The goldfish bellpull

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been spending all my time stitching commissions that I took at the show. However most of the designs were things that I’ve posted here in the past so I didn’t feel justified in putting them up again. But here’s something I think is new, based on some goldfish designs that I did when I was selling designs on the internet. At the show I had some goldfish stitched out roughly in a “bellpull” arrangement and these were so popular I had to promise several people to do some more for them. Here’s the first one I’ve finished.

Twelve goldfish in a bellpull arrangement

There were a few practical problems with it, but in the end it didn’t turn out too badly
As I was stitching them, I realised that recently I’ve become so preoccupied with applique that I’ve tended to forget what subtle effects you can get when you overlay several thin layers of embroidery. The body of these fish consist of four or five separate layers, each contributing to the contouring of the body, and the effect can be really interesting. Of course there are times when applique is the only way to do something, but on the same principle there are times when embroidery on its own is the way to go. Maybe I’ll have to get back to thinking about what layers of embroidery can do