Dreams of Pirate Ships and Dragons

[inez]

I made these pillowcases for the Embroider Me to Sleep swap, and my partner has now received. My mom said I was being a bit ambitious, but what does she know, right?  I found all of my inspiration on google images. The ship is vintage tattoo flash (but I just winged the flag), the dragon is from a Japanese-style sketch, the landscape was from an old Japanese monochrome painting, and the tree is a cherry branch. I found a tutorial for drawing the clouds, too.

Here are the original sketches in water soluble ink:



I first outlined the ship, tree and dragon in back stitching with three strands of black floss (to give it a 'tattoo' feel):



Then, I filled with either 3 or 6 strands of floss, depending on how tight the spaces were that I had to fill. I used variegated floss for everything but the hull/masts of the ship and its flag, and the tree. The clouds are satin stitch, the tree is split stitch, and the filled in areas are long/short stitch, split stitch or satin stitch.




Close-ups:




Thanks for looking! 

[aprilkelli5]

Wow! I love it.
Great work.

How long did it take you to do it?

April

[inez]

I didn't keep track of my time.  But, from design to finish, I worked on and off for 5 weeks...maybe 60-80 hours? (I am slow)  I'm just guessing. I was sick for a couple weeks and I only had energy to sit on my couch and stitch, or spin yarn on my drop spindle. 

[skaborsk]

wow wow wow! this is fantastic. gimmie.

[Scowlene]

its things like this that make me wish I had some spare time(and talent) for craft swaps. Simply stunning

[Thrynity]

These are absolutely amazing. Before I saw your WIP pics, I swore they were machine-embroidered. I'm in awe.

[barbolot]

I've been stalking the pillowcase swap, and WHOA this so gorgeous!  Your stitches are beautifully executed.
(And this is an example of why I will never join a big embroidery swap. . . you (and your fellow swappers) are absolutely amazing and intimidating! lol!)

[iota1617]

wowee!  excellent.

[hughsie]

This is amazing! Congratulations on a great acheievment.

[Saor]

I already commented in the gallery thread but I love these:) Great work!