shadow work

In the next little while I have a few more projects – not for my book, unfortunately – that I need to get done. I have another piece of clothing that I need to embellish for Embellish magazine. Its a light and floaty fabric, which to me just says “shadow work please”. So I might just have to oblige!

Shadow work uses double back stitch (which looks like herringbone stitch) to create an outlined shape on the front, and a “shadow” filling of the same colour on the back that is seen through the fabric from the front. It needs to be worked on a transparent fabric for it to provide the full effect.

My sister is very very pregnant, and my niece or nephew could be born any day now. For her previous children I have made an embroidered lampshade. I recently realised that she’s expecting another one for this child too – a thought that hadn’t occurred to me before she mentioned it. I find that shadow work can work really well for lampshades, so I’ll probably do another one like that for her. If its a girl, then I’m looking forward to reusing my butterfly motifs all over it. If its a boy, I haven’t yet had any inspiration.

So there are a few more important projects coming up over the next little while that are almost guaranteed to add to my frustration levels – frustration that I am working on something other than the new book.

Here’s hoping the baby arrives soon though!