Embroidered Book Cover - Sequin Layout

Having finished the carnation (and it's bud, shown below), I realised that I needed to know the actual size of the sequin border in order to embroider any more elements.

So I grabbed my not very trusty compass and did some measurements.



The border is awfully large. Looked at the 'back' cover (for the part of the back flap that extends over the front, which I'll do seperately) I realized that I'd have to loose elements or some border. But that is an issue for another time (and I'll loose some border)

Now I knew exactly where everything went on the front cover.
I drew in the border margins in chalk, and the outlines of the three remaining elements (one flower, two leaves) in pen. I'll leave drawing in the connecting stalk until everything is there.

I put the embroidery into a larger frame, so the cover is flat and I can access all of it.

Since the last post of the actual embroidery, I've finished the bud for the carnation, which I'm also very pleased with, and started on one of the leaves.

The colours for the leaf are more of a gold colour, whereas the carnation tended towards beige/pink.

The placement of the elements is working in nicely with the foliate of the brocade on the material, too. Not something I especially planned.

You can see from the chalk marks (especially the ones at 45 degrees) how much room the sequins are going to take up.

The darkness in the middle of the leaf I'm currently doing is from the multitude of pen markings, which remind me of stitch direction as I sew the length of the leaf. I think I should be using something other than a black pen given I'm using a light coloured embroidery thread. I'll see if I've got a very fine brown fibre tip (forget the proper name. I use them for calligraphy in outling quick projects)

Something that can't be seen in the JPEG is that I've sewn the leaf backwards! With the spurs pointing back towards the origin of the leaf, not towards the tip. Ooops!

It's the first leaf I've stitched with Clare Hanham's help, and I was concentrating on all the new information, so I guess I forgot basic biology.

I can really appreciate the skills that calligraphy has given me in doing layouts in doing the layout for this piece. It's the first proper or big piece I've done in years, and since I started calligraphy. For a start, I have all of the proper tools, even if my compass is a bit crap when I'm trying to do 2.5 mm circles.