thursday = embroidery

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Recently I saw a post on design sponge about oh my cavalier. {she has an etsy shop, a blog & does cool embroidery!} I found her dressed animals really lovely and was inspired by them to create a bird girl with an embroidered dress.


I scanned in a fashion illustration from a dover book & a bird from a vintage identification book and put them together on the computer. {It was much harder than I anticipated to find the right bird head to go with the body...}

I had trouble getting the image onto the silk {purchased at Joann’s in the remnant bin months ago}, finally ending up drawing it directly onto the fabric with the transfer pen using the light table.

I used fusible webbing to stiffen the embroidered dress and shoes so I could cut them out. {I have been scared of this stuff for ages but now I’m hooked and want to put it on everything!}

The background is from a roll of vintage wallpaper I bought this summer for 25 cents. I’m happy with how it looks with the teal. I used foam tape to attach her to the wallpaper so she's not flat against it and pins that came with the shadowbox to secure the wallpaper to the back of the frame.



I think I'm happy with the way she looks. I know I'm happy with following through with the idea - I usually just sit on them.

Oh - I upgraded my flickr account last night {I hit the ceiling for free photo uploads} and have taken the opportunity to create more sets so that if you come by its easier to find things – because I really like you…

p.s. Now I've got to add another flickr set for paint-by-numbers I guess, huh sweetjessie?! I have a couple but not nearly as many as I would like. You can't see my favorite because the dog is in front of it. And the two ones on the far right are actually paintings but not "by numbers" I got for free at the thrift store. I'll show my favorite for thrift day next week - now when are you going to show me one of yours?