Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 159: Invented Stitch (Slashed)

Here we go again, another version of the Invented Stitch, found at Arts & Design. 

In this alternative, the result looks slashed.

Work it like this:

Homework:

Add to these samplers

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 3

Here is my third report on the embroidered silk and felt cushion I am making based on Jacquie Harvey's design. 

She is offering the design and her 11-page instructions for an appliqué and Suffolk Puff cushion as a pdf file. Contact me if you would like it.

MY work has come this far:

I have begun embroidering the felt with Perle 8. Various TAST and Sunday Stitch School stitches have been used.

................

Another sighting of spring is here: the book of Hina Doll ornaments is on the work table beside a heap of chirimen kimono silk. 

Hina Matsuri, or Doll Festival, is celebrated on Girls' Day 3/3. 

We always decorate the house with these hanging ornaments from a month before that day. It will soon be February 3rd and I must get going. I have plans for three new ornaments. Watch out for my report later.

Friday Homework for Lesson 158: Invented Stitch (Half Cross)

As I already knew the cross stitch (full cross) version of this inventive stitch, it was easy to do my homework.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth

Very simple homework, no need to comment.

WIPW - A Full Set?

Here is a very late report for Work In Progress Wednesday. 

 Log Cabin Challenge

I made another five blocks, which means I have a total of 350 blocks. My plan is that that will be the full set. I might have to make a few more to be able to set them in a grid where two pieces of the same fabric don't edge up...

My next challenge is to find fabric for the backing. I can't go out shopping, and I don't know if I have enough fabric at home for the whole back. Should I use an old sheet? It's not the best of fabric, obviously.

Tatting

I go on studying and trying out new ways. 

There are so many YouTube videos and many different ideas it is hard to pick out a method that works for me. Should I close the rings and chains before or after reversing the work? 

Some videos count the picot as the first part of the double stitch, others make a full double stitch after the picot has been 'hooked up'.

I continued to play around with beads, and tried out a way where three beads make a pile, and four beads are placed so one beads is part of the ring, and the other three are in place of the picot.

Crazy for Crazy

I added stitches to outline the flower on the left, a ring covered in Buttohonle Stitch and filled with white pearls on the right, three buttons along a line of Invented Stitch (Cross) and Colonial Knots. There are also white pearls along the curved hem.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

I have started decorating the felt. You can see more in my report on Saturday.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 158: Invented Stitch (Half Cross)

Here is the second version of Invented Stitch. It is basically worked in the same way as the cross version we learned last week, but the needle is inserted into different holes.

Make the Stem Stitch and come out on the same line as the first stitch, underneath the thread.

Go across and make the Buttonhole Stitch, one line down.

Pull the thread askew and anchor the needle under the first stitch line.

The result is a butterfly shaped half cross kind of stitch.

Individual or

worked in a line.

It's your choice.

Have fun!

Homework:

These half crosses want to join their cousins on the three samplers.

Saturday Sightings of Spring - 2

There has been a snow alert for Tokyo, but there are sightings of spring HERE!

The basting thread holding down the cut pieces of felt was removed

as each piece was stitched down with small stitches.

The felt is now ready to meet thread, mirrors, and embroidery stitches galore in the Fay Maxwell style.

I am working my felt and silk cushion based on a Jacquie Harvey design. Hers is worked in cotton with Suffolk Puffs (Yo-yos).

Anyone wanting to take part, can get the pattern and  illustrated instructions as a pdf file. Contact me, and I will send you the file.

Another sighting of spring is this pot of yellow tulips that are brightening up my room.

Friday Homework for Lesson 157: Invented Stitch (Cross)

 This homework shows the first type of Invented Stitch - the one that creates a cross.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Aida Sampler

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth

Aren't they nice?

Some might think it is simply a Straight Stitch with a Cross Stitch worked on top. For me it can't be - I always make my Cross Stitches like this:

First I make the black stitch, then the green on the return, which means the green line is on top. 

Look carefully at the purple stitch and notice the cross have the lines in the other order. This is achieved with the mock Buttonhole Stitch. See the instructions picture 5, 6 and 7 for more detail.

WIPW - Tatting Fiasco

 Work In Progress Wednesday.

Crazy for Crazy

I added a line of Alternating Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch in white along a seam. Then made a swirl of Barb Stitch, which I whipped with a thread I also used for tatting. It is nice to share threads between projects.

Log Cabin Challenge

Five new blocks. Total count 345.

Tatting Fiasco

Ha, ha. Nothing good lasts forever. I was having such fun learning to tat and had just begun practising  adding beads in various ways.

Basically tatting designs are made up of two parts, the ring and the chain. Important when you complete each ring is to take the thread through the loop that has formed at the beginning. That is not a step necessary for making chains.

So if you are careless and forget to catch that loop, well then you can either cry or laugh, because you have to undo the whole work, or at least that ring. That is why I began this section with a 'Ha, ha'. Better laugh than cry when fiasco strikes.

Saturday Sightings of Spring

I will show you more on Saturday, but I have been using thin threads.

Sunday Stitch school - Lesson 157: Invented Stitch (Cross)

Do you sometimes have problems interpreting instructions? I am sure most of us have at one time or another followed instructions, either written or illustrated, only to find the result didn't look right.

That was the case when I tried the Invented Stitch from Arts & Design. The drawing of the completed stitch looked so neat, but however many times I followed the text or the step-by-step illustrations, my result looked nothing like the sort.

I found the situation even more confusing when I read the text and also looked at the pictures. By following only one set at a time, I suddenly had two different stitches.

In the end I had three different stitches - and they all looked great. Three for the cost of one, so to speak.

I will introduce them to you one by one, in three consecutive lessons. Let's start with # 157 Invented Stitch (Cross).

Combining a Stem Stitch with a Buttonhole Stitch that is pulled askew you get this neat individual stitch. Keep on going and you have a straight barbed wire look.

Work it like this:

Notice the holes used on the Aida cloth.

Make a Stem Stitch where you take the needle out slightly above the stitched line.

Take a Straight Stitch on the other side of the stitched line

Keep the thread under the needle, to make a Buttonhole Stitch, and pull through.

Now pull the thread back across the Stem Stitch, and insert the needle on the upper side of the stitched thread, forming a cross.

It is beautiful as an individual stitch, or

continue in the same way for a neat line.

Homework:

Add to the samplers