Grace Christie's Buttonhole Flower

Grace’s Buttonhole Flower

Fig. 51.
A flower filled in with open buttonhole stitch is shown at fig. 51.
The centre consists of a mass of French knots, and the outside line is in satin stitch.
The innermost circle of buttonholing is worked first, the next row is worked over the heading of the first row as well as into the material;
the succeeding rows are worked in the same way until the outside limit is reached,
and there the satin stitch just covers the heading of the last row of buttonhole stitching.
Gradation of colour can easily be introduced by using a different shade for each circle of stitches, and this produces a very pretty effect. - Grace Christie, Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving
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I asked Eowyn which Elizabethan flower this resembled, and she said ‘none’ but I did it anyway. They did do buttonhole stitch then. So it’s a ‘mystery’ buttonhole flower.
I wanted to do it because
a) I had originally drawn in on my canvas and
b) I saw this
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9NDRHvBq594C&printsec=frontcover&dq=embroidery+stitches+mary+webb#PPA168,M1
in Mary Webb’s Embroidery Stitch book and wanted to try this way of shading.
I didn’t re-read Mrs Christie’s instructions – I quite happily worked from outside in, and just did buttonhole stitch, no satin stitch or french knots, but it seems to have turned out ok – I like it. So the whole thing is a total cheat, but oh well
If I had worked inside out, “over the heading of the first row …..” I don’t know if I would have gotten those textural waves of the edge of the buttonhole stitch, which is what I like most about it.

Done in Elizabethan colours, of course. It looks like there is a section of magenta up at the top left, but it’s some vagary of the camera – it’s all in a rose in that circle.