Brazilian embroidery--finishing a project

This week I finished by Blumen Needle project and did all the finishing except the framing.

 

The first step is to soak the embroidery to remove any visible pattern lines. I let mine soak for an hour, but the lines were still visible, so I add some Biz to the water, which quickly removed the rest of the lines.

 

After a good rinsing, I quickly rolled the piece in a thick towel once or twice to get rid of as much water as possible. I don't really squeeze or twist the work during this step because I don't want to crush my embroidery, but some water has to be pressed out in order to dry the piece as quickly as possible.

 

Step three is drying. This is essential. Red and purple Brazilian threads have a tendency to run if they aren't dried very quickly and thoroughly. I do this with a hair dryer. Prior to this week, I would stand and hold the hairdryer over the piece until the threads seemed dry, but I have learned that this approach can lead to problems. If there is water left in the corners or the seams where you edged the piece, then that will slowly move back toward the center and a piece that you thought was perfect, will all of a sudden have red halos around the flowers. Because of all the red in this piece, I hung my hairdryer on the wall and let it run back and front for about 45 minutes until the whole piece was dry. There were no halos a few hours later, but if there were, boiling is supposed to be effective in removing them. I haven't yet gotten that desperate, but after washing and drying my last piece several times, I know now to make sure it is completely dry before turning off the hair dryer.

 

The final steps were clipping stray threads on the back and tacking my vines where I wanted them. It felt almost sad to tack them down since, as you can see, the vines with the flowers and leaves were completely free to move around. But, without tacking, the vines crowded each other, so tack I did.

 

The piece is all ready for a frame. I'll need to look for a deep one. Once it is framed, I'll hang it in my office at work as a reminder of a tranquil summer day.

 

To see my introductory post about this pattern click here.

 

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