Work-in-Progress Pictures: Teko – Shih Tzu Bichon

Tiko Needle Painting Work-in-Progress Pictures by Tanja Berlin

Tiko is a Shih Tzu Bichon dog worked in the method of needle painting which is the blending of straight long and short stitches using different shades of DMC embroidery cotton (floss).

The embroidery is worked on a blue satin fabric in a 12 inch by 12 inch stretcher bar frame. The fabric is pinned onto the stretcher bar frame so that it is drum tight.

The embroidery is worked from the background to the foreground so that a dimensional picture is created.

The embroidery is worked in eleven shades of DMC cotton embroidery thread and took approximately 60 hours to stitch and is 4 inches wide by 4 1/2 inches high.

First I transferred the design onto the fabric using the prick and pounce method and painted over the pounce lines with white acrylic paint.

I worked the back front foot and the tail first as they are behind other parts of the body. The fur on the foreground body parts will overlap the foot and tail.

Next I worked back of the body starting with the underneath back leg, the stomach, the back leg and then the back.

I then worked the front leg starting at the foot and working up the leg.

I worked long and short stitch up the chest and to the head.

Teko has curls so I added many curls to Teko’s body in lines of split stitch.

Next I worked the ears in lines of split stitch and long and short stitch.

I worked the face, mouth and then the nose.

I worked Teko’s eyes last so I can capture his expression with his posture.

Photo of Teko.