Friday Homework for Lesson 325: Long and Short Stitch

 The Long and Short Stitch has a long history and is perfect for 'painting' with needle and thread. It is often seen on embroidery on kimonos and on Chinese silk embroidery. It is beautiful to look at but difficult to get a neat and even result. Trish Burr is an expert.

Aida Sampler

Aida fabric is not suitable for this kind of stitching, but I ignored the holes and inserted the needle wherever I wanted.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

I used stranded floss in two brown and two blue shades instead of the usual one brown and one light blue perle cotton. It is easier to get a better filling and blending of the threads when a thinner thread is being used.

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

For this sampler, I used tapestry wool.

WIPW - 3gr less

 This report is for Work In Progress Wednesday.

Hexablooms

I have joined more hexagon flower blocks to the yellow section and then added orange ones. Brown and dark blue blocks are the next steps so some of these blocks have been earmarked and given location codes.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

The content of the sequin tube has shrunk by 3 grammes. Why? Well, those 3 gr worths are now on the sampler!

Bookmark

The mistake from last week has been corrected, and more stitches have been added. 

It's been a week of slow but steady progress.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 325: Long and Short Stitch

It is time to fill in a gap in my collection of stitches. Here is one of the basic and most important stitches that I have not yet added. The Long and Short Stitch. 

In my opinion, the best instructions can be found at RSN's Stitch Bank. You can also see photos in A-Z of Embroidery Stitches volume 1.

I have added my own photo tutorial here:

Draw the outline.

Secure the thread with a waste knot and a few 

short stitches.

Cut off the waste knot.

Now, use Split Stitch along the outline.

Draw in the lines to guide the angle of the 

Long and Short stitches

Come out from inside the shape.

Then insert the needle just outside the Split Stitch line.

Repeat but take a shorter stitch on either side.

Continue to alternate long and shot stitches until you have 

filled in the area you wanted. 

Change to a different shade of thread.

Work in the opposite direction. Start in the outer areas,

between the long and short stitches. Insert the needle

in the centre void.

Add another shade, if you want more gradation.

Continue as before.

I finished off with an orange thread.

Homework: Try to add here. It will be difficult, if not

impossible to work on the Aida fabric.

Friday Homework for Lesson 324: Raised Spider Daisy Stitch

I used two methods to raise the foundation for this stitch. 

1) I followed the instructions of Needle 'n Thread by piling straight stitches on top of each other.

2) I also used a ball of wadding to lift up the Spider Daisy Stitch.

Aida Sampler

The problem with Aida is that you have that grid of fixed holes. For this stitch, you need to spread the stitches differently, so I had to stitch in between the holes.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Working on the plain weave was easy peasy. The angle of the photo does not show the dome like swelling, but it is there.

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

It was on this mottled wool foundation fabric that I used a ball of wadding instead of making that pile-up of stitches.

The result was a higher dome shape.

It was more impressive than the stitched padding.

WIPW - Reverse Stitching

Hello, it is Wednesday and time to submit my Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Hexablooms

Last week, I assembled eight blocks. This week I managed to do ten more, but every seam is not stitched yet.

Bookmark

I noticed a mistake in the white area, on the right, which kept blaring at me, so I removed most of what I had stitched the previous week.  

Reverse stitching is boring, but I hope that by restitching it, the overall result will be better.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

The sampler now has more shiny blue sequins.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 324: Raised Spider Daisy Stitch

Today, we are going to learn from one of the best embroidery teachers there is - Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread.

Mary always encourages her readers to play with stitches and has created a series of tutorials called Stitch Fun.

Here at Sunday Stitch School, we previously learned one of her Stitch Fun stitches, #144 Raised Daisy Stitch and now it is time for the Raised Spider Daisy Stitch.

It is a cousin of, or at least looks similar to,  TAST #115 Whipped Long Tail Chain Stitch, but note that today's stitch is not based on the Long Tail Chain, but the Lazy Daisy Stitch.

Please check out Mary Corbet's Stitch Fun tutorial here.

or follow my photo instructions:

On your fabric, mark a circle and 

a point for each Lazy Daisy Stitch.

Starting from the middle, work a few short

Surface Straight Stitches.

Then change the stitch direction and 

stitch over the previous stitches.

Gradually increase the length of the stitches.

You have soon covered the circle with 

a little hill.

By using Surface Straight Stitch, you avoid 

building up a hill on the back.

Now exit from the centre of the hill.

Make Lazy Daisy Stitches.

Keep them loose and airy.

Change to a different coloured thread for 

the wrapping. Come out in the middle of 

the hill and place the thread between two petals,

(1 and 8).

Go under the first Lazy

Daisy Stitch 1.

Make a Back Stitch over 1 and 2.

You have thus wrapped the first LDS (1).

Repeat this process with 2 and 3 in the same way.

Go on to 3 and 4, and so on.

Gradually, you will see the ribs forming.

Stop when you have covered the hill.

Anchor underneath the hill.

Hm, this hill is not that high... If I had added

more padding stitches, it would have been

more impressive...

Never mind, it is still quite a nice stitch.

Homework: Add to the samplers