The First Rose of Summer ... and a Change of Direction

Did you ever make something with the rose diagram you showed us on the post in early 2017? If so, I  would really like to see a picture of it. I loved the design. It looked like such a romantic rose.  

Downloadable rose pattern

Oh my goodness, you have been waiting for that rose for a long time! I would really be embarrassed if I hadn't done anything with it!  Actually, I stitched it within a few weeks of the posting of the blog you referred to. So no one has to look up the original blog, Here is a downloadable pattern of the rose and its bud that you may use any way you choose.

Originally I planned to do just the full-blown rose. Although I liked it, it seemed incomplete. I arranged the leaves and added the partially open bud. I was happy with the experiment, so I traced my sketch onto needlepoint canvas. I did the rose, bud, and leaves in French longstitch — basically a directional satin stitch — with some back-stitching around the edges. I used a  background in a patterned of two-toned Parisian stitch (samples below) in yellow tones. It could just as easily have been done in tent stitch or a combination of patterned stitches When the piece was completed, J.D. scanned it for future reference. Then he matted it with a mat that matched the deepest tones in the rose and framed it under glass in a gold frame. But I sold it so quickly that he did not get to photograph it. (I'm still hearing about that!) So I can't show you the framed result, but I can show you J.D.'s scan.

The rose in longstitch

You weren't the only one to find the rose romantic. I sold it to a couple of newlyweds who were decorating their first home.

I'm going to give directions for doing a needlework pattern with the design, but I sincerely hope you will choose your own color scheme. The colored scan can give you an indication of where light and dark areas were intended to go in the design. Begin by centering the design on your canvas and tracing it with a permanent marker. Scrub off any excess ink with a tissue or paper towel. Now select the colors of your yarn or floss. The more choices you make, the more completely the rose will belong to you The pattern will work easily for most colors. A white rose is a bit of a challenge, but can be done with off-whites, cream, ivory, ecru, etc. I've never tried a black rose, but it should be possible with a range of grays, blues, or purples. You will need a range of  several shades of your main color, plus at least two greens. An opening bud is often more vivid than the full-grown rose. Lay your  materials out in front of you in light-to-dark order. Tag them with  numbers if you like. Add needles, scissors and any other items you think you will need. (I'll admit I'm greedy when it comes to needles; I used a separate needle for each shade.) The pattern is a “forgiving” one. If you place an occasional stitch in the wrong section, it should not spoil your rose. Small differences are to be expected in handmade items. If you run out of a color, continue with the closest match you can find.

Detail of the longstitch rose

Here is an enlarged part of the scan, showing some of the stitching and some of the background. I did it as a picture, but you may use it any of the ways suggested below or one I haven't even thought about. You can make all those decisions for yourself.  Here are just a few ideas for its use, many of which have nothing to do with needle arts:

• a painting
• a standing or hanging wire sculpture
• a collage
• a felt applique with cut-out pieces glued or sewn to a background
• a wood carving
• a trapunto pillow
• an embossed piece of copper foil
• tooled leather
• the center panel for a quilt
• a decorated lampshade

Rose pattern modified for graph paper chart

I do, however, want to show you how to modify this outline so that it works more easily as a chart. The first thing to do is to transfer the pattern to quarter-inch graph paper. I use either dressmaker’s carbon or a sheet of paper which I have colored heavily with a graphite pencil. Aligning one major straight line in the design with a line on the graph paper, i transfer the design by going over the outline with a ball-point pen that has used up all its ink. Once the transfer is complete, I draw straight lines, square corners, and forward and backward diagonal lines to come as close as possible to the curved lines in the original design. The resulting new design can then be enlarged or reduced to fit any size of graph paper. (It can also be simplified if you wish.) Before I use or store the pattern, I trace it once again with a permanent marker.

Some uses for this type of pattern include:

• a counted cross-stitch design
• a panel of ceramic tiles
• Spanish blackwork
• Russian redwork
• Scandinavian whitework
• a mosaic

Now my rose is your rose.  Have fun with it.  May all your roses be beautiful.

