Feather in my cap!

Today I'm focusing on Bonnie's beautiful chapeau. The movie costume was made of velvet (which I never understood, I mean they're in Georgia) so that's what I'm using, Petite Very Velvet from Rainbow Gallery in numbers V664, V634  and V660 which are the perfect hues for this very famous outfit. I usually use Very Velvet very sparingly as it often appears heavy but for this piece I am probably going to use it in two large areas which will be a first for me, but the subject matters call for it and thankfully the areas are in opposite corners so they will balance out the heaviness within the piece. 

Today I'm going to concentrate on her hat. I find it helps to start with an inspirational photo and I used this one below.

I started with basketweaving the deepest blue (V664) which is the shadow on the bottom and then backstitched to outline the edge. I have been dying to use some ribbon lately and this gorgeous Planet Earth Silk Ribbon fit the bill perfectly. It is 7mm and the color is called Victoria (I would have named it Bonnie but what do I know?!). For me Ribbon often involves a bit of futzing (yes that's a technical term) and I tried to balance laying the angled satin stitches and getting some pretty pleats. This color is an overdyed so that really helps create depth. Using the medium blue, V634, I then stitched diagonal mosaic in the left hand blue portion of the hat.

Now how to tackle those feathers? I knew I wanted to use this beautiful Access Commodities Wire Check Purl #5 in Melon, MET 1607. I'm going to warn you, it's a "slippery little varmint" as Bonnie's mother would probably call it. If you don't have the patience to deal with purl, I would suggest memory wire as a suitable substitute, but like Ms. Scarlett, I'm always up for a challenge so oh yeah, I went there! 

I thought of curse words I haven't thought of in years because you have to treat this product delicately, with kid gloves. You can slightly stretch it to make it less springy or even purposely over stretch it (and twist another thread into it) if that's the look you want but once you do so there's no going back. You can use a matching thread that you have run through beeswax to couch it but I used The Collection Designs' clear beading thread because it's one of my favorite products. Once you have this invisible/clear beading thread in your stash you will find tons of uses for it and at a generous 100 yards per spool, it lasts a very long time-- I'll be using this again on this piece, I'm sure. So I cut the purl to length in mini-sections and went through and applied it like a very long bead and then strategically couched it down to manipulate it into place dividing the feathers into sections. If you have a very long piece you want to attach, you could always try using those bullion needles we talked about last time. "WARNING WILL ROBINSON," watch your couching tension, one swift, too-forceful tug and you'll crimp/deny the wire and ruin the purl beyond repair. Just take me on my word on this... Full confession: a decent amount of purl ended up in the trash... I don't anticipate using purl again on this piece but I do intend to practice using this product-/like Bonnie practiced her pony jumps-let's hope I have less tragic of an outcome.  Here is a photo of the purl, before I started with the Fuzzy Stuff.

After that, I went back and did long directional stitches, random long and short, using Rainbow Gallery's Fuzzy Stuff FZ13. You may notice there are two colors painted in the feathers. I decided to use the painted lighter color to help me with placement location of the purl but I only used one color Fuzzy Stuff because between the fuzz which also includes a little shine/sparkle and the metal purl, there is a lot going on already, no need to further gild the lily. Using a clean tiny comb (brand new, I save this one just for needlepoint) which was originally designed to separate lashes after you apply mascara, I did a little fluff job. I normally use a wire nap brush for fluffing turkey work and the like, but did I mention the purl is as delicate as dew on a magnolia?? I think I did, so I dared not catch it on the purl so I went with something I can better control. Sometimes restraint is most efficient in the long run. And below is the result.

Next time I'll be working on Bonnie's outfit. My mind is racing with ideas for that lace....and what to do for those teeny, tiny buttons??? Until next time, I'm gone with the wind.

Well I do declare, it's been a terribly long time since my last post. I wish I could say I was at a southern plantation doing research but no such luck, I've been working like a field hand getting my yard under control before winter sets in. 

But who cares about me, let's get back to our southern bell, Miss Scarlett, in particular let’s talk about her hair. Now I will admit, stitching hair can be confusing. It's often painted in a single large block of color which can be a little daunting because it doesn't give you any real direction on how the stitches should go and this was the case with Miss Scarlett's. My personal favorite hair moment in Gone with the Wind is when Scarlett pulls her sister's curl. If I had a sister, I bet I would understand....let's hope trying to stitch all these hairstyles in this piece doesn't have me wanting to pull my own hair out! Luckily though, I've tackled a good amount of hair in my day so I've come up with a few tricks over the years, or at least things that work for me.

