WIPW - 61-10=51

Work In Progress Wedensday.

Other things than stitching have kept me busy.

Hexablooms

Last time I reported on a pile of 61 newly prepared blocks to add to the flimsy. I have stitched on 10 of them. The pile has thus shrunk to 51, which explains the headline of today's blog post.

Hung on the wall, over another quilt, you can see that in total 204 blocks are now fixed.

With all the white paper slips bearing the placement number stitched over the centre hexagon of each flower, the quilt appears to be full of snowballs. Fear not, once the paper has been removed the metallic fabric of the centre will shine and glow - hopefully.

Bookmark

I have one more bookmark to stitch this year.  I got started on it last weekend. Here is the back.

So, sorry for the meagre portion of Work In Progress this week.

Friday Homework for Lesson 344: Persian Star Filling Stitch

 Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth

I will be busy during the upcoming weekend so there will be no new stitch on Sunday. Sorry!

WIPW - What I Hate About Metal Stud Buttons

Work In Progress Wednesday. Here is my report.

Mandala

I have now completed every one of the four lines with yellow beads.

What's next, I wonder?

Hexablooms

I selected 61 more blocks, placed them and marked them with placement numbers.

Part of them will look like this:

Sunday Stitch School Indigo Stitch Sampler

#343 Open Fishbone Stitch in light green and #344 Persian Star Filling Stitch in ochre.

SDGs for Clothing

After spending hours ripping up the factory machine-stitched waistband, I finally managed to set the elastic free from stitches. However, it was still trapped inside the waistband as it had been fixed with a metal stud button.

There I stood with the newly bought elastic... and fumed: 'This is what I hate about metal stud buttons!'

In the end, I had to cut two slits and pull out the old elastic in order to cut it off as close to the button as possible.

I will treat the slits as buttonholes and work Tailor's Buttonhole Stitch around the holes, then insert the new elastic and stitch it down by machine across the waistband. I will set the stitch length to large so the next time I need to replace the elastic, it will be easy to unpick the stitches.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 344: Persian Star Filling Stitch

Today I have an individual stitch for you, although the title contains the word 'filling'. Of course, it would make a nice border stitch, but I want to focus on it as a single stitch.

I saw it a long time ago at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. There was only one photo and a mention that it is included in her Online book; no instructions were on the website. 

However, as today's stitch is laced and based on the Herringbone Square, it reminded me of TAST #54  Laced Square Herringbone Stitch. 

You can see instructions for those two at Pintangle.

In the case of the Persian Star Filling Stitch, it is not the corners, but the sides of the square that are laced, and only once. Those factors make the two stitches look quite different.

With a bit of experimentation, I figured out the stitch instructions for today's stitch.

My photo tutorial can be seen here:

Work your way around the square.

For the last stitch, go under the first side.

Then anchor, and you have your base square.

Change to a thread of a different colour.

Come out in the middle of the left side, slightly

inside the square.

Notice how the needle goes under and over the 

green and brown thread.

Repeat in the same way on the remaining sides.

When you reach the left side where you started, 

go under the green thread, as well as the first part

 of the brown thread.

Go through and anchor.

Close up, you notice the anchoring stitch, but

from a distance, it is not so obvious.

Homework:

Add to the three samplers.

Friday Homework for Lesson 343: Open Fishbone Stitch

It is really fun to see the leaves falling onto the fabric. For every little stab the leaves grow and twirl down through the air... ending up in a heap.

Aida Sampler

The holes in the weave were not so useful for placement...

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth

WIPW - What I Hate About Elastic

 Another Wednesday and another Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Mandala

I added a handful of yellow beads. Two strips out of four are done.

Hexablooms

Ten more blocks were added.

Preparations

These are not projects but preparations for what are to become projects.

I cut some more squares to make Hexagons.

I ironed the last length of linen band to make another bookmark.

I zig-zag hemmed a square of Aida,

and then added support fabric on all four sides.

This will be the new Sunday Stitch School Aida Sampler.

SDGs for Clothing

Ever since I taught a class about the Sustainable Development Goals, I have been trying to rethink my lifestyle and consider changes where I can use the SDGs.

One of them is clothing. If something is worn, why toss it away? Why not mend it?

When I took out the winter clothes from their storage box, I found that the elastic band in a pair of trousers was slack and had lost all elasticity. I decided to change it to a new band. This was easier said than done. The elastic band was inside the waistband and stitched fast. It was necessary to unpick all the stitches, which is what I really hate about store-bought clothing. I just want to be able to remove the old rubber band and replace it with a new, flexible one.

Oh, how I wish I were a witch and knew some smart and nifty household and sewing spells. Without the help of magic it will take some time to unpick all the stitches.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 343: Open Fishbone Stitch

Inspired by the many fallen leaves we can see in autumn, I want to introduce the Open Fishbone Stitch, which looks great when worked in the shape of a leaf. Here are the instructions on the Royal School of Needlework's Stitch Bank.

You can also find instructions in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches and Reader's Digest Complete Book of Embroidery.

I made this photo tutorial:

Homework:

Fill here. 

Please note that the Aida Sampler in the picture is full. The baton will be passed on to the new one:

Friday Homework for Lesson 342: Broken Chain Stitch

It is fun to stitch the Broken Chain Stitch in various directions. I like to start at the top and work downwards. I'm not very fond of stitches where you stitch away from yourself, but for this stitch, it is OK.

Aida Sampler

This is the last stitch I can add to this stitch sampler. It has been fun to work on, albeit only in small sections.

I will start a new Aida cloth sampler next week.

Here is today's homework:

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

 Two curves.

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth