I have been working on samples for s few projects over the last week or two and today I have finished one.
It is moth scales on a leaft background. I had been thinking a lot about fabrics to use and how to do it and finally settled on simple shapes. I wanted to create depth between the leaves which were the background and the scales which were the moth's wings, so I tried out a few different ways to construct the two.
In this first sample, I covered the leaves and scales with netting and free motion stitched over the top. Although the leaves are about how I wanted them, the net dulled and flattened the wing scales on the right too much. Even with the couched line between them, there is not much difference in value between the two sides and certainly no difference in texture.
In the sample above, the leaves and scales have been both free motion stitched. Whilst I waspleased with the dimensionality of the wing scales using this method, again the value and texture of both sides is too similar.
This is my final sample. Again the leaves have been covered in net and free motioned, whilst the wing scales on this sample were hand stitched, using fly stitch. The value difference between the two sides is quite striking and the texture is very different. This is very close to what I want to do. Now, I just have to decide whether I want to stitch several hundred wing scales on by hand or by machine.
Another difference I will make in the final piece will be to make the leaves more random and perhaps use tulle instead of net (and of course be a little more careful with my stitching, mmmm)
Have fun creating
