Bluebell ATCs

 

There is such a sense of satisfaction when these completed cards are cut from their hoop and separated into their individual selves. The images suddenly become sharper and clearer, and the subtle differences more obvious. Although the overall design is the same - same number of trees, same order of fabrics, same colours used and techniques used in each section; the shapes aren't cut the same and the patterns in each section are different which leads to slightly different elements or emphasis within the embroidery. 

These Bluebell colours just make my heart sing, don't they you? I have so many happy memories of walking through woodlands crammed full of these delicate purple/blue flowers with their discreet scent that you can only smell whilst in that magical place. I am endlessly trying to capture the true colours of Bluebells in my photos - in real life they are more purple than blue - but the lens cannot capture what the eye can see. Or I'm just not a very good photographer. In these embroidered versions I'm not necessarily going for a true likeness but more a feeling that captures what I feel when in a Bluebell woodland.

You can't really tell but the top fabric layer is actually a print with leaves and little birdies on. Sadly most of the birds ended up disappearing between the trees rather than being visible, although you can just see one peeping out in the above photo. I've used a single strand of green to pop a few straight stitches in the leaves, with a whipped running stitch for any long curving stems.

I love the space dyed fabric underneath though, it has yellow tones and darker green tones which reminded me of the dappled light you get through the trees if you visit during the golden hour. I've tried to keep this idea by using a single strand each of a green and a yellow for the seed stitch, I'm not sure you can tell in this photo though, the colours are fairly subtle. 

I ended up with three different blue fabrics to create my blue haze background, the bottom most one contained some yellow to try and match with the sunshine further up. The top blue fabric which is 'deepest in the wood' is the darkest one to try and imply some shadow and then I've got a nice mid-tone blue between them. 

For the dark blue I've kept things simple and where there's been a shape (it's a batik fabric) I've gone around it with back stitches but these have ended up completely random within each card. The rest of the fabric has just been textured with some simple rows of running stitch and I've edged both this layer and the layer below with french knots to kind of hint at the bobbly texture you get in the woodland with so many flower heads clustered together. 

I decided not to add any stitches to the middle layer - other than the edging- because I wanted my Bluebell bullion knots to go up into it so there would have been too much going on. I probably would have added stitches if this were a bigger piece, you know me, I get a bit carried away, but in a small piece like this it would just have been too heavy. So instead I skipped this layer and went straight into adding my stems on the bottom floral fabric. 

I'm not sure if you can tell now but there are two phases of colour in these Bluebells. For the stems there is a higher 'back' row of straight stitches along the top of this fabric in a darker green and only using two strands so that they appear further away and more in shadow. Beneath these, at the 'front' is a lighter green set of stems using three strands so they seem closer to the viewer. It's really subtle but I like to think that it makes a discreet difference that helps to bring these pieces to life. 

Similarly I have done the same with the Bluebells - the back flowers are in two shades of darker blue and only use two strands, and the front flowers are in two shades of lighter blue with three strands. So in total there are four different shades of blue used here. 

They did look a little lost just as stems and flowers, floating in the foreground so I've gone in again and added a single strand long fly stitch to some of the more floater-y(?) back Bluebells using a variegated green thread which goes from light to dark and again picks out some sunshine feels. The front floating Bluebells have had the same treatment but with a dual combination of a single strand of dark green and metallic gold so that they really glow like they've been caught in a sunbeam. It's amazing how much of an impact a touch of metallic or sparkle can make to these little pieces!

I do like my little trees. They are a fantastic fabric which is already printed with a kind of light woodgrain type stripe so I have gone along each line with stem stitch and then edged the trees by couching on a full six strands of a slightly lighter beige colour using a single strand of the stem stitch thread - apart from on the middle back tree which has been edged all in the same colour to cast some shadow onto that tree. 

The leaves are my favourite trick of using a couple of strands of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn. There are three strands to this yarn and I've taken it down to two on the front trees for ease of pulling the yarn through the fabric layers (it gets a bit tough on the old thumbs trying to pull such a thick thread through tightly woven cotton fabrics). The stitches are just french knots at either a three or two twist but they create a wonderful bobbly texture. 

For my shaded back tree I've used a darker acrylic yarn with only one strand. This can be tricky as once you've started to deconstruct the yarn as a whole you have to remember to re-twist the fibres otherwise they just pull apart like felting roving. These knots are slightly smaller too, either one or two twist. 

To help bring the whole thing together I've added some little french knots in the metallic gold thread just within the lighter leaves on the trees to kind of act like a dappled sun spot lighting up the odd leaf.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out and I hope whoever gets one in the swap gets all of the memories and feels that I had when stitching it!