TPATD: Part 3 - Embroidery (Patreon)

QUICK RECAP: I made fiber fan art of Jen Wang's graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker. Part 1 explains my inspiration, how I created the design, and how I picked out my fabrics.  Part  2 explains how I used appliqué to construct the face and dress. Part 3 covered my embroidery stitches. Part 4 concludes with beading. 

Alright, so... EMBROIDERY! 

Time to EMBROIDER!!!!!!!!

(Note that I didn't iron down the bottom portion of the chest very well, so it's kinda poofing up. I fixed this at the  very end.)

I started out doing a simple backstitch for the hair outlines, which I would then go over with (what  I thought was called) a whip stitch. [EDIT: It's a "Whipped Backstitch"]

I googled "whip stitch" and it is giving me a very different thing, so I guess I don't know what this stitch is actually called. But here, in the picture below, I am pointing to my  "whip stitch" with my sewing needle--I've taken a new set of threads and sewn them around my backstitches, making them a continuous, coiled rope. 

See?  Backstitch on the left,  "whip stitch" on  the right:

Once I'd finished all  those outlines, it was time to fill in  the hair. Only...

OH NO THE OUTLINE AND THE FILL COLORS LOOKED TOO SIMILAR :O :O :O

There was only one thing to do.

Whip stitch ON TOP of my previous whip stitches with a darker color. 

All of them.

ALL. OF. THEM.

There were a lot.

After a bazillion years, I finished darkening up all the hair outlines. But there was still a problem... The orange I'd picked out for the hair was a bit too fluorescent, I was afraid. It was just a bit too comparatively neon set against the more muted purple and red tones of the piece. Easy fix, though, I just swapped in some duller orange for the rest of the hair.

I love filling in large spaces with long and short stitch, because it's a fucking mess as you sew it in but it looks seamless when you pull your face back from your project.

Yeah, so from here, it was just a lot of filling in the hair.

I decided to add in a few other shades of orange to the body of the hair, to give it more DAZZLE. First I sewed in this kinda red-y, strawberry color:

And then I brought back that neon orange that I'd considered to be too bright when I started. It was too neon to be the body of the hair, but it worked great as a highlight!

So, woo-hoo! Ta-da! Embroidery complete!!!!!

Done, right?

WRONG.

This motherfucker still needs BEADS, my friends.

B E A D S.

TO BE CONTINUED...........