I started work on this last Fall, then moving and a 2 week vacation interrupted the process. I wanted to make a neck piece to wrap the neck and drape over the collarbone - kind of a decorative thing that could dress up any existing outfit. Though not entirely successful, this taught me a lot about the process of making an accessory like this:
1. Embroidering without a hoop is rough. With nothing to maintain the tension, it’s all too easy for shapes to get distorted.
2. Freehanding gear shapes might not be the best idea. Like line drawing, these should either be almost machine-perfect, or stylized even more so it looks like they’re meant to be that way. Right now, they’re somewhere in between.
3. I’m still undecided whether it’s a better idea to sew the pieces together and THEN embroider them, or embroider the pieces and sew them together afterwards.
4. There are likely more elegant ways to achieve this look that don’t involve 40 hours of needlework.
Ah well. As ever, this has been a valuable experience in terms of gaining knowledge and confidence. Time to start prototype #2!