- though the photograph doesn't show it that way.The cloth is of a very light blue shade,the camera doesn't like it ;)

Stranded cotton worked perfectly fine - small stitches gave a filled look. I tried both the methods- double back stitch on the right side and herringbone on the wrong side.Today I'll try out the leaves with the Indian darning method. Let us see how it comes out.

Meanwhile,here's something done by professionals.This is an embroidered kurta of mine from calcutta.Click on the photographs for a closer and better look.Enjoy!!!

Just to show you the shadowy effect...

A close up ..