Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 127: Amadeus Stitch

A warm welcome to Sunday Stitch School. We are keeping classes open - thanks to our online classroom.

How about a canvas stitch for this week? Amadeus Stitch is not difficult, but you still need to pay attention to where you put your needle - good when you don't want your mind to keep wandering up 'Corona Lane'.

I found the Amadeus Stitch at badasscrossstich where you can see an excellent photo tutorial.
However I have made my own here.

My recommendations are to chose a fabric with a clear grid, I used Aida, or use waste canvas if you plan to work on plain weave, and stretch it in a hoop.
You need to use an odd number of holes in the grid. The higher the number the more complex the stitch will look.

In your mind keep these two lines,

the red one starts at the red dot and goes straight up. 

The blue goes down diagonally, one hole at a time.

So lets get started:
Insert the needle, (in my case)
in the 11th hole.

Come out one hole above the first, (the 2nd hole)

and to the left of the thread.

Insert the needle one diagonal hole down to the right.

You can see how your working thread is crossing the base stitch.

Continue in the same way

Your last stitch should go straight out to the right.

This is your basic stitch.

You now make a new set of stitches,
starting again at the red dot,
to the right.

If you make the version mirrored,

the fans will meet in the middle.

Make a mirrored version of those two:

Finally you have the complete
Amadeus Stitch.

..........

Or you can continue to make the fan spread out to the right.

When you have made four arms,

this will result in a windmill.

With various combinations you can get
all these looks,
and more, of course.

Green thread 5 holes, blue 7, orange 9 and purple 11.
As you see, the larger the design, the more impressive it will look.

The reds are all spreading the fans outwards, windmills or crosses.

Have fun!

Homework:
Aida Sampler
Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart
Canvas Sampler

Friday Homework for Lesson 126: Sydd Tofs

So different from traditional embroidery stitches, the Sydd Tofs was really fun to work with.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth

 The orange tassel is made with DMC stranded floss and has a lot of shine in the fibres. Perfect for some flowers, wouldn't you say?
The others are all wool, and as you can see are more compact and 'solid'.

WIPW - Log Cabin Challenge

The steady flow of news and information about the Corona virus outbreak is overshadowing everything else, but I have tried to Keep Calm and Carry On Stitching.

Freeform Embroidery
I added three stitches: Indian Edging,

Fly Stitch Filling and Parma Stitch.

Crazy for Crazy
Here I covered two rings with Buttonhole Stitch and stitched them down. I also worked a row of Buttonholed Lazy Daisy Stitch. These will later house a bead each.

New! Log Cabin Challenge
Every year in January, at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, my friends Julie and Tanya, and self, set ourselves a quilting challenge. Our projects have to be ready in time for next year's quilt show. We will take a rest from looking at the show and sit in the stands of the gigantic baseball stadium called Tokyo Dome and 'show and tell'.

We did Mola (2018), Cathedral Windows (2019) and Circles (2020).
For 2021 the theme is Log Cabin, and we are happy to be joined by Cynthia, and maybe some others of our friends.

I have very limited experience of making something with the Log Cabin quilt block, so am happy to challenge myself.
Here is my collection of fabric, so far, anyway. You might recognise most of them from the Circles challenge. My aim is to use up my stash, but I might have to add some new pieces. We will have to see how the project grows.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 126: Sydd Tofs

Welcome to the world of wool embroidery. Today we have another stitch from Carina Olsson's book Bottensömmar. The Swedish name Sydd Tofs translates into English: Stitched Tassel, but rather than a dangling tassel it looks like a little mossy hill.

To make it you need:

plain weave 

OR Aida/counted weave, with a backing of plain weave
a hoop
a needle
wool yarn
small scissors
a comb
a lint roller with sticky tape

Thread the needle with double yarn.

Insert the needle from the top 

and leave the last 1 cm of the yarn

on the surface.

Come up and down near the first

stitch, leaving a 1 cm loop. 

Repeat until you have a nice tuft.

On the back you should have a little 

knob of yarn.

Remove the fabric from the hoop,

and expose the tuft.

Pinch the tuft and trim it

with your scissors.

Make a rounded shape.

Comb the fibers.

Use the sticky tape roller to remove

lint and fluff up the tassel.

 .........

You can of course use a pen to make even loops.

Cut open the longer loops,
then trim in the way
described above.

Small, tight, perfectly round,
larger, fluffier
or wild and untidy,
there are no rules in free form embroidery.
Have fun!

Homework:

Experiment with stranded floss to see if it can replace the wool yarn.

Then add Sydd Tofs to these samplers.