A few months back, earlier this year, I started embroidering this Jacobean whitework project on blue linen.

There were a several reasons I decided to re-start the project, not the least of which was the fact that the blue linen I was using is no longer available.

This past weekend, I put my mind to the new version once again, and I got some preliminaries out of the way by narrowing down supplies and setting up the frame. Now I can start stitching on it! Yay!

It’s no longer solely a whitework embroidery project, by the way. I’ve decided to go with blue and white on this one, on a natural linen ground fabric.

I’m no longer going to call the project “Jacobean whitework,” because it’s no longer whitework. I’ll probably come up with some kind of name for it, but since I’m awful at naming embroidery projects, I’ll let it stew for a while and see what emerges. Any ideas?

I had some difficulty making up my mind about the blues.

I’m using cotton floche as one of the main fibers, but floche comes in a rather limited range of colors. It’s not like choosing from DMC’s line of regular floss, where you can select from a wide range of types of blues, and find a good range of shades within each type.

If you’re not familiar with cotton floche, you’ll find this article and this article helpful in explaining a little bit about the thread.

I plan to use regular floss, too, but the blues still need to coordinate. It took me forever, digging out blues and working with them under daylight bulbs and then in straight sunlight to make up my mind on blues.

And you know, I may still change my mind! One never knows…

Whites, by the way, are much easier to select, if you plan on going with straight white. There are variations in whites, though. In DMC, for example, there’s blanc, which is white. But, among other whites, there’s also B5200, which is bright white. If you decide to use both in the same project, you will quickly notice that blanc almost looks yellowed next to B5200.

I’ve decided to go with bright white.

But that might change, too!

I’m never 100% certain, when I start a project, on my color choices. I select what I think I’ll use, but I make adjustments as I go. I might end up dropping some of the blues; I might end up opting for shades of white.

I plan to use beads on this project, too.

And while my selection of white seed beads is fairly flush, my selection of blue seed beads is deplorably lacking.

So that’s the beginning of this Jacobean project, re-imagined.

I’ll be working on this project little by little. I’m not in a huge hurry on it, so it’s just going to be a now-and-then project. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

I hope your weekend was fantastic, and that you were able to get in some quality time with your needle and thread!

If you have any questions, comments, name ideas, or what-have-you, feel free to join in the conversation below.