So, a while ago I promised my cousin an embroidery for a present. I finally got started on it. It’s from his favorite comic book, Batman: The Killing Joke. I’m enjoying working from a comic book – The Joker has some fun colors, and the design is really cool. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble with the colors coming out right in the photo – some of the blues are darker and a little more purple. The fabric is black cotton sateen, which I really like. It has a nice sheen, and it’s easy to work on.

I’ve started outlining the base layer. I’m working the lips and teeth in padded satin stitch, and the gums in split stitch. I want to work most of the face in shades  of blue in chain stitch. I was also thinking about doing the right side of the face (the part that’s turned away from us and barely visible) in split stitch or extra tiny chain stitch or something to differentiate it from the rest.

At the moment I’m thinking about trying to work the eye in buttonhole over split stitch (so that it’s padded and stands out). I think it’d be interesting to pad the cheekbones too. Do y’all think I could do chain stitch over split stitch for padding? I was also considering padding some areas by stuffing the back. Any ideas?