WIPW - Texture

For today's Work In Progress Wednesday I will show you work done on the 

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

where there are three stitches, two of them are textured.

#239 Rolled Woven Picot Stitch (the five rolls on the left), #259 Raised Seeding Stitch (pink and mint green arches) and the flower made of #Romanian Macrame Petal Stitch (light grey)

As you can see, I have been blessed with enough time to do stitches that requires a bit of time. The Rolled Woven Picots need a VERY long thread and weaving it in and out of the 'weft' you have to stretch your arm out a lot. I will have a heavy feeling in my arms tomorrow!

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches: 256 - 260

What does Sunbonnet Sue need in the sweltering heat and blazing sunshine of Tokyo? A sunbonnet, of course! Here is a stylish straw hat.

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 256 - 260

We have just learned another chunk of five stitches, which means it is time for a review and a Sunbonnet Sue sampler.

The stitches are:

256 Quill Stitch

 

Easy and fast, this is a good basic stitch to add detached stitches or beads to.

257 Belgian Cross Stitch

Although it is a canvas stitch, it also looks good in free-form embroidery.

258 Half Herringbone Stitch

Vary it in scale and you get a different look.

259 Raised Seeding Stitch

Arch Stitch could be an alternative name! It's easy but I highly recommend using a fixative for the back to keep the loops in place.

260 Laced Mountmellick Stitch

Here we have fun dressing up alternating Mountmellick Stitch with a lacing thread.

Homework:

Sunbonnet Sue needed something. Can you guess what it was?

Friday Homework for Lesson 259: Raised Seeding Stitch

Aida is the type of fabric that causes some problems as it has these big holes. With some sticky stuff like glue or nail varnish on the back, it is easy to keep the carefully stitched arches in place. Without them, they easily snag and become either too tight or too loose.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Look at the shadows!

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

Here I wanted to try a new idea. I used a length of plastic-covered electric cord, and folded it to double  width. After fixing it securely to the wool, I let the cord curve and meander over the surface. Finally,  I stitched it down with a variegated multicoloured thread.

With this method I thought I would get stitches that look as if they had been put there at random.

Keeping the plastic cord in place, I turned the work upside down and applied watery 'bond'.

Once it had dried I removed the cord with a pair of tweezers - it was the hardest part of the job.

The Raised Seedling Stitches now sit securely and seem scattered at random - just the look I wanted.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 259: Raised Seeding Stitch

Today let's do a detached stitch that has a nice structure. As the name suggest,  it is a member of the Seed Stitch  family and it rises above the surface like an arch.

It can be found at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials

See my photo tutorial here:

Chose tightly woven even-weave fabric which you stretch tight in a hoop.

Stitch each individual stitch Back Stitch fashion

while leaving an arch. Spread them out evenly over the surface.

Aren't they cute?

Now these arches will not stay put unless you are very careful not to pull them.

There is one way you can control them - with a fixative like the water-based Japanese 'bond'. Delute a dollop with a few drops of water.

Use a cotton swab to dot the watery paste onto the back of the stitches. 

Once it has dried you will not notice it,  the stitches, however, will stay put. 

Unless you plan to wash the embroidery, that is!! Then use a brushing of clear nail polish instead.

..................
There is another method where you tangle the stitches in place:

For this, I recommend using a bamboo skewer or fine crochet hook, six stands of DMC floss and a needle with a sharp tip.

Make a sturdy knot for the back.

Stitch over the skewer. Make two stitches at the same place.

Let the needle catch a bit of the thread.

Make another stitch a bit further away along the same skewer.

Take a stitch through the thread on the back to fix it.

Pull out the skewer carefully. The stitches ought to sit reasonably well.

Purple = perle cotton worked twice, red = 6 strands of floss, aqua = one stitch of perle cotton; the original stitch.

Homework: Build arches on these samplers.