Japanese Embroidery Class Phase 1 - Day 4

Day 4, the last day of my formations of Phase I of Japanese embroidery. I was very reluctant to go to my last day. With the failures I lived the day before, i was not sure anymore on my capacities to do Japanese Embroidery. I told myself I had been waiting for this class for so long + it cost me a lot of money for the course and furnitures + all my things were there... so i got out of bed and went to class.

Good thing is, the last day went better than i thought it would. We worked on 'easier' things 

The first thing was finishing the outline of the paperbag, and put guidelines to follow the weft of fabric.

That part was way easier than what i did before. You twist the thread, and stitch inside de outline, while making sure to go parallel every time, following the guidelines.

Another part of the day was stitching the long iris leaves. This one is a little bit tricky, since you have to follow the movement of the leave. I have problem with where to land my next stitch when the forms is moving. 

It's not perfect, but im okay with my work

Finally, the last part was about the pink flower. They have to be worked in short and long stitch. In this orang, i will put white and gold thread. It will look great. :)

(I say this, but i had to remove everything... )

So this was the end of the four day adventure. That last day went better than the others. When i got used to silk thread, i was able to not snag it everywhere, twisting the thread became easier. 

This is what it looked like at the end of the formation

Even if it was hard, I got a lot of fun. I am able to blog about it because after 6 month my interest on Japanese embroidery is still very high. Even with the difficulties i face, i manage to continue.

One of the fellow stitcher is having a monthly meeting at her home, so everybody could have a full day of working on their different pieces ( A gift from the sky, knowing i dont really have time with school, i could never be able to find time to stitch ! ). Plus, having a group helps when you have questions or incertitudes.

From now, I will post a monthly report of my work, what I did, what went good and bad. When Carol-Ann Conway from Threads Across The Web ans Susan from Plays With Needle were still doing Japanese embroidery, I got a lot of pleasure reading their blog about their struggles. Knowing they had great times and also difficult helps me when I struggle on something, since i am very fan of their stitchings ( They do it so good ! ). 

If you have the opportunity to try Japanese embroidery, i encourage you to go for it :) And I hope you will get as much pleasure as i have to stitch with silk and learn this beautiful art.