Phase 2: Couching Down the Pattern

I don't have my first phase 2 lesson for another eight days, but I wanted to make sure I was all ready for it. As you may recall from my last post, the design was missing some of the lines along the top of the fan:

I asked Mary Alice about this and she said they sometimes don't print curved lines because when you stretch the silk, it can alter the curve, such as by making a circle appear oval. While I believe this is what she's been told, I can't help but notice that they did, in fact, print the pattern lines for the circular plum blossom buds (which still appear circular). But for reasons unknown, they didn't follow through with the straight lines for each fan blade (surely if 5 inches of a straight line works, then 6 or 7 inches will as well) or bother to print the top edge of each fan blade (which is also a straight line on the pattern).

Sighhhh. Regardless, I knew I'd want to put those lines in with couching thread before I did any other stitching. Mary Alice suggested I print a photocopy of the pattern and use it as my guide. So that's just what I did. I had to put two photocopies together because my printer is too small to fit the whole design at once:

Then I laid this over the pattern on the silk and lined up the edges:

I held the pattern in place with my needle minder magnets and then couched lines across the top edge:

Once I got all the top lines in place, I took the photocopy away. Then I used one of my triangles as a straight edge to mark each inner fan blade line and couched those lines from the top edge of the fan to just beyond the point where the pattern line began:

Here's all the couching done:

Some of the lines are hard to see because of the way the light hits them, but they're all there. And this is ready for my lesson next Saturday. I already know how to do the bamboo leaves and plum blossoms, which is nice. Some familiarity makes me feel more confident. But I'm excited to learn all the new things for this piece. I have no idea where we'll start, but I'm really looking forward to it!