Moroccan Embroidery Finished

It took several days and lots of trial and error, but I finally decided on what to do for the sections that go out on an angle between the rest/green squares. First, here is how it looked once I finished the rust/green boxes.

Then I added stitching for the angles. I used floss for this, backstitching a line in brown first. Then I added the light green and finally the light rust. The final step was to stitch the dark green X with a light green + over it.

It’s delicate enough to add to the design, but not heavy enough to draw attention away from the boxes on the outside and the focal point in the middle. I love fall colors, so this was an easy project for color choices. It could easily be done in other colors as well.

Now I need to get back to work on the High Atlas Pillow. See you in a few days.

Moroccan Embroidery

Though most people think of rugs when you mention Morocco, embroidery is also beautiful and plentiful. Fez (or Fes) is considered the embroidery center. Stitching is usually done in silk and can be quite detailed and delicate. The photo below shows a sample of some embroidery.

Even in the embroidery you can see the 8-pointed star motif. So I decided to try a design based on embroidery and started with the star. It was stitched with #5 perle cotton that is overdyed. I left a space between each of the chevrons used to create the star. I used a brown floss to fill the space – long, straight stitches.

The brown diamonds are backstitched. I pulled #5 perle colors to go with the overdye and then decided as I started stitching that the perle cotton was too thick. So I used floss for the rest of the design. The Rhodes stitch inside each diamond has a bright yellow that was stitch using every other hole. Then I filled in the remaining holes with orange. I like the way this looks, imitating the overdye but only using two colors.

Next I worked on another motif just two stitches away from the edges of the diamonds. I started by stitching long, brown stitches. You can see where I started with a pin stitch in the middle to secure the thread. This will be covered up later. Though I’m enjoying designing and stitching this piece, I’m finding it hard to start and stop threads because I don’t want them to show through the canvas. Most of the stitching is started using this pin stitch.

Then I stitched the half Scotch stitches using 4 ply light rust floss for the two that are closest to the center of the piece, and darker rust for the other two. To finish the motif, I used 2 ply of light green floss with #8 Kreinik braid to finish the Scotch stitch closest to the center of the piece, leaving an empty space where the longest stitch would go. I repeated the floss and Kreinik in a darker green for the last two. The center Smyrna stitch was then done in orange floss.

In my next post, I’ll show you the rest of the design and a photo of the finished piece. I will also let you help me decide if it should be framed as is, or on point. Stay tuned.