Off With the Butterfly's Head!

I put up a photo of the "Finished Butterfly" yesterday.

This morning, I realised that the Head just wasn't working. It's part of an Electyra beetle's wing (I have yet to post on attaching it) which I thought was pretty cool - but it isn't 'sitting in' with the rest of the embroidery. I intend to replace it with a head done in the same way as the body, to bring it together a bit more.

 ~~~
I also asked if anyone could think of suggestions to cover the raised stem stitch of the body.
I got two replies. One, I've lost - I'm so sorry. I've just searched all my e-mail (it was a mail).

The other was a comment on the entry by Rachel of VirtuoSew Adventures. She suggested Cloud Stitch.
"Open Filling Stitches" was the phrase I needed! (of which Cloud Stitch is one).

I found it and other open filling stitches in Mary Thomas' Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches.

I took a liking to Fancy Stitch, but I intend to use copper Kreinik filament to cover the body, and the twisting of the thread needed in that stitch - I can just imagine going insane because part of the filament has broken, and I'm stuck out in the middle of the open network of stitches. It needs to be simple.

I'm going to look more into Open Filling Stitches. I don't want to use the threads of the purple Raised Stem Stitch band to provide the base of the stitching, because that will pull the threads apart to expose the felt. Raised Stem stitch is just wrapped around a line of thread - not directly tied to the ground itself.

I'm thinking of laying the base small vertical stitches on the body/head of the Butterfly in the green Gilt Sylke Twist thread that I wrapped the antennae with (I have to post on that, too :-). That would bring it together further, and green, copper, and purple look good together.

So next time you see the Butterfly, he/she (it's up to Julie to decide) may look a little different :-)