A Change of Direction

When we started this blog I had just retired from teaching and suddenly had a lot of time to devote to activities like needlework and gardening, so those were most of the topics that J.D. and I discussed as posts for this blog. As time went on, we got questions about a lot of subjects we had brought up in articles. We answered those questions individually as best we could.
 

Sometimes I would make a note of a question that I thought might interest a number of people, so we began to do periodic Question and Answer posts. We will continue to do these. As we became more active in Farmers' Markets, art exhibits, craft shows, etc., I devoted the occasional post to a subject that was not directly connected to our usual topics.  These were also well-received.

I want to interject here the fact that I really dislike the distinction that is made between "art" and "crafts". I feel very strongly that any weaver, quilter, woodcarver, glass-blower, jeweler, or other artisan — a word I do approve of — makes something original, beautiful, and perhaps even useful, that person is just as much an "artist" as someone who paints three stripes on a canvas and hangs it in a gallery!  Therefore, I encourage everyone to express themselves in whatever medium appeals to them. I want our readers to try a variety of activities, to pursue the ones they like, and to never, ever, let the criticism — however well-meaning — of others deter them from expressing themselves.

Last year we began series of posts showing how accepted visual art genres, like still life and landscape, could also be expressed in the needle arts. I included some historical and geographical information and tried to show how attitudes toward each genre changed over time and how new materials and techniques were applied  We illustrated each article with photographs, diagrams, reproductions of paintings and color sketches. These articles proved to be  popular and have continued this year.

Still life photo by J.D.

In the course of researching and writing those articles, we always had background material that we left out for reasons of space, or because it was not immediately needed for the points we were making. But now we want to use that material to look at some basics that apply to many creative fields. For example, the use of color — a topic rarely discussed in books about needle arts — from the physical science behind it to the psychology of it.
 
J.D.:    Often, necessity has led us off in new and unexpected directions. For instance, Annake needed photographs illustrating specific points she was making in the series of posts about Still Life in the Needle Arts; so I composed and shot a lot of them, something I had never really considered before. That process was so fascinating that I want to pursue it further. And there was Annake’s need for more working space and better organization for years of collected files and patterns — which led us to making digital art prints. Plus, the necessity of improving my digital editing capability to make some of those pieces printable has led me in all sorts of wild and wonderful new directions.

We do not intend to stop posting about the topics that filled this blog in earlier years, but we really feel the need to follow these new paths too, wherever they may lead. We hope you will join us; and we always love to hear from readers about the things we have covered (or failed to cover!) in this blog, and any creations our posts have helped to inspire. Tell us what you think about this change of direction, and what you would like to see. You can reach us through email at:

 annakes_garden@yahoo.com  or  annakesgnome@gmail.com .

Good Journeying,

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More from the Classroom

Lion in tent and longstitch needlepoint on canvas

I love hearing from my readers! Recently a lady who had learned about this blog from a friend wrote me, saying: “I wish you didn’t live so far away. I would love to take some of your classes. Please tell me you are going to write more about what you do in your classes. I studied the first two posts (1/16/2018 and 2/5/2018). The directions are clear and the pictures are great. I have made the butterfly and the water lily and I really like the way they turned out. I can’t help but think that learning more about the lessons online is the next best thing to being there.” I wish she could be here, too! I appreciate her enthusiasm! For her and for everyone else who is interested, I am going to do some more posts about what we’ve done in the classroom, although they will be spread out among other topics that I have promised. Today we are continuing with the studies of canvas work, focusing on French longstitch.

Finished butterfly in Gobelin stitch

Pattern for bighorn in French longstitch

I wanted to show my students how useful French longstitch is for doing pictures of animals, but I knew that none of them were ready yet to do anything as complex as the bighorn sheep and the pronghorn antelope you saw on the previous post (although one person did ask for a printout of the bighorn pattern to work on in the future, and J. D. printed it.) Nor were they ready for a project like the lion’s head in a combination of French longstitch and conventional tent stitch that you see at the top of this article. Both of these projects are done on needlepoint canvas with tapestry yarn.

