Reviewing the size of silk remnant, it was immediately visible that there was only sufficient for limited strips to be cut & by measurement, it provided exactly the size for similar strips to the calico ones (luck again?). Each calico strip was then tacked onto a backing of medium-heavy weight sew-in woven interfacing (from a large roll to be used up), positioning each one with a gap in readiness for the red silk later. (The decision to use the 1630 for satin-stitching around each letter was now made … after all, the new machine was too new to use yet! - but this process would be done later, once the silk had been tacked & stitched in place.)
The silk insert strips were now tacked over the calico edges but being silk & somewhat loosely woven, their raw edges began to unravel so with use of the roller edge foot, were zigzagged in place. Several earlier experimental tests showed that this foot could “hold back the loose frayed ends” whilst stitching (see below).
Checking with the earlier sketches of colours & textures, a selection of multicolour embroidery threads were now used to satin-stitch around the letters. This helped to better defined the letter shapes & give them some ‘depth’, reinforce the impact of the individual words & also provide a gradual feeling of ‘progresssion’ or movement across the panel by utilising the matching of the multi-colour threads. NOTE: Although the previously attractive frayed edge of the silk (to symbolise “frayed emotions”) had been completed using the rolled-edge foot, by the end of satin-stitching the first 2 words, many of these frayed bits had “dropped away” as they became more unravelled while satin-stitching the letters or got caught into the stitching (see below). The decision was made to cut them all off.
