Back to the Crewel World: Yarn Embroidery Revisited

Heirloom crewel embroidery (Annake's collection)

(Last month I promised to revisit the subject of crewel embroidery. This is a topic that we posted on in 2015 and 2016. To prevent too much duplication of information and techniques, I will give you links to those posts from time to time.)

An article in one of our regional newspapers cited the return of interest in embroidery. As someone who never lost interest, I found this very encouraging. It said some new embroideries were less about decoration than in past decades, and they tended more toward slogans and expressions of personal choice and opinion. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. Tee shirts and sweatshirts have been doing that for ages. Some designs were described as whimsical or comical. (If you want to sell your needlework,  you must be careful not to use a design based on copyrighted characters like Disney cartoons or syndicated comic strips.) A lot of work was called “very individualistic”. I always encourage readers to use the techniques you've learned to create something uniquely your own. Even when I provide a pattern, I try to describe how you can vary it greatly in color, stitches, background material, etc. You can even use the same pattern to create an entirely different form of needle art, or use it in a different medium entirely. These are points I intend to strongly emphasize in upcoming posts.

Drawing, turned into a needlepoint chart, works for crewel as well

The word crewel refers to the type of yarn, a loosely twisted 2-ply (2-strand) wool yarn. Traditionally, crewel embroidery is done with a 2-ply wool yarn on a medium-grade to fine-grade linen.

Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry

One of the oldest (and largest) pieces of crewel embroidery still in existence is the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting William the Conqueror's victory over England in 1066 AD. (Although called a tapestry, it is really a huge embroidery rather than a woven tapestry.) You might have seen recent news stories about this famous work. (Look here and here.) The piece, believed to have been made by needleworkers in Normandy and completed about 1100 AD, is 231 feet long (!) and 20 inches high. Besides land and sea battles, it shows many details about the costumes, artifacts, techniques and customs of the era.

Crewel pillow cover

Like Spanish blackwork, crewel embroidery became popular in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  She loved roses and native wildflowers, so those motifs were widely used, along with leaves and vines like those in this much more recent (20th century) pillow cover.  One of the major functions of this type of embroidery was to provide warmth: the embroidery added weight and thickness to bed curtains, canopies, draperies and wall coverings made of linen or wool. The work was usually done by a number of needleworkers supervised by an experienced embroiderer who may also have designed the motifs. Lovely examples of this work are exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Modern bag embroidered in the Jacobean style

Crewel embroidery reached the peak of its popularity during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I 's successor, King James I, who liked to do the embroidery himself. (Crewel was never considered ‘un-manly’ in much of the world.) The work of this period was also called Jacobean Embroidery. This 20th-Century European handbag is done in the Jacobean style.  The designs were heavily influenced by Chinese and other Oriental fabrics, porcelains, and lacquer-work beginning to be imported into England at that time. The Jacobean influence can still be discerned in modern crewel embroidery.  Dragons and other mythical creatures were also popular in the 17th Century.

Early colonists brought crewel patterns and techniques to the New World, where they became quite popular. Some of the stitches commonly used were running stitch, double running stitch, back-stitch and cross-stitch. These basic stitches were further embellished by such techniques as whipping, lacing, and interlacing.  If more experienced embroiderers will bear with me for a few paragraphs, I will demonstrate these stitches for beginners.

A running stitch (also called a basting stitch) is one that covers the same number of threads each time, leaving a blank space of the same number of threads between the stitches.

A double running stitch starts at the end of the running stitch line, often with a second color, and fills in the spaces between the running stitches.

The next row shows a running stitch (dark blue) whipped (overcast) with a second color.  That second color stays on top of the fabric except at the two ends.

The next row shows a double running stitch in two colors that is then whipped with a third color.

This next stitch is the laced running stitch.  It begins with a running stitch (dark blue). The second color (rose) stays on the surface of the fabric except at the ends. It is pulled into a little arc under each running stitch and forms a longer, shallower, downward arch between stitches. This gives it a scalloped appearance. If I were doing this on linens or a garment that needed to be washed, I would use thread from the background fabric to couch the arches to the fabric. That is, I would hold the loops down with tiny upright stitches at the centers of the loops.

