I just finished this piece a few days ago, and when I scanned it,
Art said I had to post it to the site. I focused in on these two
people so it would look like a Renaissance miniature portrait. The
finished piece will be framed in a oval frame.

Image is actual size 3.5″ X 4.75″.
Copyright©2004 Carlen Lea Lesser

The piece is done in DMC cotton floss and silk ribbon.

The woman’s drape is two pieces of 13mm white silk ribbon stitched
together with a 3mm silver piece and running stitches in single
strand floss.

The woman’s hair is made up of approximately 50 single strand
bullion stitches.

The woman’s color is a series of single strand cast on stitches.

The man’s tunic is a modified long-short stitch that is padded
around his arm to add depth. His collar is silk organza ribbon
in a plume stitch.

Embellished Toile
I developed the Embellished Toile technique about 5 years
ago. Toile is a style of fabric that was developed in the 18th
Century and traditionally portrays historical scenes or pastoral
scenes in one color. Embellished Toile takes this fabric
and adds details with a mix of appliquè, traditional, raised,
and ribbon embroidery – but always leaves part of the original fabric
showing.

More pictures on Flickr

[tags]embroidery, toile [/tags]