As you may recall, I chose my own colors for the Mile High piece (because I don't do orange), and I was pretty pleased with them overall. But then I started having second thoughts about the gold I selected:
Don't get me wrong — I still think it's very pretty. It's lovely and bright and warm. The issue is that I'm just not really a gold person. I've always preferred silver, so when I think about hanging this in my apartment, the gold makes me hesitate. And then there's the fact that I chose a pale, almost silvery blue Habutae silk for the fabric. I wasn't sure how well gold thread would go with it. So I had Mary Alice send me a spool of pale silver thread instead, just to see:I really like it. It's so cool and elegant and soothing. I wasn't entirely sure if the bamboo leaves and pine needles would look as well in silver as they would in gold, but I thought they might look very nice. I was thisclose to switching to silver. And then I remembered the katoyori thread I chose for the bamboo trunk:As you can see, it's a mixture of warm brown and dark brown and, you guessed it, gold. Well, the silver would never do with this thread, so I've settled back on the gold, and the silver will be saved. But that's okay. I can always use it on my phase 2 piece — which will be one of the lovely fans that first sparked my interest in Japanese embroidery. I think a fan would look lovely in silvers and blues and lavenders, so I'll wait till then. As you can see, it's a little tricky to choose colors that will work well for your piece. There are so many factors to consider — how well things go together in the piece itself, what you plan to do with the piece once it's finished, your own personal tastes, general design principles, etc. But I'm so glad I did choose my own. It feels just a bit more personal, just a bit more me (even if I am more silver than gold). And I think I will enjoy stitching it more and be more satisfied with the final product because of that.
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