Bella Dona dei Sorci

Non Magni Pendis Quia Contigit.

Or, "One does not value things easily obtained."

Yep. The glaring irony is not lost on me. I started in the center with heavy chain stitch. I knew I wanted the lettering thick and heavy, so I layered two colors.

100% Cotton Threads were used to match the fabric strength.

Once I had finished the lettering, I moved on to outlining the lion. I was not yet sure whether I wanted to fill these animal elements in, or leave them voided as in the Assisi Embroidery, so I went with a mix of heavy chain stitches, back stitches, and running stiches in several complimentary colors.

Once I had finished to lion's outline, I moved on to the unicorn. I wanted to stay within the same style of stitches and bright color additions (to stick to the long historical tradition of bright and colorful Italian embroidery), so that once completed, these two would be matching in style but opposite in color.

I moved into the coat outline with choppy running stitches in dark gold. My intention was to get as close to the original weave as possible with minimal design corrections.

I love that it looks rough and "frayed" although the stitches are tight and close together.

I chose back stitches and running stitches to fill in the side ribbons to attempt to mimic upward movement. The side ribbons were a few layers of very similar colors.

Layer 1 done.

Once I had a plan to go about how I wanted to fill in the large side animals, I went to work. Each of these beads is threaded through three times and individually knotted.

I knew this process would be slow going, but to me, it was more practical in the long run. I knew that if these were strung together and one of them got accidentally pulled off, the whole strand would go. And that would be a pain to continually mend later.

Almost done with the first layer. the main body consists of cultured freshwater pearls and silver metal/filler beads.

Once I had completed the first layer of the body, I moved on to the hooves. Again, all individually strung and knotted, I used only metal beads to create not only a color differentiation, but also a noticeable texture contrast.

A mixture of small gold metal beads piled high finished the horn. I love that this looks similar to cobblestone.

I moved into the second layer of the body beading, covering any visible gaps with cultured freshwater pearls.

To give a bit of draw to the mane and tail, I went with larger purple glass beads accented by silver.

Once I completed the lion's ribbon, I moved on to filling in the lion's body. With a mix of wooden beads, tigers eye, gold accents and the occasional pop of white, I left the lion's paws bare until the body beading was complete.

The lion's mane, comprised entirely of gold beads, took three layers to look full enough to strike me as a mane. The paws were completed with coffee colored wooden beads and gold accents for claws.

Using 2mm pink beads, and a good bit of what sanity I had left, I completed the tiger's outstretched tongue.

The lion's face is comprised of the coffee colored wooden beads also used in the bottom paws.

A single purple glass bead fills in for an eye.

Photo taken in direct sunlight.

Once I had completed the bulk (literally and figuratively) of the project, I moved on to the dainty chain stitches of the individual ribbons that sat atop the coat.

These beautiful, flowing ribbons sitting atop the coat were done with two different stitches.

1. The same choppy running stitches in dark gold from the outline of the coat.

2. The chain stitch I chose to start the center ribbon.

Each ribbon was split into multiple complimentary and contrasting colors, paired with upward chain stitches, to closely mimic movement.

Paying careful attention to move slowly and carefully, I climbed my way up the right side of ribbon work.

I stayed mostly with the weave, except for when splitting the ribbons into multiple colors. Ribbon design choices were made to help blend the stitches evenly.

I finished the last ribbon atop the coat and moved onto the sparse few ribbons that sit below the main piece.

Photo taken in indirect sunlight.

Photo taken in indirect sunlight.

Photo taken in indirect sunlight.