This week, I’ve made a little progress on my Medallion project I showed you a couple weeks ago. It’s a commissioned piece of church embroidery that needs to be finished this coming spring. I’m shooting for February.

The piece goes quickly enough when there are good chunks of time to devote to it. I’ve got about 6 projects going right now, but this is a priority, so more time is spent on it than on the other projects… You know how it is!

This is the project from far away. Not too impressive, is it? That’s a lot of stem stitch, though, so I’m pleased that it’s this far along! The central “monogram” on the piece (an intertwined “A” and “M” which stand for “Maria” or “Ave Maria” depending on the source you read) will be solid color. The M (which is almost finished there in the middle) is worked in stem stitch with two strands of Soie d’Alger silk, in color #4914, I believe. The A will be worked in a slightly darker shade, and I’m contemplating working it in a tiny chain stitch filling, so that there’s a slight contrast in texture. Both letters will be outlined in gold.

Soie d’Alger is a spun silk, so it doesn’t have as high a sheen as filament silk, but it still has a very nice, subtle sheen.

The background behind the monograms will be worked in Soie Ovale in Brut, which is a not-white, not-off-white, kind-of-barely-champagne color. Soie Ovale is a flat filament silk, and over it, I’ll be working a tiny gold twisted thread in vermicelli work. I’m aiming for a definite contrast between the sheen of the Soie Ovale, the gleam of the gold, and the subtle sheen and texture of the solid embroidered letters.

Working into the smaller parts of the letters – especially the scrolled feet on the M – was a bit tedious. With stem stitch, as you work tight curves, the tighter the curve, the smaller your stitches should be. Anyway, these sections worked out ok, but they were a bit fiddly, and I’m not 100% keen on the way they came out. Still, in context of the whole piece, I think they’ll be fine.

So that’s my update on this project! As I go along, I’ll keep you informed on the materials & techniques involved, and share any tips that you might find useful for your own embroidery projects.

I hope you’re making progress on your projects these days, too! For some reason, October has been a Very Busy Month, hasn’t it?