Since I'm quite unfamiliar with hand embroidery, I thought a good idea to getting started would be to test and practice stitches. I started with the Braided Chain Stitch with three strands of DMC floss in a color I already had in my stash. Since I wanted to gift a second bat pillow to someone else, I decide to embroider her name on it to get me started:
It went pretty well. It took the whole T and most of the A to get a feel for tension. Once I got it though, I felt like I was on my way and ready to try some more. I looked around the web and saw a few embroidery skeleton projects and while I liked them, I think they could be much improved on with some different line weights. I dont know a ton about line art, but I do know that changing the weight of the lines will give it the piece more dimension. I know it is a drawing technique, but I think it applies here. I started a small sampler on a piece of the linen I intended to use. I tried different weight threads (#20, #8, strands) in a braided stitch, chain stitch, backstitch, and knots. I also tried the skull and ribcage. I was really happy with the skull and think I use that base (#8 backstitch) to adjust the lines weights in other areas.
Making the skull and rib cage sample came out well enough that I feel good continuing on. My next step, to make a better drawing. For this one, I taped down my printout and taped tracing paper over it.
I wanted more precise lines than the previous sharpie test, so I started my tracing with a standard, very sharp, #2 pencil. While tracing the lines, I identified a few places that I feel like are going to be more problematic than I'm willing to attempt on the actual piece. The wing bones connect to a large joint that might not be so easy to translate to thread. Also, the bones near the neck are going to take a little bit of planning to put in and have them look like something other than a mess of lines. I made a few executive decisions like only showing the outermost side of the ribcage. You can see the bones on both sides, but I think when the lines go in they will be too close together. Rather than looking like two sides of a rib cage, I think it would be a big blob of black.To make sure I was going down the right path, I tried the wing connectors and a letter in chain stitch.
I also decided I kind of like the idea of him having an actual eye. I dug around in my stash and found a few Swarovski hot fix crystals that are contenders. I think I like the crystal best, but I'm holding out the black and red to see how it all comes together.
Lastly, I wanted to try the silk ribbon shells and make sure I wanted to keep them in the final pattern. It took two goes to get it to a place I thought was ok. I found that the ribbon I have it really fragile. It gets runs it (like panty hose) from the simple act of pulling it through the fabric. I've used silk ribbon before and not had that issue, so it may be the brand. Because it's black, you cant really see the runs. None of our big box craft stores have silk ribbon for embroidery, so I'm just going to go with it rather than spend $ + shipping to get another kind.
I did a bad job taking pictures for the pattern making. I was so into it, I forgot to stop! I just used a pencil, patience, and lots of measuring to lay out he pieces on a regular sheet of typing paper. It took a few tries to get something I was happy with. When I was finally there, I taped it down and traced over it with a big black sharpie so I can see it through the fabric later.
I dont know that my light box is going to be able to shine through the paper and the fabric, so I may have to trace it yet again onto tracing paper for the light. We'll see....
A Bonus - the "finished" sampler.
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