Wedding Ring Pillow

This is the final version for the flower circle, I hope. I stopped "enhancing" it as it will only go downhill from here. The original intended stumpwork wire rimmed petals did not work, so I decided to do concertina roses. These are more triangular in shape, and provide a contrast to the round spider roses - although they are a lot harder to work with the soft silk ribbons, especially the thinner 7 mm ribbons. I added calla lilies with pearl centers at the top and sides as well.

Details:

Now I have to find out about the font for the date and wordings...

Wedding Ring Pillow

Modifying the design as I go along. I use the silk from an old silk shirt, that has highlight spots which gives it a nice texture. I'm using 3 widths of natural white silk ribbon - 2 mm, 4 mm and 7 mm. I've added small glass beads, small fresh water seed pearls, and french knots with single and double strands of Rainbow Gallery Splendor silk.

Next I'll be working on the detached wire-rimmed  petals; debating between using the Splendor silk or cotton floss, on an organiza ground - so as to make the petals more delicate.

Short Stitch holding, Wedding Ring Pillow

I did the temporary holding stitch, at 1 cm intervals, and finished the Short Stitch Holding (SSH) for the blue section. I was not able to maintain a consistent angle, so for the light brown section I decided to establish the angle using temporary guidelines that the SSH will follow. I'm using Clover Size 50 silk thread for the SSH, and to thin it out, I'm removing one of the 3 strands.

A concurrent project I'm starting is a Wedding Ring Pillow for my son's wedding next April. I had some problem getting started with the design, so I made a first attempt that was used as a starting point for discussion. The ground is dupioni silk, with spider roses, stitched leaves and french knots and beads. I initially added some crystals that turned out to be too much; the color is also too white. 

The next version should be reasonably close to the final piece. The design was made using a compass, with bubbles representing the motifs. I will make one more prototype before finalizing with silk threads and ribbons. The font will be the same as the wedding invitation (which hasn't been decided yet).