Guardian Angel embroidery project

Galina Tregubov has very kindly made freely available her book on embroidering a traditional Russian iconographic banner. I have been wanting to work this project for several years, and now I have started.

As well as a beautiful piece of art, I hope to gain skill and experience in this opus anglicanum-like style of split stitch embroidery. Though I haven't got to the more complex parts of the project yet, I have been very pleased so far with how Galina has laid out the project and given instructions.

Supplies and setup

I am working the design at slightly over 7x9", which is what came out of the printer when I printed the image on letter paper. It looks a touch crowded on the slate frame I'm using, but my other frame is a bit too large and I am going to apply the finished embroidery to another piece of fabric anyhow.

I am taking a different approach to the ground fabric than the project instructs. Originally I would have been working directly on cotton velveteen through a layer of transfer paper. I originally tried using a fine church linen as a ground, but it was too densely woven for the thick threads used in this project. With the physical effort I had to use to stitch on that fabric, I can't imagine trying to do the same thing on velveteen with ironed-on paper.

So, I dropped the thread count a bit and am using white Zweigart 56 count Kingston linen, which is working beautifully. It looks translucent -- it is -- but it will be completely covered with split stitch so all it has to do is hold the mass of stitching together. I traced the pattern on to the linen with the finest Sakura Micron pen I could get my hands on.

I was initially wondering whether I was being too obsessive about getting the linen framed and pattern transferred exactly on grain, but I have not regretted it one bit. You might be able to see where I drew some threads out for guidelines.

For the threads, I am using DMC size 5 perle cotton as given in the project instructions. I've found that a size 18 chenille needle is easiest for working split stitch in this thread.

My slate frame is supported by the 3D-printable Clare embroidery stand which I designed. The funny-looking metal blob on the work is my needle minder.

Thoughts so far

I am really enjoying working this project! I thought the monochrome stitching of the halo would be tedious, but I found it quite satisfying. The shine of the mercerized cotton gives it a very nice shimmer.

Thus far the stitching has been pretty relaxing. Let's see whether it continues that way!