Monday, January 13, 2014

Opinions please ~ choosing borders

This weekend I worked on making the embroidery piece I brought back from our holidays a little bit smoother and less wonky/wavy in order to make it more workable in a project and I'm happy to say that I've been mostly successful.  

I slightly stretched it out and pinned it to the carpet, then gave it a thorough spritz with water and left it to dry for the past few days.  Most of the waviness is gone, and while it'll never be perfectly square (the embroidery itself is not square or on grain to begin with) it's far better than it was and I'm excited to give it a little colourful fabric treatment before hanging it on the wall.

I'm going to keep it simple and do just two borders but I'm having a hard time deciding.  I like the aqua check as the first border, but then I have three options for the second border.  What do you think?  (click photo for a larger view)

Thanks!


27 comments:

Leslie said...

love the embroidery! of course I am always drawn the polka dots and also them being red with the aqua check! I guess it looks more playful, maybe with the red and aqua and a bit more relaxing with the orange and I do love the orange a lot!
good luck choosing, its always so hard to decide!!!

CJ said...

I am drawn to the orange. :)

Sharon E said...

Nice job! My vote is orange.

Cille said...

Great embroidery... I'm drawn towards the red or the orange. My initial choice was red, but the orange seems to work great with the colors. Perhaps a polka dot orange?

Anne said...

I like the middle one the best.

Alisa said...

I like the orange. It seems to go with the piece.

Jill R. said...

I think I like the yellow best with the embroidery, but for some reason I don't love it with the blue check. I think the orange looks best with the blue border.

Debbie said...

my first inclination was the red, but I really like the orange too.

MrsV said...

I like the yellow best, and then the orange.

Nicole said...

The red makes the embroidery fabric look pink (at least in your picture), ie, like something bled in the wash.

The orange picks up the orange in the embroidery very nicely but that makes the whole thing look really orange. Reading the other comments, people are picking orange - probably because orange and blue compliment each other so nicely.

The yellow is perfect. Can you try the yellow with a slightly darker blue (one even with juuuuuust a titch of purple?) look at the blue lines in the border for what I mean. Even the blue lines in the water might be better.

But pick what you like and what looks good in your house. 8)

Kate said...

I'm going with the majority - definitely more drawn to the orange.

Izzy said...

I love the orange and the red. Looks really nice!

M-R Charbonneau said...

Beautiful embroidery, Heather. I like the red or orange!

mle said...

Yellow or orange!

Sheryl said...

I like the orange. I feel like the red spots distract the visual interest from the embroidery. The yellow's nice as well, but the orange really gives a warm feeling to the piece.

Cathy said...

I vote for orange!

DeborahGun said...

I think the yellow draws out the embroidery the most. It is such a lovely reminder of your holiday.

Patch the Giraffe said...

Love the red, makes the embroidery pop!

felicity said...

Such a sweet piece! I like the small scale of the red print. Runner up: orange.

Lorna McMahon said...

Orange you glad we all want to help?

Erica said...

I really don't think you can go wrong with any of those. I think I prefer the orange, but they would all look great!

Susan said...

I deliberately did not look at what others wrote so not to be influenced-orange for me!

Cheryl said...

I would go for red, it looks great framing the piece.

Kelly O. said...

at first glance I picked the red because I am a sucker for polka dots but then I actually looked at the embroidery and realized that the golden border really enhances the gold in the piece and therefore is a much better and more appropriate choice... when I closed and opened my eyes several times the gold was the most pleasing and harmonious with the embroidery... in my opinion :)

dolls5000a said...

all the borders look great but I like the red one it seems to bring the red out more in the embroidery

Julie said...

Cute embroidery - the orange see,s to make the embroidery stand out best I think.

LeslieAnn79 said...

I like the red.