Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 20: Tete-de-boeuf Stitch

Last week's Satin Stitch Outline had the French name Cordonette.
This week's stitch has a French name, too, Tete-de-boeuf, which in English is sometimes called Bull's Head Stitch. I'll stick to the usual French expression.
In Swedish it is called Öglestygn med extra stygn, a bit of a mouthful!
Annet tells me it is called Ossekopsteek in Dutch.

It is an easy stitch and consists of a Detached Chain Stitch and two straight stitches at an angle.

Work it like this:

Different books give different instructions as to where to insert, and how to angle the straight stitches, as well as how long to make them. I think you should have the freedom to choose yourself...

 

 

On my Aida sampler I used a variegated thread:

Homework:
It isn't a Canvas stitch, but use it as a filling stitch nevertheless.

Friday Homework for Lesson 19: Satin Stitch Outline

Satin Stitch Outline is a nice stitch to work, but I am a bit disappointed with the result. I find that the line stands stands out all right, high and tight like a cord, but it still looks lumpy. Is it the Coton a Broder that I have used? Would stranded cotton floss have been better? Or silk?

Instead of using it for some writing, I drew a plant with heart shaped leaves, and I will add other stitches to it so it can be turned into a greeting card.

I hope to have the completed card ready for show on Wednesday's WIPW report.

WIPW - RIP

Work In Progress Wednesday is progress in reverse! Fortunately RIP does not mean Rest In Peace, I have not put a dagger in


Trinity Green

just a seam ripper.

RIP is the verb rip, and I have been ripping open seams to be able to re-sew them.
You see, I must have stretched the 'tagliatelle' a bit (as these strips of fabric have no paper backing) while the 'snakes' stayed firm. Some seams have stretched a bit more than others, and I didn't notice. (It HAS been a tough week and my attention has been elsewhere).

If any work is boring, it is ripping up seams that ought to have been perfect! So I have been working slowly and the flimsy is still not completed.


Greeting Card

Do you remember the dim photo I showed as a teaser the other week?


Well here is a clear picture of the wool embroidery.

Stitches used:
Fern, French Knot, Long Tail Chain, Seed, Stem, Straight, Twisted Chain, Twisted Satin, Woven Detached Chain, Up and Down Buttonhole

Wool is such a lovely thread to work with.

Sunday Stitch School - EXTRA LESSON on a Tuesday

My apologies for adding an extra lesson! A fault in the instructions of how to make Satin Stitch Outline was found, thanks to an observant reader, and I have added the missing part in this revised lesson. It will be marked in red below.

Good morning and welcome back to Sunday Stitch School after a week's break.

The stitch for today's lesson was found in this book:

On page 127 we find a version of the Satin Stitch, Satin Stitch Outline. It is used in French white work and the French name is Cordonnet when it forms a thin line, and Point de Bourdon if the foundation stitches are stitched in thicker thread. It also resembles Trailing (where the width and thickness varies), but the way the Satin stitches are padded is different.

Now for the working of Satin Stitch Outline:

Make a line of Running stitches where you bite only a tiny bit of the fabric and most of the thread is on top.

Then work your way back in the same way, longer Running stitches on the top, tinier on the back.

You now have 'Split Running Stitch'.

Here comes the missing part.

Place a loose strand of thread on top and then

with the same thread, or one of a different weight, make tiny and tight Satin stitches over the basic stitches and the loose thread.

My apologies if anyone has already had a go at Satin Stitch Outline.

On my Aida sampler it is untidy!

Homework:
This could be a good stitch for writing or scribbling something...
Play around with pink and blue, but keep the tension even, please! Untidy stitching, like on the Aida sampler above is NOT accepted!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 19: Satin Stitch Outline

After posting this lesson a fault has been found in the instructions and you can find the correct version by clicking this link: Sunday Stitch School - EXTRA LESSON on a Tuesday. 

Good morning and welcome back to Sunday Stitch School after a week's break.

The stitch for today's lesson was found in this book:

On page 127 we find a version of the Satin Stitch, Satin Stitch Outline. It is used in French white work and the French name is Cordonnet when it forms a thin line, and Point de Bourdon if the foundation stitches are stitched in thicker thread. It also resembles Trailing (where the width and thickness varies), but the way the Satin stitches are padded is different.

Now for the working of Satin Stitch Outline:

Make a line of Running stitches where you bite only a tiny bit of the fabric and most of the thread is on top.

