I like small things. I like small projects that I can finish fairly quickly but look effective. This little hoop is 3 inches (8cm ) across. Here’s the process:
I mounted my cream silk in the hoop and painted the background with acrylic Jo Sonja paints mixed with textile medium. I sketched the design with colour pencils on paper first to give a clear idea of what I wanted to do. When it dried, I heat set with the iron.
I started out by embroidering stems and grass with embroidery cotton. I used a bit of stranded silk for the agapanthus flowers. I used silk ribbon for the other flowers and some leaves, but didn’t have the colours I wanted so painted them by hand with Liquid Radiance first, then heat set. The Liquid Radiance seems to make silk stiff, so I’ll use silk paint or dye next time.
When finished embroidering I cut off the excess silk, then laced the back with cotton thread. I glued on the wool felt circle backing with hot glue.
This is how the piece looks out of the hoop, but I chose to mount in the hoop to hang on the wall. I can see a whole bunch of these grouped together, how cute would that look?