Birth Sampler / announcement the start of stitching

so the gown as as near the middle as anything in the design, the place to start. I had not picked the colours to use before I started, I thought I would see how the white looked and then figure out the shading as I went.

I changed the drape of the gown from the original as I went.

It was not looking particularly impressive at this point but held onto the magic of backstitch would pull that together.

The next step to add the face and hair.

On my design the curves for the head were ok but of course some of the curve was in my drawn line and not in the stitches.

I used two tones for the face to put a little blush to the cheeks, not sure that shows up.  Perhaps it is subtle enough to make a difference without jumping out.

Face and hand completed next step the hair.

I asked the babies grandmother what colour it was, she sent me a picture.

I said a mid hazel and she agreed.  Of course with babies what you see is not always what you get so it remains to be seen if this colour will remain reflective of the child's hair as time goes on.

I did once do a sampler and just used the shade on the pattern I had picked.  I was sewing pre birth of the child and she had the courtesy of being born with exactly that shade of hair.

 Then onto the moon.....