Puppets in the classroom

They needed to start with something smaller and simpler. I got my inspiration from a group of puppets hanging in a corner of the classroom. Before I start a new puppet pattern, I do a color rendering of the head in the same size as the pattern for the head. I got out several samples of the animal heads and traced their outlines. When the students arrived, I had laid out the colored renderings, the tracings, and a piece of 5 ½ in. X ¾ in. (14.5 cm. X 17.5 cm.) #10 plastic canvas for each person. That is ¼ of a sheet of the canvas. An assortment of permanent markers and a box of tissues completed our equipment, and the egg cartons of yarn balls were open along one wall within easy reach. I had chosen a small dog for my example and included two rabbits (one lop-eared), a baby chick, a duckling and a lamb among the animals in case someone wanted to do an Easter picture as a present for a child.

Simple drawing for bulldog's head

To start a longstitch project, you need a fairly simple picture that has some large areas that need to be filled. Longstitch is several times longer than the upright Gobelin stitches that were used previously, but there is a limit. If the stitches are too long, they tend to sag away from the canvas or snag on objects, so I don’t recommend either vertical or horizontal stitches more than about 2 inches (5.5 cm.) long. With that in mind, I put in lines on the tracings that broke up spaces that were too long into shorter sections.. The students each chose a color picture and a matching outline and traced the outline onto the plastic canvas. Then they scrubbed both sides of the canvas with tissues to remove any extra ink that might come off on their yarn. They chose any yarns that they needed from the cartons and sat down to work.

Canvas with edges taped to prevent raveling

If you are doing this technique on plastic canvas, as my students were, be sure all of the edges are as smooth as possible. If you are using jute or fabric canvas, tape the raw edges with masking tape turned under to cover both sides of the canvas. This keeps the edges of the canvas from fraying and keeps your yarn or floss from being roughened by contact with the edges of the canvas.

Bulldog's head outlined on plastic canvas

The students had been working on #7 plastic canvas for their projects. Since #10 is a much smaller mesh (100 squares to the square inch, rather than 49 squares), they now had some adjustments to make. Each one was provided with a shorter tapestry needle which had a smaller ‘eye’ than the one they had been using. I demonstrated how to use two different kinds of needle threaders and put some on the tables. Then I demonstrated how to separate and combine strands of 3-ply and 4-ply yarns to get the proper thickness that would cover the canvas. I also demonstrated how to combine strands of different colors of yarn to get the effect of shading (also detailed in the April 8, 2018 post.)

One half of bulldog stitched

I had already worked one side of the dog’s head and now demonstrated the stitching on the other side. Once everyone was satisfied that they knew how to proceed, the class began stitching. While they worked, I went over with them the “11 Secrets for Needlework Success” (see the post for June 1, 2014), which I had printed as a hand-out for each of them. We discussed the suggestions and I answered their questions. As any problems arose with the stitching, we discussed and solved them. When the first person wanted to do some interior back-stitching, we stopped for a few minutes to discus back-stitching in a single color or in several colors, when to use longer stitches instead of very short ones, and when slanted stitches worked better than straight ones. They asked if it was all right to use some tent stitching with the longstitch and I assured them that it was.

When about 20 minutes was left of our 90-minute session, I demonstrated a stitch pattern on a pegboard display stand which shows individual stitches in a large size, and had them copy the stitches on a small piece of plastic canvas, label it, and store it in a notebook. The stitch is one of several long-and-short stitches belonging to the family of very old tapestry stitches known collectively as “Hungarian point”. These stitches are usually called “grounds” or “groundings,” and are used in a single color or two closely related colors as backgrounds for other kinds of needlework. I have used two colors in this sample for clarity.

