In part two of my opus anglicanum stitch-along, we will embroider the black outlines around the face, and fill in the barbette and neck. Â It is very important to do all of the outline stitches first, so that when you fill in the rest of the stitches the lines will be thin and delicate, pressed in on the sides by the other stitches. Â If you wait to do the outline stitches until last, they will sit on top of the other embroidery and be very bold.
I then moved on to the barbette and neck so that you will have a chance to become more comfortable with making split stitch evenly, while not having to worry about shading, or very much about stitch direction.
The greatest challenge of working with flat silk is snagging. Flat silk is very delicate, and will snag on anything rough, be that exposed wood on your embroidery frame, or dry skin. I highly recommend keeping hand lotion handy and moisturizing whenever needed, but be sure to let the moisturizer soak in completely before handling the silk or it may cause discoloration. Also consider clipping and filing your nails, and using exfoliants like salt or sugar scrubs.
If you are new to flat silk I recommend working with short lengths, no more than 12″. I pulled about one foot of floss for this photo. Shorter lengths will be easier to keep smooth, and if it does become tangled beyond use you will lose a minimum amount of floss. For myself, I usually work in lengths of two to three feet so I don’t have to stop and start the floss as frequently. As you become more comfortable using the flat silk, experiment with different lengths until you find the ideal for how you work.The eye of the needle will damage the filaments of silk, so it is important to secure your needle close to the end of the floss. Tie the floss in a double knot around the eye to prevent it from slipping out. For the first length of floss, you will also want to make a knot in the end of the floss to use as a waste knot.I am starting the stitching on the barbette since it has a long straight stretch where I can easily use a waste knot. Stitch from the front to the back of the work at the bottom of the straight stretch, and then come back up to the front of the work at the top of the barbette.Place the first stitch about 3mm long. In areas where you want to create the impression of length or flow, longer stitches are ideal. In areas with tight curves or a lot of detail, shorter stitches, 1-2mm long, are ideal.Come back up through the stitch you just made about 1/3 of its length from the end, splitting the threads of the prior stitch in half.Stitch forward the same length as the first stitch.Come back up through the stitch you just made about 1/3 of its length from the end, splitting the threads of the prior stitch in half.Repeat the split stitch, maintaining the same stitch length on each stitch, until you reach the waste knot.Cut off the waste knot close to the fabric. The tail on the back side of the fabric should be secured by the line of stitches, thereby avoiding having a knot on your finished embroidery.This photo shows the back of the work, with the tail of the floss secured by the line of stitches. I strongly recommend avoiding knots on opus anglicanum because of the full coverage of the embroidery. This makes it very easy on most of the piece to secure the tail without a knot, and the lump of the knot could potentially interfere with later stitches in the same area.Continue stitching around the outside of the face. Make a slightly smaller stitch when going around turns to help make a smoother transition.Next move to the nearer eyebrow. Start at the outside edge so the more tapered end of the stitch will be to the outside, where the eyebrow naturally tapers. It won’t be very obvious at this stage, because the floss can spread out over the fabric, but when the face is filled in later and the floss is compacted the difference will be clearer.Come back up through the stitch you just made about 1/3 of its length from the end, splitting the threads of the prior stitch in half.Make slightly smaller stitches along the fairly broad curves of the eyebrow and nose.Make your stitches even shorter when you get to the tip of the nose to ensure the cleanest tight turn possible. Stitches should be 1-2mm long.Make the stitches smallest at the tightest part of the turn.Because of the tight turn, it might be difficult to split the filaments in half while stitch coming up to the front of the fabric along the line of the curve. If you run into that problem, leave the floss slightly loose on the front so you can push the needle up along the line of the curve, and then split the floss above the surface of the fabric. Because the flat silk does not have a twist, pull the stitch tight and the split will slide.Continue with tiny stitches to the outer edge of the nose. On the last stitch, split the floss as normal, and then go back down to the back of the fabric through the same hole as the previous stitch.Go up to the other eyebrow, again starting at the outer edge so the taper of the stitch will match the natural taper of the eyebrow.Stitch to the inside of the eyebrow, using the same stitch length as on the other eyebrow. As before, on the final stitch go to the back of the work through the same hole as the prior stitch.On the eye start at the outer corner, so the taper of the stitch will match the natural shape of the eye. Make very tiny stitches to follow the curve of the eye.Make tiny stitches, splitting above the embroidery surface if needed to ensure an even split.Go back to the outer side of the eye to stitch the lower eyelid. Keep doing tiny stitches.Stitch the other eye in the same manner, starting from the outer edge.At this point the eyes will look overly bold and raccoon-like. This impression will be reduced when there are surrounding stitches to compact the line.  