Then work your way back in the same way, longer Running stitches on the top, tinier on the back.

You now have 'Split Running Stitch'.

With the same thread, or one of a different weight, make tiny and tight Satin stitches over the basic stitches.

On my Aida sampler it is untidy!

Homework:
This could be a good stitch for writing or scribbling something...
Play around with pink and blue, but keep the tension even, please! Untidy stitching, like on the Aida sampler above is NOT accepted!

Friday Homework? No!

There was no lesson last Sunday at Sunday Stitch School, so today there is no homework to hand in.

I am looking forward to the day after tomorrow, when there will be a new stitch. WHAT will it be this time? Hm, it should start with the letter S, shouldn't it? From which book will the stitch come?

WIPW - Hangover?

It might be the hangover after Easter, or the sudden heatwave in Tokyo, or the backlog of work, but something has hampered the WIPW (Work In Progress Wednesday) this week.

Trinity Green
Only a few more sections have been added to the flimsy.

Greeting Card
In stead I spent a couple of hours making a greeting card, but can not reveal its design yet. So here is an out-of-focus teaser:

I hope to have much more to show next week.

Sunday Stitch School - Easter Holiday

Sunday Stitch School is closed for Easter.

Wishing you all a

HAPPY EASTER

Friday Homework for Lesson 18: Renaissance Stitch

Oh, dear! This has turned out to be an interesting stitch! There are a number of similar stitches with these names: Renaissance Stitch, Rococo Stitch, Queen Stitch, French Stitch...

According to these sources
MT: Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches.
ESB: The Embroidery Stitch Bible
SGtF: Sew Guide to Fashion
A-Z2: A-Z of Embroidery Stitches 2

Yellow: Renaissance Stitch (A-Z2)

Purple:  French Stitch (MT and ESB)

Orange: Rococo Stitch (ESB)
Orange: Rococo Stitch or Queen Stitch (A-Z2)
Orange: Queen Stitch or Renaissance Stitch (SGtF)
Orange: (when worked with six crosses) Rococo Stitch (SGtF)

Green: Rococo Stitch or Queen Stitch (MT)

The green stitch is a true Canvas stitch, and is worked in a totally different way from the others. As I had no single canvas to work it on, I tried on this Aida, (unsuccessfully?)

A-Z2 is the only book where the stitch has and odd number of 'crosses', namely three, and the spacing is so broad that the fabric can be seen between the threads.

It is all very confusing but I conclude that RENAISSANCE Stitch is the yellow one with odd number of crosses and a wide look.

On my Aida sampler it looks like this:

And here is my homework:

WIPW - 4 x 9 1/2

Most of the effort of my Work In Progress this Wednesday has been on

Trinity Green

I have joined triangles and strips of green/purple/gold fabric into units of four.


There are 9 1/2 such units

The next step is to join them all into one huge flimsy.

Greeting Card

I had to make a greeting card, and wanting to test if the Bayeux stitch could be used with Coton a Broder, I made this design.

The anchoring stitches sink into the background much better when stitched in wool, though. Well, you always learn something!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 18: Renaissance Stitch

Welcome to Sunday Stitch School.
Do you remember Lesson 15's Open Chain Stitch? It is a stitch with MANY names.

When I searched for a stitch beginning with R I found Renaissance Stitch in A-Z of Embroidery Stitches 2. A nice stitch, it looks complicated but was easy to stitch.

While checking if it had any other names I found  in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches a Renaissance Stitch which is TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

This week we focus on the A-Z2 version.

Work it like this:

Of course you can make it shorter, wider and with longer anchoring stitches at the sides.

Homework:
Fill a square with yellow Renaissance Stitches

and if there is time, do something creative!

No Swedish name has been found. In French it is known as Point de Rococo

Friday Homework for Lesson 17: Q Stitch

I think I should do all my writing in stitches! My handwriting is scrawny, but my stitches are a wee bit better!

My homework is a scribble of Qs:

and for fun I scribbled a sketch

WIPW - A Dish of Snake Pasta

It is Wednesday and here is my Work In Progress report.

Trinity Green

I began by joining the 'tagliatelle' with some gold.

With an old blade in the rotary cutter I trimmed the paper and fabric off the 'snakes' to leave a 7mm seam allowance.

The sewing machine was fed gold specked spinach tagliatelle and trimmed snakes.

on both sides, until I had five of these siamese reptiles.

There are 28 'snakes' left to go through the same procedure and the confetti party (removing the paper) has not started yet.