Couched Lattice Work and Long and Short

Somehow, in late September, I got super busy with work and forgot to post about one of the leaves I stitched on my Jacobean piece. I did later show a picture of it with some bead embellishments I ended up adding, but I never explained how I had stitched the leaf. So today, I will rectify that with a very belated post.

I had decided, on the particular leaf in question, to make my first attempt at doing some couched lattice work. I've always liked the look of that kind of stitching, but I'd never worked on a piece where it would fit the pattern. One of the reasons I enjoy working on this Jacobean piece so much is that you can use some really fun, unique stitches on it.

To begin my couched lattice work, I satin stitched the section of the leaf in a lovely soft shade of blue. Then I began to lay pale peach gridlines across it:

I used my delightful Japanese ruler to help me with the process of laying the grid:

It really is the handiest tool, and my gridlines came out reasonably well, I thought. The next step was to start couching the corners down. I used a medium shade of peach this time for a little added contrast:

Once I finished that, I began the next section of the leaf, which I decided to stitch by blending long and short stitches and going from yellow to green to blue:

At this point, I loved my lattice work but was beginning to have serious doubts about trying to blend such different colors in the second section. Usually, when doing long and short, you blend different shades of the same color or very similar colors. Sometimes you add different colors for contrast — like the almost black centers of purple pansies. Based on what I've seen, though, it's a little more rare to move around the color wheel, and it's harder to do it successfully. But part of the point of this piece is to allow me to practice different techniques and see what works, so I persisted:

It didn't look too bad once the whole row of green was done, so I added the blue:

At this point, I was liking it much more. It's a bit unusual, but that's partly why I liked it. Next, I did buttonhole stitch around the lower edges of the leaf:

I can usually do buttonhole stitch very neatly and evenly, but I confess, all these curves gave me headaches. I took out stitches and reset them multiple times, but I just couldn't get it to look any better than this. So this is what I could accomplish at my current skill level, and that's perfectly okay.

Next, I chain stitched the upper side of the leaf in the same blue as the buttonhole stitch and then whipped it in a lighter blue:

I really like the whipped chain stitch on that edge. I think it's so pretty. As an aside, it didn't quite fill up the width of the pattern, and I didn't want to add another row of stitching there because this delicate inner edge looked right to me. So I carefully snipped the pattern line and just drew it out. Have I mentioned how much I love the stitch transfer method for its flexibility in allowing me to adapt my patterns after the fact? It's a glorious feature.

Now, from a previous post, you'll know I eventually added beads to the upper edge of the leaf:

I really, really love how this leaf turned out. It's definitely a little different, but I love that it's unique, and the colors make me so happy. When seen as a whole leaf, I think the long and short shading works really well. I love the pop of the yellow before it gradually blends back into the main blue of the piece. And I adore the pale peach lattice work over that lovely blue satin stitch. I wish I knew how to do a better buttonhole stitch, but I'm pleased with the overall effect, even if it's not quite as even as I could desire.

The unevenness is far less noticeable when seen from a distance, as part of the larger piece:

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm looking at my piece far more closely than anyone else will ever do, and I need to learn to focus more on the perfections than the problems.