Aubrey’s Autumn Afternoon by Christen Brown

This vest is another created from the class that I teach, Renaissance of Ribbon Embroidery, using a tapestry fabric for the base of the project, and stitching in silk ribbon embroidered stitches to embellish the print.

I fell in love with this tapestry mainly because of the sunflowers, I loved the bold colorful brilliance. Unfortunately I forgot to check where the sunflowers were going to land the first time I cut out the pattern pieces, well you can probably guess where they wound up, yes big bulls eyes at breast level. So I had to re-cut the pieces, made two purses from the other pieces and learned a very expensive lesson!

Close-up of Aubrey’s Autumn Afternoon

I used mainly 4mm silk ribbon for the stitching with silk button hole twist for the vines and details. I incorporated a few tatted flowers here and there. I also used Japan Gold thread to detail the petals of the sunflower, as you can see in the lower left hand corner of this image.

The center column of flowers was added after I realized that the pattern no longer fit me. Ugh! But I have to admit you do grow and learn from these design dilemmas!

I used vintage velvet trims, like the garnet colored one sewn down the front panel, and the garnet and green on the back of the vest. I also used several wonderful large pieces of vintage lace on the back panel.

Down the center panel and on the back of the vest I incorporated silk bias and French wire ribbon flowers with dyed fabric leaves. The front panel also has several vintage and new buttons mingled amongst the flowers with charms and other beads.

Happy Stitching! Christen