Attaching the Leaves
I tried various methods for attaching the snowdrop leaves.
Firstly, I painted some silk with diluted printing ink and left the fabric to dry on a crinkled plastic bag so that it dried unevenly to create different shades of green. The back was then stablised.
I appliqued the leaves from the back using the tracing as a guide. The main difficulty was applying the leaves in the correct order so they overlapped as planned.
I found that if was easier to machine with the feed-dog up on the long leaves as free-machining was difficult to control.
The green and white variegated leaves were edged with machine couched thin string, using a light yellow polyester thread. I added some very narrow zig-zag stitches for the white lines.
I tried edging the dark leaves using the same method with wool instead of string, but I changed my mind as it was far too heavy. Instead, they were outlined with narrow satin stitch in dark green embroidery thread.
Adding the Flowers
I used thin wads of creased white chiffon to add the snowdrop flowers. This created texture. The fabric was appliqued from the back, trimmed and edge stitched with straight stitch, free-machined in white thread.
The dangly stems were free-machined using dark and light embroidery thread to vary the colour.
The buttercups in the background had been applied by stitching over pieces of chiffon which had been dyed yellow. However, they didn't really show up enough and so I threaded thick gold embroidery thread onto the bobbin and seed stitched from the back. I think this was much more successful.
At this point, it was clear that the printing ink was not as colour-fast as expected! My machine had a lovely tint of green over the working area! This was easy to clean, but unfortunately the paint had also tinted and dulled the white flowers. The application of a little white printing ink helped to remedy this.
Green highlights were also added to the flowers with a dab of light green printing ink.
Some flower buds needed to be more yellow so I applied a top layer of yellow chiffon.
Finished as last!!!
HIGH RESOLUTION LIMITED EDITION GICLEE PRINTS OF THIS ORIGINAL ARTWORK ARE NOW FOR SALE FROM MY ETSY SHOP:
They are also available from the Big Cartel at: https://suebateman.bigcartel.com/product/cotswold-snowdrops-limited-edition-giclee-print
Visit www.suebatemantextiles.com/blog/cotswold-snowdrops-part-1 to view Part 1.
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