The most inspiring piece of embroidered clothing in the Fashioning Fashion exhibit was a silk taffeta petticoat. It was embroidered in China, for the western market,  in 1785.

The workmanship is perfect as far as I can see.  Each stitch is carefully placed and perfectly executed.  It looks delicate and fresh. I want to be able to stitch that well someday.

The whole petticoat is stitched in silk and uses only a few stitches: stem, French knots, bullion knots, satin and chain stitch. Not a wide variety but enough to create something extraordinarily beautiful. I spent a very long time looking at it and studying the stitches, especially the long and short shading.

I reflected on my cap project and decided I could do better...much better. When I got home and l poked at it, I could so clearly see that the mix or threads and techniques overwhelmed the little cap.  Because I just love the Gilt Sylke Twist thread and had so many colors I was determined to use it on this project. No matter what, I was going to use it.  Sometimes determination isn't a good quality.

Both of the leaves that we're stitched with GST and the corded Brussels stitched leaves are now gone and have been replaced with leaves done in long and short shading, using silk. The overall effect is much lighter. The cap no longer looks crushed by the weight of heavy thread and complex stitches.

In one of the leaves I noticed a little bit of very light green or perhaps yellow. These little stitches of such a light and bright color really gave life to the leaf. When I studied the stitching, I could see that the little stitches had been stitched into the middle of a longer stitch. Not really a long and short shading stitch, but more like an added stitch that entered and exited the long stitch. You can see that on the right side there is the yellowy/green thread. It looks as if the light is hitting the leaf right there.Thus far, I like the result of the all silk stitching. I'm beginning to think that this piece will be the most unpicked piece I ever do! I hope, when all of the first panel is finished, I like it enough to complete the rest. It's been a journey (so far!) of discovery. I hope now I discover that I like this idea and that it works!

 Opinions? Suggestions? I'm all ears, as we say in the Midwest!