Glorious Spring!, How it Came Together Part 1

Since this is a blog about cross stitch design, I thought I'd try to recap the steps I went through and the frustrations I encountered, lol, with Glorious Spring!

I began turning the inspiration into the design by starting a search through my own books of filet crochet patterns, as well as the books at the Antique Pattern Library. It was obvious I needed some spring flowers but I also needed something for the center of the design that would give it that anchor that I like to see in a piece.

I found this wonderful motif of the trees

in this old DMC Dillmont book

The DMC Dillmont books/booklets are another post all of their own.

The tree image really spoke to me and so I 'drew/stitched' it into the software and began assembling the piece. I took the trees and expanded them across the center and loved their flowing nouveau feeling. I also decided that a dark green or teal background would convey the dark forest best and chose the colors for the trees. If you know how lovely trees are in the spring with their light colored leaves and shining bark, you'll understand why I picked these colors.

I've also come to love the lacy type of motif you see as the border and you'll definitely see more of them! :) I've also learned the trick of using a mirror to be able to 'see' what the corner should look like if the image doesn't alredy have one. Set the photo down flat, take a mirror and hold it approximately where you'd like a corner to begin and then angle it to the left until you see the image fold up rather like a ribbon would until it comes together into a corner. When you draw the lacy motif into your software you'll only have to draw a portion of it then you can repeat the image as much as you need for the length you'll need. Then you can call up a new page and this time you copy and paste that piece of 'lace' twice and with the eraser you 'cut' the angle of the image from right to left on one of the pieces to give you your upper corner and then you rotate the next full image to bring it close to where the first image sits and cut that piece also from upper right to lower left so that the two will be able to be brought together and form the corner.

I know that might be confusing, if it is indeed clear as mud, I'll try and show step by step with photos. Just let me know if you need to understand more clearly what I'm attempting to explain :)