Phase 1: Mile High Complete

I've been struggling with migraines the last few days so my progress has been a bit slower than usual, but I've managed to spend about an hour each day on my phase 1 piece, and it is now complete!

The last step was to add in the gold metallic skylines on the right side of the piece. I had originally couched the guidelines in white, but Tonie suggested I use gold instead so that they would be less likely to show after I couched the metal thread down over them. So I removed the white threads and started putting in gold couching threads instead:

I also needed to redo the lines because some of them weren't quite straight. There were only small marks printed on one side of each line, so I had to use the tissue transfer method to mark where each line should end. Unfortunately, my lines got a bit uneven during this process — probably because the fabric was stretched but the pattern wasn't.

Tonie told me to drag a needle along the weft line in the fabric — damaging it ever so slightly — so that I could see where the line should end on the other side:

With that done, I then placed the thread over the marked line and couched it down:

Once all the lines were marked out, I began stitching the gold metallic thread over them. Some lines were done with a single gold thread while others were done with a pair of gold threads, like this one:

I started by couching the metal threads down in the center and then couching halfway between that stitch and each end and then halfway between each set of couching stitches again and again until I had couched the whole line down. This is apparently how you're supposed to do it, but it was much harder for me to get the couching stitches evenly spaced this way. So eventually I decided to hold the gold metallic thread very taut with my left hand and couch evenly spaced stitches by starting at one end and moving to the other. This was far more successful for me.

I noticed another, more obvious issue when I got about halfway done with couching the metal threads — the single gold lines appeared almost the same thickness as the double gold lines because the gold couching thread wasn't quite hidden by the single metal thread. So I started removing the gold guidelines before I stitched the single lines, just marking the beginning and end points by leaving the couching thread sticking out temporarily:

Then I went  back to the single lines I had already done and very carefully snipped and tugged out the couching thread:

I was much happier with the effect after I had done this to all the lines:

There is a more distinct difference between the double lines and the single lines, which is what I wanted.

But my original couching technique caused other problems. I sent a photo to Tonie, who said it looked very nice but pointed out that my couching wasn't quite even on the top left row — the stitches there were about twice as far apart as elsewhere:

It's hard to tell from this photo, but dash it all, they were. So I took a small length of couching thread and went back and placed small stitches in between the first seven or so stitches on the top row. It's tough to see the difference in the photo, but the light catches it a bit more uniformly now:

Once I had finished that, my phase 1 Mile High piece was at last complete:

The jubilation! I think it's just a beautiful piece. I rather like that it's so colorful on the left and then a bit more monochrome on the right. It's a nice contrast. I was worried it would bother me, but the gold skylines brighten it up just enough that it doesn't at all. 

There are actually two extra guidelines compared to the original pattern — the ones on the bottom right — because my fabric had a flaw in it that I wanted to cover up. But I think they fit in quite nicely.

I sent the picture to Mary Alice, who said it was very nice, and to Tonie, who said I'd done a beautiful job and should be proud. And really, I am quite proud. Japanese embroidery is by far the most difficult embroidery I've ever done, requiring much more skill and more unusual techniques. And to have accomplished all this solely via Zoom classes and telephone calls feels like quite an accomplishment! And it only took about 7 weeks.

I just need to do the finishing process on this piece and take it off the frame, which I will try to get to this weekend. My phase 2 materials are set to arrive on Friday, and I can't wait!