Marguerites for Marguerite

Saturday, September 5 was the elevation of my friend and apprentice-sister Marguerite. It was Marguerite we helped recently with her garb for the occasion (on which occasion I did eyelets).

For her cloak (in this case a period appropriate coat), our Laurel put out a call for embroidered daisy motifs.  (Marguerite = Daisy).

These daisies were based on an image in the Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne:

Just a little different than the daisies that might be in your garden, with that blush rising from the yellow center and deep burgundy tip.

I received fabric (a lovely very dark blue silk taffeta) and a list of colors of Splendor to use,  The fabric had one daisy already drawn and two more diamonds in which to place the remaining ones.





Daisy one:  Stem stitch stems, satin stitch for the bud (both the green and the pinks), long and short stitch filling the petals starting with white and moving out to the darker pink.  Once the petals were done I was not happy with the amount of definition, so I used the lighter pink and went over the dividing lines between petals.  For the center first I did one round of chain stitch, then satin stitch for the center, then the inner round of chain stitch over the edges of the satin stitch to make a cleaner edge.

I was pleased with the sharpness of the satin stitch there on that bud

Daisy two: Satin stitch stems, split stitch bud, split stitch petals with split stitch outlining (lighter pink). The tips of the petals are highlighted with the darker pink with just a few over stitches at each tip.  Center is chain stitch, satin stitch and laid threads couched at the intersections with tiny Xs.

Yup, that' my signature there, it's outside the diamond so won't be showing once it's mounted to the coat.

For the darker pink tip on the bud, I changed needles on a couple rounds of the split stitch.

Daisy three: Split stitch stems and bud.  A mix of long and short and split stitches for the petals, again going back over the tips with the darker pink.  After setting the circle with chain stitch, the middle was done with repeating rays from the center for a different look to the satin stitch.  This was executed by starting at the center and placing four stitches, quartering the circle.  Next each quarter was split, then I continued working around, dividing each space in half again until it was full.  The intention was to look a bit like the eyelets I did for her gown, without having an open hole in the center. 

I'm very happ with this center, though I feel these petals came out less differentiated.

Again the color was changed at the tip by changing the needle for those few stitches. I think I like this technique to blend colors and will investigate it further.