Dear Liza,
Now that I am ready to put the land-use icons on my map of France, I am getting a little worried. There are going to be hundreds of these little rascals!
I want each icon to be easy to sew, of equal size, and to look vaguely like what it represents… a row of crops, a tree, or a vineyard.
Watching videos of embroidery, I noticed the importance of straight lines, so I practiced on some.
I am happy with some of these, but the squares and triangles were not right. I did more experimenting.
I also had to work out the right scale for the icons. Those first ones were 1 centimeter high, which I realized, since the whole map is about a meter wide, is TINY. So I tried some at 2 centimeters, which made more sense. I drew the 2 cm. icons on wider strips and laid them down according to the land-use maps I’ve been studying. I started with the south western part of the country
I took this picture to remind me what went where, then used my clear ruler to get the guide lines all straight.
And now, I have started sewing the icons! These are for wheat fields and row crops.There are still a couple hundred yet to go, so it will be a good long time.
Again, patience.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 