Lesson 3.2
Dress Embroidery: Filling Curves with Stones and Pearls
In this lesson, you will continue from the bugle outlines and decorate the inner spaces with light purple stones, pearls and pink glass stones. You will choose each embellishment to suit the available space, gradually filling the curves while keeping the thread attached. Small silver beads complete the gaps between larger materials.
Materials to Prepare
Embroidery frame with your outlined dress motif
Embroidery hook and thread
Small and larger light purple stones
Pearls in different sizes
Matt rose and light pink glass stones
Small silver beads
Soft pads for holding your materials
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Select stones and pearls to fit the spaces within an outlined motif.
Combine different sizes along curved sections.
Fill small gaps with beads.
Use plain travelling stitches to return along the motif.
Move between curves without cutting the thread.
Balance complementary colours across the completed design.
Your Practice
Continue from the point where the previous lesson ended. Fill the inner spaces with light purple stones, introducing larger pearls wherever they fit comfortably. Check their size against the available space before attaching them.
Complete the first curve and continue down with different stones. Keep the thread attached and return to the starting point with plain stitches. Add smaller stones, using beads wherever a gap is too narrow for another stone.
Follow the demonstrated route with plain stitches to reach the next sections, then add pearls and matt rose glass stones. Fill the small spaces between them with silver beads.
Complete the final curve with light pink glass stones, checking that the filling sits neatly within the bugle outlines.