Next up for Mondays

This is called Lace Fan and is by the same person who designed Lady Carolyn's Fan--my friend Marilyn. This is from a class she taught and then I got distracted with something else. Anyway since we are helping her out I decided it was time for me to finish this piece she designed. When we visit her, I like to tell her the progress I am making and chat about the class and good time we had. It is great for her to remember those things. I told her that Lady Carolyn's Fan was at the framers and she is looking forward to seeing it.

So on to the information. This piece is worked on 18 count Pewter mono canvas on 14 x 20 stretcher bars. I am going to use the following threads: DMC Flower thread in white and gray, Anchor Pearl Cotton in white, Mill Hill Petite Beads, Kreinik brad in size 4 and 8, Lacquered Jews, Kreinik Soie Perlee, in Noir, Caron Snow, DMC floss in black and white, some black Ultrasuede.

The background: The Art Nouveau (c1915) lace fan pictured in the February 1995 issue of Victoria magazine inspired her interpretation to stitch this on canvas. The original fan resides in the John and Mabel Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

The foundation of the fan is stitched using Alicia Lace stitch in the two colors of the flower thread and each of the flowers and leaves is stitched in the white and the dark gray for the background.
Alicia Lace is a back stitch worked on the diagonal and the first half is worked over the vertical canvas thread from the lower left to the upper right and coming back from upper right to lower left. Then the second pass is worked on the horizontal thread from lower right to upper left and back down, framing the hole and creating the lace effect. I have worked from left to right on this piece to avoid dragging my hand over the stitched area.
I also put in some of the outline on the flowers on the left using the pearl cotton and outline stitch. Most of it is done over two canvas threads but compensating on the curves to keep a smooth line.