Parisian stitch sample

This pattern is called Parisian stitch. The first stitch is an upright one over 4 threads of canvas or bars on plastic canvas. For the second stitch, drop down 1 thread or bar and make a stitch over 2 threads or bars. Alternate these two stitches across your canvas. In the second row, the short (over 2) stitches are done at the bottoms of the long (over 4) stitches, and the long stitches (over 4) are done at the bottom of the short (over 2) stitches. These second row stitches begin in the same squares of mesh where the stitches above them ended, so no threads or bars are left uncovered. The third row and all other odd-numbered rows are like row 1; the fourth and all other even-numbered ones, like row 2. To complete an area, fill in with short stitches so that the top and bottom of the piece is even.

More Parisian stitch samples

There is no reason, however, that these stitches cannot be used to form colorful all-over patterns on their own. In contrasting colors, as on the top sample here, the stitches make a boldly striped pattern. But if you choose closely related colors like the reds and oranges of the middle sample, you can achieve a more subtle ombre-shaded effect. This is how the stitches were used in the old tapestries. The more closely related the colors are, the subtler the effect. A variegated yarn (bottom sample) will give you a more abstract effect. This can be be useful. Imagine, for example, using a variegated green in the background of a picture to suggest trees or shrubs, or a variegated brown or gray to suggest a fabric.

As the end of class neared, I asked the students to practice the Parisian stitch, but not to use it on the backgrounds of their pictures, explaining that in the next session they would learn a number of such background stitches and could choose their favorite. I also asked them to put color directions on their traced outlines and return the color renderings for my puppet files. They were to have their outlines filled in, plus interior back-stitching; by the next session to be ready for background stitching. The two ladies working on Easter animals asked if they could have copies of the color pictures and outlines for the other Easter animals. They planned to work together, so J.D. did copies of two extra animals for each of them and together they had the full set. For those of you working at home, you might want to work from a photo of the face of a favorite pet. We adjourned.

Bulldog's head finished, ready for background

I realize that some students will not do canvas work again after they finish their class projects. Nevertheless, the skills they have learned will carry over to other kinds of embroidery on fabrics like monks’ cloth, Aida, decorator burlap, etc. And they will have learned the advantages to be gained from having a firm surface to work on and will be more likely to use hoops and/or frames. That will reduce the necessity for extensive blocking and produce a neater project.

As always, enjoy your work!

More simple puppet head designs

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BUTTERFLIES, BUTTERFLIES, BUTTERFLIES!

A reader recently wrote: “I love butterflies! Your wall hanging is so pretty! Thank you for the pattern. How do you go about designing and how do you make charts from your designs?”

I love butterflies, too! Thank you for the compliment, and you're most welcome for the pattern (March 21, 2016). It can be used for several types of needlework. You have asked about one of my favorite subjects — designing. Before I get started on a new design, I do research. I look at photographs of my subject, as well as scientific illustrations (if it is a living thing), paintings, even cartoons. Each photographer or artist sees and emphasizes something different in his or her pictures, so I get more details from looking at many sources. This photograph shows some of the things I looked at while I was considering butterflies.

I wanted butterflies of three different shapes and sizes for the wall hanging. Once I made my choices, I made enlarged cutouts of their shapes. To make the butterfly shapes show up even more, I glued them to sheets of dark blue paper.

Before I did that, however, I traced the butterfly outlines onto pieces of quarter-inch graph paper.

Then I made the squares of graph paper match the curves of the designs as well as I could — sometimes stopping just inside the butterfly outline, sometimes drawing just outside it. I marked the squares with letters or symbols representing the colors of the butterflies. Then I made a little “key” for each butterfly, telling what each letter or symbol represented.

I then filled in a second graph paper silhouette for each with the colors of the butterfly, making small adjustments as needed. I used markers because the colors are more vivid, but colored pencils are easier to erase, so you may choose to use them. 

