Texas Day Lily by Michele Roberts

Last July I completed the last of the coursework for my certificate in all embroidery techniques from the Royal School of Needlework. The course required that I accurately portray a flower-themed piece on silk. The technique was silk shading, realistic needle painting done with a single strand of floss, employing primarily two stitches: Split Stitch and Long-and-Short Stitch. The subject I chose was a particularly lovely hybrid day lily, which was photographed in a book of Texas Wildflowers.

Design: The flower had a particularly good color balance. The hybrid day lily petals ranged from white through pale pinks to deep roses with the characteristic dark magenta dots sprinkled throughout the petals. The stamens and pistils ranged from pale yellow to medium sage green. All in all, this particular lily is a stunning and exotic flower. The next step was to paint a detailed watercolor painting of my version of this species. The purpose of the painting was to add leaves and buds in different growth stages much like an 18^th century botanical drawing. A total of 19 colors of floss were used in the design. I chose cream Italian silk Dupioni for the background. I traced the design from the watercolor painting onto parchment and pricked holes in the parchment every millimeter or so, and rubbed pounce through the holes onto the silk, precisely positioned on the grain. Next I painted the design onto the silk with an extremely fine brush and beige acrylic paint.

Stitching: I divided the design into about 40 different layers. (For example the tip of the upper left leaf peeking out behind the petal which is farthest from the eye is the lowest and bottom layer.) Each layer was worked as follows: Outline the area in Split Stitches, 32 to the inch. Each outline actually was not always worked in the same color since the color of the edge changed at times. Next Long and Short Stitch was worked over the Split Stitch edge. When one layer was complete, then the Split Stitch on the next layer that touched it could be done. The final, top layer was the green stamens. (What an exotic change of pace a few Bullion Knots and French Knots seemed after all that Long and Short!!!) I find fine, formal silk shading work to be the most tedious and least creative of all the embroidery techniques currently taught at the Royal School. I had done silk shading there several times before, and this required course did not change my opinion. Nonetheless, I did my best to stitch to the high standard required for credit. This was not my favorite technique, but completing it well was a requirement for the certificate. I am delighted to report that I earned the level of "Distinction" (which is the highest level) when I received my Royal School Certificate in embroidery techniques.