Show Stitching: The Third and Final Act

In the end, Baby Leaf-tailed Dragon wasn’t finished for show week and in total, I only managed to put half a dozen stitches in him on stage the entire week, most of which had to be unpicked and restitched later! But ‘The Fifth Elephant’ went well and we had lots of positive comments from Pratchett fans, some of whom had travelled some distance to come and see the show.  No rest for the am dram wicked though – last performance of ‘The Fifth Elephant’ on Saturday and tonight (Monday) is the first casting reading for panto!

I did manage to get some stitching done in the interval though, so all the Bayeux Stitch is completed and I’ve started the couched outline. It neatens the edge up a treat.

Since the Baby Leaf-tailed Dragon and his frame were props for a scene in Act 1, I had to find something else to sew before curtain up and I decided to experiment with a banner style brooch using an odd kilt pin. I had a few small pieces left of a wool jumper I felted a while ago and turned variously into a cushion cover, a pair of mittens and some earring cases.

I added some commercial grey marl felt and an odd earring drop…

…blanket stitch, french knots…

…sequins, a bead, split stitch and detached chain stitch…

…before finishing with a kantha stitched back ground in shimmery blending filament, a beaded blanket stitch edging which joined it to the grey felt back and blanket stitching it to the kilt pin in stranded silk thread.

A fun little project and I particularly like the subtle sparkle you get from the blending filament.

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Show Stitching, Act 2

The applique for Lady Margolotta’s bat themed blouse is finished!

The biggest ones took 20-30 minutes each to stitch on and the smallest ones 10 to 15, so all twenty together have been quite a long job. Stitching with black thread on black felt has also limited when and where I can stitch, but in spite of that, it’s done with time to spare, thank goodness.

Baby leaf tailed dragon now has leaves sprouting from his lower tail.

He would have had another leaf completed but after a busy evening rehearsing and stitching, I went to put the couching stitches in and realised that I had put a whole leaf’s worth of laid stitches in vertically, instead of horizontally… He learned some new rude words that night.

Before the summer break, our ever-inventive Chair gave everyone who wanted to take part a pack of odd and interesting found objects to create a piece of found object embroidery. She included an instruction/guideline sheet as well, which I did refer to, noting that the finished piece should be no more than 7 inches by 5. However, I didn’t note that it was to be due in for November’s meeting. I assumed it was for the AGM last Saturday. Result – frantic stitching last week until a friend who had read the instructions properly, pointed out that I was two months too early. Moral of the story; don’t skim read and make the gaps up as you go along, Alex!

There was a load of thin plastic tubing in the pack and that suggested spirals to  me straight away.

It’s couched down with gold thread for some sparkle and then I played with widening some of the lines with more of the tubing to give the spirals a bit more weight.

Next to be added from the pack was a very large metal ring which I also couched down with gold thread in a starburst pattern. The broken earring front fitted perfectly in the middle of it and I love copper and green together.

Then I added a holed limpet shell from my own collection  to echo the shape of the loop of tubing.

At least I’ve made a start and hopefully won’t be rushing to complete it for November’s meeting!

 

 

 

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Show stitching

After a long stretch in various back stage roles, from costuming to directing with props and writing in between, I’m finally going to be on stage again, playing the role of Lady Sybil Ramkin in Scunthorpe Little Theatre Club’s upcoming production of Terry Pratchett’s ‘Fifth Elephant’ at the Plowright Theatre from Wednesday 2nd of October to Saturday 5th of October. Details and booking information can be found here.

Lady Sybil is a swamp dragon breeder, all round dragon lover and the founder of the Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons, so when one of the scenes called for her to be sewing, it made sense to get my baby leaf tailed dragon out and underway again.  Last seen, I had finally managed to get his head and chest almost finished.

Since then, I’ve been working on him through rehearsals. I finished the couching on his head and then all the stitches for his tail were laid over about two sessions…

…with the couching taking another two. Just a few more stitches to put in before I can start on the leaves.

I do love Bayeux stitch for the textured result and also the way it works up so quickly. However, that could be an issue as I only have his leaves left to do before the split stitch detailing. I’m a bit concerned that he may peak a little too early and be finished before we get into the theatre for show week!

My other bit of show stitching is adding bats to the pink blouse worn my Lady Margolotta, a vampire who is ‘”on the vagon” and has not bitten a neck for nearly four years. She is brightly dressed to reflect her more modern thinking, but the director, who is also making all the costumes, wanted there to be bats to reference her background.

Lovely little bats but they all have to be individually cut out of felt and hand stitched on and it is taking forever – still got the sleeves to do yet!

 

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