Then I used my paper patterns to make the latch-hook pictures. I chose colors of cut rug yarn that were the closest color matches for the marker shades. If I wanted to do the same designs in counted cross-stitch, I would start with graph paper that had much smaller squares so I could get much finer details into the picture.

When we get a little time, I’ll ask J.D. to work his magic and turn my simple chart into a professional color-coded chart that you can download. Look for it in a future post.

Another reader commented:”You mentioned sewing tabs on the reverse applique butterfly (April 10, 2016). Can you show me what you meant?”

Certainly. Here is a  pictures of the finished butterfly ready for framing or to be prepared for hanging. I decided to make it a small wall hanging. The first thing I did was to cover the back of the entire rectangle with another piece of felt. This made it feel solid and caused it to hang straight and flat.

I then cut straight strips of the darkest color of felt, folded them in half, and sewed them to the back of the rectangle. I planned to glue wooden beads to a small-diameter wooden dowel and slip the beaded dowel through the felt tabs. Once I had it centered, I would have inserted a screw-in hanger into the top center of the dowel and it would have been ready to hang on the wall. However, I purchased a black wire hanger on sale from Herrschners.com that seemed just right for the butterfly. You can see the finished project below.

As you can see, this butterfly is not like any living species! Butterflies and moths have such intricate patterns that they stimulate the imagination. It is easy to dream of fantastic ones.

Here is a picture of a fantasy butterfly made in French longstitch with back-stitched outlines, against a striped “sky” done in tent stitch. For more information about French longstitch, see the post for March 8, 2015. The piece was designed for a pillow top.

.

And for a butterfly that can really “fly” in an open window or doorway when there is a breeze, look at this little “Window Wonder”. For the directions to make one like it, see the post for April 29, 2015.

And, finally, a picture of a real, live butterfly, courtesy of J.D.'s sister, J.J., who is also an enthusiastic photographer.

Best wishes to butterflies and butterfly lovers everywhere,

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

“Stained-Glass” Stitchery

Stained glass windchime

When I was a little girl, I loved to visit old houses that had stained glass windows or door panels. Today, we have small stained-glass pieces in several rooms of our house. I've adapted the look of stained-glass to stitchery. This kind of stitchery is a combination of French longstitch (check our Archives for the November 3, 2013 post), back-stitch, and — sometimes — tent stitch. It can be done on needlepoint canvas, even-weave fabrics, plastic canvas. And even on clothing. It can be done with tapestry yarn, knitting yarn, crewel wool, baby yarn and many novelty yarns. On a smaller scale, it can be done with cotton, rayon, linen, metallic or silk embroidery floss.

Scrubbing excess ink off the canvas

Let me guide you through one such project. I began by drawing a design in pencil on mono needlepoint canvas. I divided both the design and the background into smaller segments. These sections should be small enough that the stitches across them will not have to be more than 2½ inches (6.5 centimeters) long. Then I went over all the lines with a fine-point permanent marker and let it dry. I scrubbed the lines with tissues or paper towels so that no excess ink will rub off on the yarns.

Sweatshirt with iris pattern stitching in progress

If I'm doing the stitchery on a dark fabric, like this sweatshirt, I draw the design on thin tracing paper and stitch through the paper in back-stitches with white yarn or floss. Then I tear the tracing paper away.

Stained-glass stitchery iris, longstitched

I started at the center of the design. Cutting a length of yarn no more than 18 inches (45.5 centimeters) long, I threaded the yarn into my needle and pulled all but about an inch (4 or 5 centimeters) through the canvas, from back to front, on one of the inked lines. (On the dark fabric, I work over the white stitches to cover them so they did not need to be pulled out afterward.) I held the remaining yarn against the back of the canvas and worked stitches over it until it was secured in place. When I completed a section, I secured the end of the yarn by running it under several completed stitches on the back of the work.

