Persian Flower Scarf

At the Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group we are doing another Creativity Challenge. So I got on mine right away, I decided to embroider it on a scarf as a Christmas gift. The scarf came as a set with some gloves and a hat which I'll embroider on some sort of accent design. I'm also planning on doing an accent design on the opposite end of the scarf. Lillian gave the the idea to put leaves on the other end, which I thought would be perfect.

Getting the pattern to the design was the trickiest part of the whole process! I decided on Solvy so that I could dissolve away the pattern after I was finished. I traced the pattern onto the Solvy with a red sharpie because I figured if it stained then at least it will blend in with the fabric! LOL I had to baste the Solvy onto the scarf, then get it in the hoop, then I had to baste even more over the pattern because the loose knit would hang! Talk about frustrating! But the basting worked and I began embroidering. Next time I want to embroider on a loose knit I'm going to stick with free-form embroidery and not use a pattern like this, it was just too much work to get the pattern on the scarf!

I began embroidering in the design, I used a pink size 10 DMC Cebellia thread (normally for tatting), only because I didn't have any size 5 Perle thread and it's close to the size and the color was right. I worked it in the chain stitch to create a nice thick line. Then I saw some 4mm silk ribbon in my stash that was given to me, that I thought would work perfectly! It's variegated too! So I stitched in the center with silk ribbon in the satin stitch, then I thought the outer area of the center would look neat in stem stitch with the ribbon, I don't usually use silk ribbon in this way but I loved the result!

I went with alternating thick thread and silk ribbon stem stitch, adding a light green for the centers of the pink petals. I also used the green ribbon to satin stitch in the base of the flower and used a green Perle cotton for the stem. The outer petals I used a red size 5 Perle cotton thread in chain stitch again, since I really liked the look it gave.

Then I used yellow silk ribbon for the cup of the flower in stem and straight stitches and then colonial knots. I then used another size 10 DMC Cebellia thread in yellow to add in the details inside the petals. Those were done in stem stitch and lazy daisy stitches.
Then I pulled out all the basting, took it out of the hoop and cut away the excess Solvy. I've rinsed it this morning and am letting it dry.
I really focused on stitching it in last night and worked for hours on it. I didn't want to put it down, you know how it is...just a little more...plus I didn't want to have to take it out of the hoop and hassle with putting it back in to work on it more! LOL