Friday Homework for Lesson 337: Barred Witch Stitch

Here is Barred Witch Stitch, a threaded stitch based on Herringbone Stitch.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School 

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth

Friday Homework for Lesson 336: Shadow Stitch

This stitch is easy, but stitching on sheer fabric is not!

As this stitch is not suitable for Aida, I skipped that sampler.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Reverse

Front

Red Kimono Silk Scribble Cloth

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 331 - 335

I'm sorry I'm posting this a day late. I have now recovered from the involuntary 'glue sniffing'caused by yesterday's maintenance work in my home.

Here is the Sunbonnet Sue revision homework for stitches 331 - 335.

REPTILE WARNING!

If you dislike slithering reptiles, stop reading now!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The Hungarian Braid Chain can be so snakelike, I decided to use this stitch for a snake tattoo on Sue's back.

Her coiffure is also made up of this stitch. 

The mirror frame has Damask Darning carvings.

Sue's towel has a Pachis Work pattern and an Astrakhan Velvet frilled border.

Sue's knickers are broderie anglaise cotton, and her earrings dangling stars. Both knickers and earrings are worked in Irregular Algerian Eyelet Stitch.

Friday Homework for Lesson 335: Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch

 What can you not like about this stitch? Nothing! It is simply wonderful, fantastic to stitch, elegant to look at and very useful. It takes curves nicely and could be used for text as well.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

I used ribbon, which gives a very textured effect. You can almost see the 'snake' slithering away!

Good Bye Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

The wool sampler is now filled with 137 different stitches.

 I started in the centre with #198 Whipped Wheatear, on 4th February 2022.

I finished on 20th August, 2025 with #335 Hungarian Braid Stitch.

The sampler was trimmed at the edges and equipped with a binding (I used a leftover apron sash made from shirt fabric).

For the next stitch, I will start a new sampler where a lovely red kimono silk will be the foundation.

Friday Homework for Lesson 334: Pachis Work Filling

 With the help of a good grid, this filling stitch is fun and easy. Freehand is another thing; you can't avoid getting stitches that are a bit wonky.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Friday Homework for Lesson 333: Damask Darning Stitch

 This stitch is a real teaser! It looks so simple and straightforward, but unless you have a good and even grid, you are snared in a trap!

It was easy and enjoyable to do the Aida Sampler, but the Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart and Mottle Wool Scribble Cloth almost drove me crazy. Although I used waste canvas and a gridded tracing paper to stitch through,  the work was confusing and the result disappointing. Finally, I managed to get some decent freehand results on the Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth.

I will not use this stitch again unless it is on canvas or Aida.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Friday Homework for Lesson 331: Astrakhan Velvet Stitch

 This stitch is much easier than it first appears.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

I used tapestry wool and got a nice pile. The loops on the right have been cut, the ones on the left are intact.

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches: 326 - 330

Phew! I finished my homework with less than half an hour to spare - soon it will be Saturday here in Japan.

On the internet, I found an illustration which I thought would make a good Sunbonnet Sue. 

Here she is on a freelance photo shoot with the Pueblo Indians. They let her try on one of the dance costumes, and it has a face mask!

To illustrate the revision stitches, I let Sue hold a stitch sampler of Pueblo geometric designs.

The question is, does she realise there are flames in the radiation grass behind her?

Friday Homework for Lesson 330: Pueblo Stitch (with some updates)

My friend Janie left a comment about the Pueblo Indians and the origin of the name of the stitch.

I searched the web and found:

Pueblo Indians are a group of Native Americans who live in the Southwestern United States, known for their distinctive, multi-story adobe villages commonly referred to as pueblos. They are descendants of the ancient Ancestral Puebloans (also known as Anasazi) and have a long history of settled agricultural life. Today, they reside primarily in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. 

Here is a link to Pueblo Indians' clothing.

In 'Ceremonial Costumes of the Pueblo Indians', which I have only had time to skim through, I found that 'heavy embroidery raises the surface and stiffens the garment...' on page 90. 

I didn't, however, note any information about a particular embroidery stitch. As Sunday Stitch School's  #330 Pueblo Stitch has a rich braided look, its 3D texture 'raises the surface...'.

Updated:  On pages 106 and 107 I found the following about Pueblo embroidery:

the embroidery was done by men, the cloth was stretched in a frame and the stitch was a simple Back Stitch, most of the thread was on the right side, picking up only a few on the underside.

If you are interested and have the time, please read this thorough description of the garments of the Pueblo Indians.

Janie also commented that she had heard Pueblo Stitch can also be called Split Ply Stitch. After some research, I found that there is a weaving technique with that name.

For an embroidery stitch, it also makes sense. 

Look what my dictionary says about PLY:

[usually in combination] a strand of yarn or rope: [as modifier] :  four-ply yarn. 

• the number of multiple layers or strands of which something is made: the yarn can be any ply from two to eight.

As the needle is loaded with two strands of thread and we are splitting those two strands for the Pueblo Stitch it makes sense to call Pueblo Stitch Split Ply Stitch. 
In my opinion, however, it would also apply to the ordinary Split Stitch as we are then splitting the two-ply twisted strand of a single strand of thread.
Isn't embroidery a most interesting subject?
.....................
My homework:

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Isn't Pueblo Stitch a most beautiful embroidery stitch?

Friday Homework for Lesson 329: Radiation Stitch

 Aida Sampler

The Radiation Stitch gets a different life when worked in a variegated thread!

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Imagine these clusters made with orange thread, wouldn't they look like campfires? 

So are there two stitches that can be used for flaming fires, the Fire Stitch, that we learned two weeks ago and this week's Radiation Stitch?

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Program the needle to do 100% free-form stitching, and you get sprawly, weedy bushes!

I LOVE embroidery!

Friday Homework for Lesson 328: Old Florentine Stitch

As I guessed, this stitch can be done in autopilot, especially when you stitch on a gridded piece of fabric like Aida or canvas. For freeform embroidery on plain weave, denim or mottled wool, you need to pay attention to angle, spacing and stitch length.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Canvas Sampler

Friday Homework for Lesson 327: Fire Stitch

Notice!

Blame it on the HEAT! Tokyo has been hit by a scorching heat wave, and my brain must have sizzled up. That is why I, by mistake, posted the Friday Homework post today, Wednesday!

Let's make a swap, and I will post the WIPW progress on Friday!

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

Friday Homework:

Within a few minutes, I had done my homework. This stitch is good for busy bees!

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

I wonder why all my fires are green, maybe I should have spent a few minutes digging up orange thread?

Friday Homework for Lesson 326: Alternating Cross Stitch

 I used my artistic license and made rather wonky crosses.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

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.

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.