Stained-glass stitchery iris with background stitching

In most cases, I worked vertical stitches from the top line of a section to the bottom line, but there are occasional cases where it makes more sense to work from side to side horizontally on a section (a stem, a tall, narrow leaf or a tree trunk, for example). No threads of canvas are left bare; each stitch in a section shares a square of mesh at each end with a stitch from an adjoining section. When the center motif was complete, I worked the sections of the background in the same manner.

Stained-glass stitchery iris with backstitching

The next step is to back-stitch with black or very dark gray yarn over all of the lines where sections of stitches meet, whether on the central motif or the background. This represents the lead pieces that hold the sections of glass together. These metal strips are thick, so you should use yarn that has not been divided for the best effect. Use short stitches that cover three to five strands of yarn, at most. Each stitch ends in the same square of mesh as the stitch that preceded it. I recommend that you make a knot at the end of your yarn before you begin stitching so that the stitching does not pull out later.

It is possible to do this same technique in floss. In this case, the stitches will be shorter and closer together than those done in yarn. I usually choose a background for floss that allows me to use all six strands of the floss together. This gives a very satin-like surface to the work. For very fine canvas or an even-weave fabric like Aida, however, you may need to split the strands of floss and use fewer than six. If you are doing a complex design in floss, you may want to use a metallic thread for outlining instead of black.

Variegated yarns and flosses

For a truly stained-glass effect, you will want some of the larger sections of the design done in variegated yarns (or flosses) or blended ones. You can easily find variegated flosses. You may be able to find variegated yarns. Unfortunately, yarns go through fads and fashions, so your selections may be limited. Yarns that are different shades of one color are usually preferable to ones that mix different colors. If you are using white yarn to represent clear glass, blend two strands of it with one of pale blue, pale gray, pale beige or lavender.

On small projects, I work the stained-glass stitches to the edge of the piece. For larger designs, however, I may do a tent stitch background. The fantasy butterfly below shows just such a background. The butterfly itself is done in longstitch. The veins are done in back-stitch with two strands of black, while the outline is done in a full four strands. The background, done in the basketweave style of tent stitch, is done in colors that are the complements of the colors used in the wings of the butterfly. The tent stitches are much flatter than the longstitches, thereby giving the butterfly a three-dimensional effect. This is an especially pretty effect on pillow tops and articles of clothing.

In a future project, we will discuss the ways to make blended yarns and flosses.

Enjoy this colorful technique,

Stained-glass stitchery butterfly with tent stitched background

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Gobelin Droit and French Longstitch Needlepoint

Gobelin stitch (trees), Hungarian stitch (sky), tent stitch (eagle)

Needlepoint (canvas work, Florentine embroidery, tapestry work) became an important industry in the 1500's. A rising middle class was growing rapidly and demanding amenities formerly reserved for royalty and the rich. They wanted wall hangings, bed draperies, and upholstery that looked like hand-woven tapestry, but at a fraction of the cost of those tapestries. The manufacture of needlepoint canvas and the development of a few straight filling stitches made simulated tapestries possible.

Gobelin Droit --- also called upright Gobelin, straight Gobelin, flat Gobelin and a host of other names --- is one of the oldest of those stitches. It belongs to a “family” of stitches that includes brick stitch, Hungarian stitch, Hungarian ground, Parisian stitch, Florentine stitch and Byzantine stitch. It is a straight stitch that may be used vertically or horizontally over a number of canvas threads, but which does not cross canvas intersections in the way that tent stitch does. It is a basic stitch in bargello (see “Bravo Bargello!”) and is extremely important in the development of curving and compound patterns. This is a topic we will return to in a future blog.

