A Bird Song
The first bird
In this 4th article in the series dedicated to this “Bird Song” project, we will work on making the first bird.
To embroider it, I haven’t used gradient threads, so to accompany the photos and explanations as usual, you’ll find only 2 thread variants, the first with silk threads and the other with DMC stranded cotton.
The design for this project can be downloaded from the first article or directly from the 2024 designs menu on this blog.
The colors
All in silk
Threads used
for the body, Soie d’Alger F17, F16, 4542, 4141, 3846
for the wings, Soie d’Alger 1745, 1743, 4911, 4922
for the tail, Soie d’Alger F17, 3846, 4534, 4533
DMC threads
Threads used
for the body, stranded cotton 739, 738, 436, 3772, 3021
for the wing, stranded cotton 931, 932, 3753, 518
for the tail, stranded cotton 739, 3021, 841, 3782
The bird
Body and head
Start by embroidering the edge of the bird’s body with the lightest color 739 (F17).
Finish filling the body towards the wing with colors 436 (4542) and 3772 (4141). Embroider the beak with color 3021 (3046), the eye in black, and add a few straight stitches with color 932 (1743) around it.
The tail
Embroider around the feathers in 2-thread stem stitch and color 739 ) F17).
Fill indented feathers in long and short stitch with the colors 841 (4534) and 3782 (4533).
To make the large feathers, alternate long 2-thread blanket stitches and color 3021 (3846) with smaller parts in 1-thread satin stitch and the color 841 (4534).
The wing
Here’s how to embroider the wing. It’s not shown on the drawing, but you’ll need to divide it into 6 parts, starting to work in the lowest.
1 This first part is made with 1 thread satin stitch and color 3753 (4911).
2 To make the second part, first embroider in spaced blanket stitch with 2 threads and the color 932 (1743), then fill in the spaces with 2-thread straight stitches and color 3753 (4911).
3 Fill the third part in satin stitch with 1 thread and the color 932 (1743).
4 Work this part the same way as the second part, using colors 518 (4922) for the blanket stitches and 932 (1743) for the straight stitches.
5 Fill in the fifth part with 1 thread satin stitch and the color 518 (4922).
6 To complete this last part, work in the same way as you did for the second and fourth parts, using the colors 931 (1745) for the blanket stitches and 518 (4922) for the straight stitches.