TAST -144 Alternating Double Chain Stitch

I am trying to catch up on some more TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) stitches.
To learn what TAST is, go to Pintangle.

Here is the Alternating Double Chain Stitch, which in my eyes looks like the Shell Chain (TAST#97) with the little Chain stitch on alternating sides.

To follow Sharon B's excellent tutorial and learn this stitch, click here.

As I am organizing my TAST stitch collection to suit ME, I have given it the number 144.

Don't they make you think of a chain of paper clips?


On the TAST Reference Chart it looks like this. I don't think it is a good stitch for curves...

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 16 - 20

We have done another set of five stitches so it is time for a revision of them here at Sunday Stitch School.

Following is a summery. Click on the headline to learn the stitch and read more.

16: Puncetto Valsesiano Stitch
Although this Italian stitch is mainly used for needle lace to decorate textile for the home or on folk costumes, I wanted to use it in embroidery.
It is simple and easy to learn, but attention must be paid on tension.

17: Q Stitch
An accidental stitch - many years ago I anchored a Lazy Daisy Stitch carelessly, and saw the letter Q staring back at me. Why not use it as a new stitch? I just had to introduce it on Sunday Stitch School.
It is simply a Detached Chain Stitch with the anchoring stitch askew.


18: Renaissance Stitch
Or should we call it Queen Stitch or Rococo Stitch or ....
This is an easy and enjoyable stitch which looks equally good as an individual stitch or when used for filling a larger area.


19: Satin Stitch Outline
Belonging to French Whitework, this stitch is great for making a solid thin line that stands up from the fabric.
Keeping the tension is the key, and I think the placement of the split in the Split Running Stitch is of importance, too, to avoid making such lumpy lines as you can see in the picture below.


20: Tete-de-boeuf Stitch
There are some questions about this stitch; how should it be worked and what should it be called.
One thing I know is that there is nothing 'beefy' about it. Instead it has a floral quality or could be used to illustrate cheering people or combined with another upside down stitch would maybe look like an ant...

Homework:

Use SSS stitches 16 - 20 on a Sunbonnet Sue design. This time let Sue go to Sweden. 

Change the thread to something more suitable for the Puncetto Valsesiano and Satin Stitch Outline, it you feel more comfortable with another type.

Try to complete it by next Friday. If not, you can have an extra week as the two stitches above are time consuming.

Friday Homework for Lesson 20: Tete-de-boeuf Stitch

Although it is May 5th and Kodomo No Hi (Children's day) in Japan, which is a national holiday, it IS Friday, and I will hand in my homework for Sunday Stitch School.

Tete-de-boeuf Stitch has turned out to be a very controversial stitch.

First of all, the name.  Boeuf is French for beef, not bull, so the translation ought to be Beef Head Stitch rather than Bull's Head Stitch. I have got comments wondering if the blog post was about cooking.

Secondly, all my embroidery books call this stitch Tete-de-boeuf and have the instructions I showed in last Sunday's lesson.
Online, however, I have found several references to this stitch worked in a different way, a way similar to, but not exactly,  Wheatear Stitch.

Have a look at this:
On the left, my instructions,
in the middle, the online instructions,
on the right, the real Wheatear.

 
The online version does resemble a bull's head with the two horns.
None of them look like a beef head, though, ; ).

For my homework I filled in this square with Tete-de-boeuf Stitch placed in various ways.

Finally I want to show how one of the stitches once was used to celebrate children in Japan - the carps in this set of carp-streamers are worked in Wheatear Stitch. I made this card for TAST 2012, when the stitch of the week was Wheatear.

WIPW - The Paper Quilt

Work In Progress Wednesday asks if you would fancy a nap under a paper quilt?

Trinity Green

Here is the paper backed TG quilt, all stitched together.



and its front. It looks more turquoise than green in this light.

I will give the quilt a press,
and then start removing all the paper. Sigh!
Stephen Fry, come and read me Harry Potter's adventures while I take on this boring task.

With the tools of the trade (a pincette) it has gone smoothly, albeit slowly!



Here is an update on
Friday Homework: Satin Stitch Outline

 I tried various types of thread and they all behaved badly! Actually I think the Coton a Broder that I used first (the dark blue lines, and yellow hearts) are the best.

The other threads gave a lumpy look, too. I think the bumps are caused by the split in the running stitches.

This is a stitch I do not like. Lesson learned!

To make it into a greeting card I added other stitches, but the overall effect is still messy. This card will only greet the bottom of a box at the back of the cupboard.