I have already shared a post on my first whitework embroidery which was from a great kit by Trish Burr, a South African woman who makes kits that combine whitework and zentangle.
Since then Trish published a book called Whitework with colour which I bought and have used one of her designs to do a new piece of work. I didn’t follow her colouring or stitches rigidly because I did not have all the colours in my thread box – so I just improvised with that.
Although whitework is defined as white thread on white fabric I like the addition of the other colours.
This lion with its lovely face was fairly challenging and, of course, it took ages. Like a lot of my work, it was nearly abandoned several times. I had tried a multicoloured silk thread but didn’t like it so had to pull it out, and then my new puppy got hold of it and stretched the fabric a bit!
Close-up of the lion’s face
Finished piece by me with my signature and framed in a hoop
I am glad I persevered though. I decided to make this for my friend Di who is a lovely Leo woman. And now it’s finished and stretched it has survived the dog incident.
It does not have as much long and short stitch as the Trish version because I still struggle with that stitch – although I did do a few sections in that. Otherwise, the lion is made up of padded satin stitch, laid stitch, seed stitch, straight stitch and split stitch.