Robe, almost finished this section

 Just another little line of silver thread on the right and this section is done

Then the chevron shapes which I haven't yet decided on. I'll see after I've looked at this a while. The drawn lines are irrelevant at this point, and will vanish under a warm iron. They were really just the starting point. I've discarded my notes too, 

This is how art goes, when the work takes on its own life and earlier ideas have served their purpose and can be discarded.

Robe silver work

 This is how I'm making the transition from the curves to the straight bands. 

Instead of the brilliant silver of the curves, I'm using the softer thread I used earlier in the eye.  Nice echo, and it gives more body to the shift from curve to straight..

Robe,, silver and gold work

This is slow work, but so good to handle, laying down the metallic thread right next to its neighbor, sliding in the needle into the fractional space between them, drawing it through and back through the same place. 

My eyes now need a break.

Robe, goldwork

Some more stitching, silverwork and goldwork.

As I've been working on this I've started to aim for a more fluid design than the original, which is a bit rigid.

That's because it was intended for a dress, molded round a human figure in action, particularly dancing. So there was no need to build in movement. Mine is different, smaller, and will be more static, so I'm making it flow more.

For one thing, I think I won't break the color as the original did, meeting gold against silver. I'll probably stitch the curves continually in one color. But I'll alternate the colors. Then maybe I'll break the colors in the arrowhead shape at the bottom.

We'll see.