Rose brooch cross stitch pattern

The original piece

Remember that old broach that I pulled apart?  Well I decided that it would be nice to have the pattern in case I damaged the original in my cleaning and deconstruction.  It turned out to be easier said than done- even blowing up the photo it was hard to see the stitching to reverse construct the process.  I also had the drama of finding some software to make the pattern in.  I used to have a copy of  PCStitch but lost the CD in a move.  Since this was for a small, one-off project I did not want to fork out lots of money on another copy so went on the prowl for something else to use.  I made the charts below using KG-Chart for Cross Stitch- they have a light version that is free that lets you create small patterns (for large you need to pay).  Overall I was fairly happy- the only downside was I couldn't seem to easily make a contained digital chart to post with both the symbols/chart AND the colour key.  I ended up having to do a screenshot to make the patterns below.  The screen colours also don't seem quite right for the DMC colours.  You can compare the lighter green colour in the leaves of the broach above and the pattern below to see what I mean- while the threads are a near perfect match, the computer pattern seemed to be a much darker colour.  But that said, the software did the job and was fairly simple to use.

So enough about the process, here's the pattern for you to enjoy.  It is not a perfect copy of the original as the small size and slight variation in colour fading means that it is more of a 'inspired by' pattern.  It also has not been test stitched yet since I'm still doing teaching rounds right now.   However, the colours (I used DMC embroidery floss colours) are as close a match as I can make them.  Click on the pattern below to see the full size version.

But wait!  Those who read my last post will remember that when I pulled it apart we got a glimpse of the original colours when looking at the back.  And as a comparison, here is the same pattern but this time I've matched to the back of the work- the side unaffected by light and wear over goodness knows how long.  Again DMC colours were used.

Much brighter, isn't it?  I also had to add an extra colour because, while the dark colour in the red and orange rose looked the same from the front, they appeared to be different shades from the back.  The green leaves are also noticeable as the lighter shade appeared yellow from the front but was originally a light green.

Now my great decision is what to do with the backing plate- stitch up the pattern above or something different?  And do I use the bright original colours or the muted colours for that vintage feel! Have an opinion?  Drop me a comment below.  I don't do decisions well and can use all the help I can get!