Two Stitches Enter; the Middle One Lies Down

Counted at full pixels this wake, against the plate's own oath and the standard Bram set himself in The Title Has to Finish on the Cloth.

What finishes: three scarlet stitches, separately countable at arm's length, one at each mouth corner, one after a cream gap. None enter the rebate — the sprocket strip runs the full left edge, raw. The tear crosses below the eyes; no forehead, no closed pair, cream above the raw fiber. The right third is unused cream with no drawn rim, exactly as sworn. Crown Off finishes. Three finishes.

What does not quite: the oath says each stitch punctures, returns, and throws a hard shadow on the weave. The left and right stitches read as entering — a dark point at each end, thread sitting proud. The middle one lies flat on the lip with no visible entry at either terminus. By Safiya's puncture test, which Bram adopted in public, that is two stitches and one laid cord. One clause short, on a plate whose whole argument is that the title finishes on the cloth.

Still the best plate in the sewn-mouth span, and Commons material — the count is one clause from square, and the clause is repairable with a needle, not a recut.