A hard lesson learned

The problem

First, a bit of background. I'm a natural homebird, and more comfortable in my own company than is probably wise. So some years ago I made a conscious decision that simply not fancying going to an event was no excuse - I would always say yes to any invitation which came along. After all, if it was really terrible, I could always discreetly leave (and a few times, I have had to!).

This more or less worked until staying at home became a government decree. Even when restrictions were eased, I remained cautious, possibly overly so (having elderly parents to consider just added to my natural tendencies). Again, I eventually realised that mentally this was doing me more harm than good, and that I really did need to get out more. The embroidery I've been working on for the last few weeks was intended as an aide memoire to this.

A few weeks ago I saw a news report about it being the centenary of the novel Ulysses, and this prompted a memory of a play which Mr Tulip and I saw years ago. When my parents still lived near Edinburgh, we always went to stay with them for a week or so to go to the Fringe, and one of the many, many shows we went to over the years was an amazing one-woman performance based on Molly Bloom’s soliloquy. It struck me that the final words, "and yes I said yes I will Yes", were exactly what I needed as a reminder of my former approach to life.

This was my initial idea.

Scribbled on a scrap of paper

I decided on a design size, and drew a second version. Slightly squint.

Enlarged, and a bit neater

Then I tidied it up, with consistently-sized lettering.

Better, but the stright lines are a bit harsh

The straight line of text across the centre in particular didn't seem right, so I drew a fourth version. Even though the curves on which the lettering was now based were not noticeable, they did soften the design to the feel I wanted. Once I had the letters and spacing sorted, I could add the flower and bud. I then used a blue Frixion pen to transfer the design onto a piece of cotton, and backed it with a second layer so that any thread ends on the underside wouldn't show through.

The final version - the blue made it look like an embroidery transfer

The embroidery was done using some of my collection of threads from Mulberry Silks. Most of the lettering was done in medium thickness thread using split stitch, and the flowers and leaves were done in two strands of fine thickness thread.

I liked how the text made sense even without the 'yesses'

At some point while working on the project, I realised that the final 'yes' should have an upper case Y, not lower case. I had already left a gap in the stem underneath for the interlacing letter tail, so the new version had to incorporate this. I left the alteration until everything else was completed, as I didn't want to accidentally iron out lines which I still needed.

The redrawn detail

For emphasis, I used a thicker thread in a different colour for the three occurrences of 'yes'. By the time I had finished, the embroidery wasn't exactly dirty, but it looked as though it would benefit from a freshen-up. As it was such an important project to me, I wanted it to look its absolute best. I was concerned that the bright 'yes' red might run, so I stitched a spare length onto a scrap of cotton and tried giving it a cold wash, and it was fine. I had used all the other threads previously, and somehow just assumed that they were colourfast. . .

I was wrong

Most of them were, but not the dark red of the lettering. No matter how much I rinsed the piece, more dye kept coming out as it dried. I even tried unpicking all the lettering and washing it again, but having leached out of the thread, the dye is now firmly attached to the cotton fabric. (It has also changed from pink to a fairly unappealing brown, so dying the fabric to match isn't really an option.)

The brown marks where the letters were are more obvious in real life

Obviously, the irony of having inadvertently ruined a project undertaken specifically to improve my mental health is not lost on me. I'm furious with myself for not having checked all the threads, and I'm also devastated. I certainly can't face starting it all over again, so I'm putting it away for a while, to see if any rescue ideas come to mind. If not, I will have to bin it. So let this be a warning to all potential embroiderers out there - always, always, always check your threads for colourfastness before letting them anywhere near water.