If you have multiple brands of flat silk at your disposal, using a more delicate floss on this area will also create a thinner line.I decided to start the mouth from the corner closer to the viewer, but you can start at whichever side you prefer. Make a medium-length stitch to better follow the gentle curve of the lips.I finished the face before running out of floss on my needle.This is the back of the work when I ran out of floss. You will have threads travelling in different directions on the back of the work as you move the floss from one part of the piece to another. Having the back of your embroidery look clean and perfect is a very Victorian idea, and does not apply to the vast majority medieval styles of embroidery. In fact, the only SCA-period embroidery style I know of where that is the case is Renaissance counted blackwork because both sides of the work are often visible on the finished garment.In the interest of avoiding knots, it is necessary to weave the tail of the thread through the stitches on the back of the piece.Weave back and forth through the line of stitches.Continue weaving back and forth through the stitches.When you have woven through a few stitches, stitch back the direction you came for a couple more stitches to ensure the tail is secure.When you are done weaving through the stitches, cut the tail a short distance from the last weave.I am starting the barbette outline just below the little loop of hair. This is because I do not plan to outline the hair with black, and at that point the hair is in front of the barbette. If you will be outlining your hair with black, then start at the crown. There are not enough stitches on the backside of the piece yet to make it easy to secure the starting tail, and I have a straight stretch to embroider, so I used the waste knot technique again. If you ran out of floss before I did and still have some of the face to embroider, I recommend starting your second length of floss here because of the convenience of the straight stretch for the waste knot method. Stitch this side of the barbette, and then return to the face where you left off.As you did on the other side of the barbette, stitch your line until you are next to the waste knot, and then clip it off close to the fabric.The taper of the stitch does not matter for the neck outline, so you can start at whichever end you prefer. I started at the top so I would lose a minimum of thread to travel along the backside of the piece.Stitch the side of the neck, and then the other side. Stitch both outlines in the same direction. That is, if you started at the top on one side, also start at the top on the other side.I am not outlining the hair, clothing, or gold areas in black, so I stopped the line of stitching at the corner of the cloak. If you want to outline your entire figure in black, do it now before proceeding to fill in. Follow the techniques you used for the face, barbette, and neck to complete all other outlines.Since we still don’t have enough stitches on the back to easily secure the tail, use the waste knot method one last time. After this, you should be able to secure the tail without the knot, but you can still do so if you wish.I am filling in the barbette with white floss, and starting the stitches from the low end of the barbette, just barely where it starts to curve. This way the tapered end of the stitches will flow into the point of the barbette.Stitch until you are right next to the waste knot before cutting it off.Start each successive line of stitches closer and closer to the point, while keeping each line straight. This will create the impression that the flow of the barbette is towards the point. If you stitch from the point now, this will cause a curve in your stitches that will continue up the barbette, creating the impression that the barbette is flowing into the cheek.Place your lines of stitches immediately next to each other to help ensure complete coverage of the surface of the fabric. When you reach the point of the barbette, be sure to have your floss emerge as deep into the point as you can without catching the black threads.As you continue to fill, start each new line of stitches as far down as you can without catching the black or white floss to either side.As you get close to the loop of hair, you have two options for how to handle the white above the curl. What I did was start slightly widening the stitches at the top so they curved around the loop of hair. Do this as much as you can while still maintaining complete coverage of the fabric. Your alternative is to make a couple extra short lines of stitches above the curl after making your last line of unbroken stitches.In this photo I have started widening the stitches at the top to curve. This will be the last line of unbroken stitches for the barbette on my piece.There is a little triangle of barbette still to fill, just below the curl of hair.Finish out the stitches close to the prior line of stitches, stopping at the curl.There are now enough stitches on the back of the work to secure the tail. Run your needle through a line of stitches. It’s hard to see because of the traveling floss, but be sure to catch the actual stitches or your tail will not be secured.I want more the the tail secured, so I ran the tail through more rows of stitches before trimming it off.Next we will to fill in the neck. Tie a length of the peach floss to your needle, and then run it through a row of stitches on the backside.The tucked tail is too short to hold yet, so stitch through another two rows of stitches.Finally, stitch back through the same stitches as the first stretch. Be sure to go through the opposite direction as the first time so it will tighten the tail rather than pulling it out.We are filling in the neck before the more interesting face area to provide more experience filling in spaces and making even stitches before moving on to the details of the face. Stitch the filling in the same direction as the outline. You want to stitch vertically along the neck so the flow of the stitches emphasizes the length of the neck. You will also want to make all stitches in the same direction, either top to bottom, or bottom to top. If you stitch one direction and then the other it will create a jagged appearance, rather than a smooth flow.Make your stitches close to the black outline. I made five stitches here. After making one row, I came back out at the top so I could stitch the next row in the same direction.As you continue filling, be sure to stitch each row very close to the prior at the top, and then very slightly widen the row towards the bottom so it will start to curve towards the center of the chest. Ideally, the flow of stitches will follow the natural lines of the body.Continue curving the lines of the neck slightly with each row. When you get to the other side of the neck, keep placing rows of stitches until you can no longer do so without catching floss from other rows of stitches.Keep laying your lines as close together as you can at the top, and widen it out slightly towards the bottom. Be careful not to spread your lines of stitches so far that you can see your fabric.When you get down to that little triangle at the corner of the neck, just fill it in with more short rows of stitches, retaining that fan pattern towards the curve.Continue filling in the little corner.Stop before your filling encroaches on the cloak.And this is all the embroidery for Part2. In Part3 we will work on the details of the face.
Thank you for following along! Â Next week we will work on the details of the face. Â If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or on my facebook page. Â Also, I would love to see your embroidery as well, so please share it if you are so inclined! Â :)