The laced double running stitch starts with a double running stitch in two colors. Lace it with a third color. Because the arches are caught at the joining of two stitches rather than crossing an empty space between stitches, the top and bottom arches are the same size and the scalloped effect is gone. This is another stitch pattern that benefits from couching.

For the next pattern row, do the double running row in a single color. Keeping the second color on the surface except at the two ends, loop it around the places where the running stitches join. This is the Pekinese stitch, which usually doesn't require couching.

If you know how to back-stitch, you can whip, lace, and do Pekinese stitches on rows of back-stitching as well, adding to your ‘vocabulary’ of stitches. Practice these stitches until you feel comfortable with them. You can use them for curved lines as well as straight ones, but you need to keep the stitches the same size as you do that.

As I noted earlier in this post, traditional crewel embroidery is done with a 2-ply wool yarn on a medium-grade to fine-grade linen. Some show judges will not let you call a piece "crewel embroidery" unless it is done this way. That was fine, I suppose, in the 17th Century when the technique was at its peak, but it is the 21st Century, and time to broaden our horizons!  Personally, I like to do this technique on wool or a good wool-like synthetic with anything from 1 to 5 plies of yarn (both wool and acrylic), using all kinds of flosses, metallic threads, etc., for special effects.  I like crewel yarn and 3-ply Persian yarn that I separate as needed. Separating the plies also allows me to blend them by combining different colored plies together in my needle.

A blended yarn sampler

Unfortunately, these yarns have become more expensive and harder to find.  Also, some people are allergic to wool or simply can't afford it. Feel free to experiment with the cheaper, more readily available alternatives. You may find some acrylic and other synthetic yarns easier to embroider with than others.  Practice with them so that you can make good choices before you begin a project.

Crewel needles that are sold as such are usually designed to handle 1-ply or 2-ply yarn.  If you want to work or experiment with more plies, you will need needles that have large enough eyes to accommodate the extra yarn. Try to get an assortment of needles with different lengths and sizes of eyes. The needles should have sharp points that slip between the threads of the background fabric. If the needle point punches a hole in the fabric, it is too large and heavy.

Surface stitching anchored by the outline

I also like to keep a variety of blunt-pointed tapestry needles on hand. Once I have outlined the edges of a design part, I often fill the center with stitches that lie flat on the fabric but do not penetrate it. They are held in place by running them underneath the outline stitches.  While the yarn should not be loose enough to move out of its place on the surface of the fabric, it must not be pulled tight enough to pull the outline out of shape. This requires a little practice on a small piece of the fabric to get it just right. The blunt tapestry needle will slip under the outline stitches without splitting them.


You will need some sort of support for your work, otherwise it will eventually pull out of shape. If you are a beginner and doing small projects, start with a set of a 6-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch hoops. Please use wooden hoops. Metal and plastic ones slip. For more ambitious projects, you may want a frame. Here is a popular kind:

Large adjustable needlework frame

Some other things you will need, if you don't already have them at hand, include: a pair of small, sharp scissors; a bag or basket that never contains anything but your needlework; a well-fitting thimble (if you use one) and a ruler or measuring tape.

For the next "family" of crewel stitches, both beginners and experienced stitchers can follow this link:

The Chain-Stitch Family, Part I: Plain Chain With Variations

Watch for another crewel article soon. Enjoy!

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

Blackwork Revisited: Some New Patterns and Processes

Still life by Annake, blackwork stitching on monk's cloth

Periodically, J.D. checks to see what topics readers are searching for in earlier posts. One that always seems popular is Spanish blackwork. It just so happens that there has been a good bit of interest in the subject lately. Also, I have gotten both a request for new blackwork patterns and a question about using them, so I am going to address those issues today.

First of all, I want to present some new blackwork patterns. These are designed primarily to fill larger areas of design than many of the ones we have shown previously. It takes several repeats of the design elements to really display the pattern properly. These would show up well on checked gingham, for example. If you want them to appear smaller and denser, you will need something like #14 needlepoint canvas or a comparable Aida fabric. I suggest you practice by drawing each design at least once on a piece of graph paper before you begin stitching it.  Then you will have the paper patterns for future reference.

