More Samples of Re-embroidered Alençon Lace

Top Sample: 3mm Light Cream Rose Swarovski Pearls, 5mm Cream Swarovski Pearls, 2.5mm Crystal Swarovski Bicone Crystal, 3mm Champagne Swarovski Bicone Crystal, Gilt Bright Check size 6, Gilt Buttercup Aiko Japanese beads size 11, Jade Rice beads, Silver Bright Check size 6, Copper Bright Check size 6, 3mm Antique Rose Swarovski Bicone Crystal, 3mm Silk Swarovski Bicone Crystal, 3mm Champagne Light Peach Swarovski Bicone Crystal, and 3mm Light Peach Swarovski Bicone Crystal.

Bottom Sample: 3mm Cream Swarovski Pearls, Silver Bright Check size 6, Silver Lined Japanese Glass beads size 11, 3mm Erinite Swarovski Bicone Crystal, 3mm Pacific Opal Swarovski Bicone Crystal, 3mm Mint Alabaster Swarovski Bicone Crystal, and 4mm Erinite Swarovski Bicone Crystal.

Re-embroidered Alençon Lace finished

I wanted to add a charcoal colored glass bead because I thought the blues and greens of my dye samples were too sweet. Unfortunately, when I added the graphite glass beads that I had they ended up looking black. I am going to put this on a hair comb and photo it in someone's hair to see how the beads look on a curve and in different lights.

Finished Irises

Re-embroidered Alençon Lace

I re-embroidered the lace with Japanese glass seed beads.

Iris #4 . . .

Iris #4: stranded silk floss

Tea Dying Alençon Lace

I felt the Alençon lace was too white, so I wanted to try tea staining some of the lace for my next samples for the embroideries for Dress #2. I thought the bright white would be too much of a contrast for the pastel colors I have been using. I varied the depth of the tea staining on different pieces with the lightest being a antique white color and the darkest being a nude color.

Blue Iris . . .

Blue Iris: stranded silk floss

Dye Samples for Dress #2 with Lace Overlays

Dye Samples for Dress #2

I wanted to see if a marbled/variegated color would be better under the lace and silk net than a solid color. I tried a number of different resist methods (bunching and tying the fabric together, twisting it onto itself, twisting around a pole, tying around a pole, etc.). I found that the twisting and bunching methods seemed to give me the better results.

For the colors, I used an Alphonso Mucha painting for color inspiration. I wanted to capture the sophisticated pastel colors present in the illustration. These colors were also used in the iris embroideries I have been working on, but I felt the natural silk background was too much of a contrast with the colored silk and cotton threads of the embroidery.