Needleweaving Re-visited!

The Elegant Squaw Comes to Life!

Now that Lesson 7 part 2 for Jonathon Pilgrim is out of my hair, 

I have finally been able to get down to some

serious stitching on the Squaw.

Isn't she starting to look so pretty?!

Of course her Cornucopia is needlewoven!  How could I not?!

However, The finished Woven Cornucopia above is the second one I wove!

The first time through, I made a few mistakes.  Although it 

looked pretty good, there were a few critical problems...

Let's walk through it:

On the left is the wire frame and warp threads...so far, so good!

To the right, needleweaving has started.  Notice the yellow ochre anchoring thread, which supports the wire frame and keeps it from collapsing down onto the canvas.

Below is the first finished basket.  

Looks pretty good, right? 

 Here is the problem...It was late at night and I was so hyper-focused 

on the weaving that I forgot to use the padding to shape the basket

prior to weaving.  Consequently, I used very tight tension on my weft 

weaving threads.  It made for very neat weaving.

The problem was there was no distance between the weaving 

and the canvas.  Then, when I cut the anchoring wire, 

the tension was so tight, that the wire flattened right 

back against the canvas. 

Soooo,

I un-wove the weft and started over!

(Ever thrifty, I wanted to conserve the warp threads, if possible!)  

On the left, this photo is back to the warp stage. The difference 

is the padding which provides shape to the basket.   

The padding will be removed after weaving.  The great

thing with the padding is that it really helps you keep your

tension accurate to allow the proper space between the

basket and the canvas! 

On the right, the second time I used 3 different anchoring 

threads to keep the wire in place, and support the structure. 

Below, close-up of the final basket!

It has lovely shape and lift from the canvas. 

The other part of the canvas which I am very excited about is the

fringe and beading at the hem of the dress:

When I stitched the fringe and added the silver

beading trim...it needed something...a bit more

weight?  But what?

I tried the over-dyed green magnifica beads...

and wa-lah!

 The perfect touch!