I've found when dealing with hair, my first thought usually leans towards texture. Do I want it slick, shiny and smooth like the ladies in those Pantene commercials? Or do I want it a little courser or thicker? The answer to these questions drive my decision on what thread to use. If I want Pantene lady, I'll go with something stranded like Splendor as you can't beat the sheen of stranded silk. If it's a difficult color to match or I want it a little more flat (like for a mermaid), I'll look at cotton floss or Floche (although not my favorite). But if I want coarser, bouncy hair, which in this case I do, I'll go with something with bit of a twist, like Vineyard or Pepperpot. For Scarlett I'll be using Vineyard Dark Earth #C-042. I find the color name slightly ironic since the scene before she wears this green dress is when her father explains that for anyone who is Irish "the land is like their mother" and that "land is the only thing that lasts". . . earth/land, they’re the same thing in my book. 

If you watch the movie it's hard to see exactly what's going on with Scarlett's hair in the barbecue dress scenes, I actually found a few drawings online that I found more helpful than trying to tell from photographs or the movie. It seems around the temples the hair is pulled back, which means that the different sections of the hair will be angled in different directions. When faced with a situation like this, I often find it's easier to mark it out before stitching. I know some people use the thread they're going to use to put in directional stitches, but more often I use either a Dritz Fineline Air Erasable pen (which only works on blondes or light colors since the ink color is purple), or if the hair is dark, like in this case, I find a white chalk pencil – like dressmakers use -- especially handy, and unlike the air erasable, I can mark it one night and come back the next day and decide if my approach is still on track or if I need to make adjustments. With air erasables they often fade away in 12-24 hours (depending on humidity) so be forewarned. The encourage every stitcher to seek out these two products. They last practically forever, aren't a big investment and you will use keep finding uses for them.

So in marking off my direction lines, I put lines near the bows in first, then the long waves and then the lines on the top third of her head that is being pulled back. As I mentioned, I found a drawing online very helpful but if this wasn't a movie character with a specific frame of reference, you could look at google images for inspiration to help you figure out how to break it up or use the white or blue chalk pencils with a damp clean cloth or new makeup sponge as the perfect eraser so you can experiment, or you could use the air erasable and then use the chalk over it once you figure out what you want.  Here is the result of my chalk lines.

A word of friendly advice when you have hair broken up in different directions. I stitch each area with its own thread. Even if I have enough left with my working thread, I will often stop that thread and start again in the fresh area. I know this might sound like unnecessary work but I do this so if I have an issue in my next area, I can cut/pull it out and not have to worry about the previous area which I'm already happy with. And here is progress after a short evening of work. 

We all like to think the next area will go as smoothly but if you encounter a challenge in the next and have to take it out, you will be glad you put in the 30 seconds of extra effort. And speaking of which, you may have noticed that my chalk lines in the second picture above is different than what I stitched in the progress picture directly above. I initially misread the sections directly below the bows. Thankfully, I (mostly) follow my own advice and I’m glad I did because the stitches in the sections directly below the bow were "self-contained" so when I figured out my “misread”, I could take them out and shift gears without much angst in the top of the head area which I was happy with.

I did the crown of the head with an angled satin. The areas directly below the bows are done in long and short and the draping hair areas on the sides were done in a combination of long and short, stem and split stitch. I like split stitch when trying to create waves because it seems to make for a smoother transition to change directions to create the wave. I often put in a few dividing lines and then start filling in, it keeps my lines from going too far astray. Here is an example of my initial dividing lines to break it up.

And finally, here is my finished product. Including eyebrows which I kept pretty simple, as don't need her looking like Brook Shields circa 1982 . . . 

So up next, we're going to tackle that amazing BBQ dress... and be warned, like the movie, we might need an intermission and do the dress in two blog posts.

In the meantime, please consider subscribing to my blog for delivery of new posts right to your inbox and if so, please remember validate your subscription by clicking the link in the email you will receive. You won’t want to miss a single episode of our Gone with the Wind extravaganza!