Friday Homework for Lesson 377: Closed Feather Stitch

 This stitch is easy and smooth to work. 

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

It even took a curve rather well!

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth

WIPW - 17 Done

We've had a powerful typhoon pass nearby. In my neck of the woods, we've been safe. With all the pelting rain, I have had a lot of time to sit at home and stitch.

Here is this week's Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Sunday Stitch School Indigo Sampler

I added #376 Pendant Couching Stitch. Isn't it charming and playful?

Hexablooms

I completed the 17 blocks needed for the column.

The assembly starts tonight! With a bit of luck, I can have all the 17 parts of the column joined together by the end of the week.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 377: Closed Feather Stitch

A long time ago, in 2013, I took part in TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday), an excellent educational stitch project by Sharon Boggon of Pintangle. It is still running, and I highly recommend that you take part. Read more about it here.

So, in 2013, I learned a version of Chain Stitch, called Turkman Stitch, also known as Double Chain Stitch.

You can find instructions for Turkman Stitch in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, in The Embroidery Stitch Bible and on the Royal School of Needlework's Stitch Bank.

When you glance through these publications, you will find, and maybe be confused by, another, very similar stitch, Closed Feather Stitch. You could almost call them identical twin stitches.

So today's stitch will be the twin, Closed Feather Stitch. (Here is the link to RSN's Stitch Bank).

Look at my photo instructions:

Both stitches start off in the same way.

From here, they differ. Look closely at 

where the needle is inserted.

TAST #86 Turkman Stitch

Now, compare it with today's stitch.

Can you see the difference?

Sunday Stitch School #337 Closed Feather Stitch

No? Look again:

In Turkman Stitch, the needle is inserted in the same hole as the previous stitch.

In the Closed Feather Stitch, the needle is inserted slightly below the previous stitch.

And the same goes for each of the following stitches.

Insert the needle slightly below and outside the loop.

Can you see it in this close up photo?

If you were ever to take an "Identify the Stitch Test", you'd probably need a magnifying glass to tell which stitch it is!

However, if you think of the names, Turkman Stitch is also called Double Chain Stitch, and today's stitch is named Closed Feather Stitch. Stitches in the Chain family use the same hole, but Stitches in the Feather Group do not. Gosh, the more you think of it, the more complicated it gets. I need to climb out of the rabbit hole I've fallen into!

I would like to say, though, that keeping the needle outside the loops gives a straighter line on both the left and right sides.

Homework:

Add Closed Feather Stitch on these samplers.

Friday Homework for Lesson 376: Pendant Couching Stitch

A must for a stress-free and successful execution of this stitch is a hoop or frame.  The fabric needs to be stretched taut.

Here is my homework:

Aida Sampler

Success on Aida and other kinds of fabric with big holes is to make use of the compact weaving in between the holes.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Red Kimono Silk  Scribble Cloth

These curly loops make me think of the streamers that were used to throw between a cruise ship and the quay before the ship sailed away.