A few weeks ago, I showed you the beginnings of this little embroidery sample worked on dark fabric.

Have you ever had one of Those Projects that you knew, from the beginning, that the results probably wouldn’t be All That Great? That was this project.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I think shisha embroidery is a lot of fun. I like the combination of beads and shisha and metallic threads.

(These all appeal to my secret attraction to Things Sparkly. Shhh. Don’t tell my family. They’d never believe it.)

But good golly, Miss Molly! Try combining shisha, beads (iridescent ones, to boot), metallic threads and dark fabric in the same project, and then try to photograph it decently, and you’re just begging for lunacy.

Out of 326 photos taken in every range of lighting condition – from the light tent adjusted umpteen times, to natural light, to everything in between – and in every possible position of display, this is the best I got.

And it’s not very good.

Thank goodness for digital cameras, says I. (Film?! Could you imagine?!)

This photo gives you a better idea of the background color, but it gets the green slightly wrong, and post-production color correction doesn’t help. The background is a very dark navy blue. The green is more of a true green, but it looks so blue-green here.

Upon close inspection (you can click on those photos to enlarge them), you might be amused by the general quality of the stitching, too. It leaves a wee bit to be desired.

But, with every disappointing finish – especially on samples like this – there are lessons to learn, which is, incidentally, the whole point of stitching the sample in the first place.

With this particular sample, I’ve learned some lessons. I’m going to put them to work this very day.

First, I’ll adjust the pattern. What was initially a quick doodle needs some work. I like the little stylized “flowers” (if you want to call them that), but the leaves have got to go.

Second, I don’t have any dark blue linen left. I have to stitch the next attempt on a different color background. Oh, shucky-darn. I’ll try to live with that. (I’m so very happy I used up the dark blue linen!)

Third, I think the shisha stitching around the mirrors needs to be a bit heavier. I plan to experiment with some ideas that have been brewing in my noggin.

Fourth, with the limited color palette available in these threads, I think it will be worthwhile to combine floss and metallics in some parts of the design. This will help accentuate the sparkly parts, too, and it will tone done other parts and make the whole thing meld together a bit better.

So, that’s my plan for today!

Do you have any suggestions that might help improve this sample? If you have any suggestions on how to improve the piece or any ideas on background fabrics or anything like that, feel free to chime in with your thoughts! After all, all our heads are decidedly better than mine alone!