Framed needlepoint of a bighorn in French longstitch

Although Gobelin Droit is customarily used in repeating, shaded, geometric patterns, it works just as well in naturalistic designs. It is especially effective when used “freehand” over a varying number of canvas threads. This is how I have used it in my French longstitch compositions. The straight stitches lie parallel to each other, fitting closely side-by-side, very much like satin stitches in traditional embroidery. No canvas should show between the parallel stitches. If it does, you need to use more strands of floss or yarn or use a thicker variety altogether. It is a good idea to work a small swatch of your design on a waste piece of canvas to make sure that your materials cover the canvas entirely. No canvas should show between the rows of stitches, either. If it does, this can be disguised by back-stitching with a strand or two of the same color of floss or yarn. On the other hand, if you want to emphasize the textural effect of the rows of stitches, you can do so by back-stitching with a contrasting color or with metallic thread (see the close-up of “Cascades” on the needlepoint challenge blog post). Stitches may vary in length, but -- unless you are using a very fine canvas with many threads to the inch -- probably should not cross more than eight threads at one time. If the stitches are too long, it is very easy to snag them. This is less crucial if you are making a framed picture, which will not be subjected to a lot of wear and tear, than if you are making a pillow or covering a footstool.

Downloadable pattern for bighorn needlepoint

To make a French longstitch project, start with a simple design which has some large areas to be filled in. If you are taking our needlepoint challenge, you may already have such a design. Or you may want to download my bighorn design. Trace your design on the canvas with a permanent marker and blot or rub off any extra ink. Tape the edges of the canvas with masking tape to keep the threads from raveling. This also keeps your yarns and flosses from being roughened by contact with the edges of the canvas. Since canvas is harder on threads than other fabrics, it is a good idea to shorten the 18-inch strands we have been using to 16 or even 15 inches in length. Use waste knots to get started and secure the ends of strands under existing stitches on the back of the canvas. It isn't necessary to invest in needlepoint canvas and tapestry yarn to try out this technique. I suggest that beginners start with the most economical materials available to them. If you find out you love the technique and want to keep on doing it, then you can start collecting more expensive materials and tools. Gobelin works well even on plastic canvas with whatever yarn you have. If you knit or crochet -- or know someone who does -- you have access to a wealth of leftover yarns. And you can use them to make a project worth framing, even with such inexpensive materials. You need not tape the edges of plastic canvas so long as the edges are smooth.

Framed needlepoint of a pronghorn in French longstitch

Always begin any stitchery with clean, dry hands. Remove any traces of hand cream or lotion and keep food and drink away from your work area. Assemble all your materials, threading several needles if you have them. I start my stitches at the bottom, pulling the strand all the way through to the front of the canvas, then ending the stitch by pushing the point of the needle down at a canvas space directly above where the stitch began. I then begin the following stitch right next to the first one. This makes stitches which cover both sides of the canvas. Yes, this does use more yarn, but it makes a nicely padded fabric which will last for a long time. Each stitch should just fill the space between the entry and exit points. Stitches should be plump. Do not pull your stitches too tight; this will distort your canvas. If you feel resistance to your stitch, you are trying to pull it too tight. The stitches on each subsequent row should end in the same squares of canvas where the previous stitches began.

Unframed needlepoint of a lion, available in our Etsy shop

Most books will tell you to work your stitches from right to left if you are right-handed and from left to right if you are left-handed., turning your canvas 180 degrees at the end of each row. This is necessary for some stitches, but not ordinarily for these straight ones. I usually work boustrophedon (Greek for “as the ox plows”), meaning I work right to left on one row and left to right on the return row. Try all three ways and use the one that is most comfortable and looks best to you. If you are using Gobelin Droit both vertically and horizontally in the same piece (see the legs on the pronghorn antelope and the bighorn sheep), you may need to insert some tiny stitches where the two meet to keep the canvas from showing through. It can also be very effective to use a tent stitch background for a longstitch picture, as I have done on the lion's head, running the closest tent stitches slightly underneath the edges of the Gobelin stitches. When you are not working on your canvas, roll it up --- don't fold it --- and place it in a plastic bag or zippered case to keep it clean and lint-free.

When you have a pattern you like, file it and keep it. You never know when you might use it again in a totally different way. Happy creating,

Annake

Bighorn latch hooked rug, made from a modified version of the bighorn needlepoint pattern

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