I’m making some progress on the Roumanian peasant blouse.  I’ve had my evenings free for about a week now and I’ve been stitching while finishing up seasons 5&6 of Charmed. I know I just lost a bunch of readers by that admission but I’ve never watched that show.  I’ve needed mindless mindcandy of late and at least it’s in the right topic, witches.  Thought it would be interesting to see what it has to say on the Craft.  I did get a little tired of uber glossy pouty lips and cropped tops and amped nipples but it’s been entertaining.  The writing, well, whatever.

Back to the peasant blouse.  I’ve been busy.  I hope that I don’t get tired of the embroidery but counted cross stitch has never been my favorite.  The other counted work is a bit better and I’ve feeling optimistic.  All the pattern pieces are hemmed in preparation for the construction using faggot stitch.  So for now it’s all embroidery.

You can see here several things.  You can see the waste canvas that I’m using to help me have somewhat even work. The linen count is teeny and I need some assistance to get it even-ish so I don’t ruin my eyes.  Trying to count the linen without the canvas help was a problem in my test sample. 

I got impatient and wanted to see how things look after removing some of the waste canvas.  A little uneven but it does have it’s handmade charm.  I decided to use a second color as suggested in the options (Folkwear pattern #103).  You can see my little test in the bottom right of the blocked area where I’ve used little green french knots. I think I might add these to the other similar motifs.  I’ve also decided to remove the red cross stitches for the leaves in the tulip area and  go back and make them green.  It’s a process and it illustrates that I don’t always come to my final piece in an easy manner.  There is ripping out and rethinking as I work to find exactly what I like once I move from my mind’s eye to reality.

Here is a close up of the stitches to show how the waste canvas works especially.  You can see where I’ve cut it away and started to pull threads.  I just had to see how things were shaping up without the stiffness and weight of the waste canvas.  The linen is still pretty drapey even with the embroidery and I’m pleased.  The colors also look a bit better without the canvas in the way visually.  The blue threads are every 5th for ease in certain types of counted work.  I also see now that if I pulled my tension just a tidge tighter I might get a more even line in places. 

I’ve been very careful not to catch the waste canvas with my needle and so far haven’t had any trouble whatsoever pulling it out from the stitches.  That is a nightmare I understand. Catch those waste canvas threads and get them caught in your embroidery stitches and getting them out can ruin your work if you’re not careful.  I’m very proud of myself.  I also know that folks will not be nearly as harsh in judging the evenness of my work as I am.