SUN PRINTING FELTED WOOL - PART 2

.....continuing the process....I spent an evening or two hand embroidering a running stitch following the gridded lines.

Next, numerous flowers were cut and arranged. But before I could attach them, they needed stems. After pondering about using cotton or felt I decided to use decorative cording. Naturally, I didn't want the bulk of a knot visible behind a flower...so what to do?  

Ah ha......I threaded a length of cording onto a large eye embroidery needle, passing all but 1/2" of it, from the w/s to the right side where I wanted the stem to begin.  Because this cording was thick, I didn't knot the end...rather I couched the small length that remained on the w/s securely in place.

Without removing the needle on the length of cording, I arranged the 'stem', couching as I went, on the right side to the bottom of my design.  Then I turned direction and traveled back up to create a 2nd stem.  When I reached where I wanted it to end, I simply passed the needle through the felt to the w/s.  Again the end was trimmed to about 1/2" and secured well with couching.

Flower petals continued to be auditioned/added/subtracted/rearranged.....  Each was fused to temporarily hold them in position. However, sometimes fused hand-dyed wool motifs will not adhere permanently.  This was especially true on this sun printed thick felted wool. Hand embroidering around each petal addressed that issue and added a nice finishing touch to each as well.

Of course there will need to be some stamens.....and the outside edge treatment has yet to be decided....stay tuned.