Blackwork stitch pattern 1

This open-weave design not only covers large areas quickly, but also can give an optical illusion of depth. If I were doing this, I would stitch around all of the woven pieces first. Then I would put three or four closely packed upright stitches in to fill each square between them. This would look like a dark background some distance behind the lattice. If you don't want to create the illusion, then put an X, a plus sign, or an asterisk (made by combining the X and the plus} in each of the small squares to complete the pattern.

Blackwork stitch pattern 2

This next pattern is a true tiling pattern. If you draw the large squares with points, you will create the shapes between them without further drawing. Conversely, if you draw the in-between shapes correctly, you will create the squares without further drawing. The little asterisks in the squares just add texture to the design.

Blackwork stitch pattern 3

The last pattern is a large one that can be used alone as an all-over pattern for a pillow, baby carriage cover, or an even larger article. It can be made considerably smaller by using fabrics with a much higher thread count. Either way, it requires concentration. I really recommend that you work this one out on graph paper before you begin stitching. You may want to do it in two steps. Step 1 would be to draw in the long-stemmed Y shapes that form the North, East, South and West supports of the design. Add the X at the center of the design. Step 2 is to draw the  ‘petals’ at the four corners of the design. Step 3 puts in the small diamond shapes and the X-shapes between the motifs.  Notice that the arms of all the X-shapes extend through the motifs to make diamond shapes connecting the motifs. It is important that these lines be as straight as possible. To make this more visible, draw Steps 1 and 3 in a dark green pencil or pen, while you do the Step 2  ‘petals’ in a bright color.  This chart will help you even if you are going to do the whole design in black later. Used at a smaller size, the motifs create another type of illusion.  While you will only use straight stitches to construct the design, the illusion will form that you have used curved lines to make it.

"Little Red Dragon", embroidery on checked gingham

The question I got was: "Can I do blackwork patterns in other colors?" The answer is most emphatically "Yes!" There was a time when similar pattern stitching was done in red in countries like Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It came to be known as Russian Redwork. A friend who has traveled to Russia assures me that pieces adorned with this type of embroidery are still being sold at the Moscow airport. I do my own version of it, as you can see in my baby dragon.

"Unicorn", embroidery on checked gingham

Scandinavian needle workers do exquisite surface embroidery — often combined with cut work — in white on both white and colored fabrics. Again, I do my own version, as you can see in my rampant unicorn. I did not do any cut work on this picture because it did not seem appropriate. I did use a heavy gold thread for the unicorn's horn and a lighter one on the mane, tail, hooves, nostril and around the eye.  I made the eye itself with a dark blue French knot.

"Colorful Onion Domes", embroidery on monk's cloth

When the patterns are done in multicolor, the work is called Holbein embroidery. To be strictly legitimate, Holbein embroidery involves using a stitch that covers both sides of the fabric (see our August 20, 2014 post), but you can do a very good simulation using the traditional blackwork stitching. Here is my blackwork "Onion Domes" pattern done in multicolor.

If you think you may have missed some of our past blackwork patterns, simply go to our search engine ("SEARCH MY BLOG" in the sidebar), type in the words “blackwork pattern” and press Search. When you come to the bottom of the first set of posts, click on Next Posts and follow that procedure until you reach a point where there are no more posts with patterns. Not everything the search gives you will be pertinent: search engines can be rather erratic in their selections. But you should find some useful charts. If you are just starting to do blackwork, or if you are still deciding whether you like it, follow the same search procedure using the term “blackwork” alone to get all the tutorials and other useful tips.

Hand-drawn draft of a complex pattern in two colors

Finally, here is another color technique I use when designing complex patterns that expand from a central design. The colors make it clear where each round of stitches begins and ends so that I don't produce a lop-sided, uneven pattern. Such a pattern, when completed, can be done as blackwork or in two or more colors.

In fact, I liked that idea so much that a did a new pattern for you in all the colors of the rainbow!

New stitch pattern in rainbow colors

Use your patterns to make something unique.

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

A Little Eye Candy: Our 6th Anniversary Issue*

"Hard Winter", photo by J.J.

Greetings, readers old and new. We are currently winding up our 6th year of this blog, and gearing up for Year Number 7. J.D. has a lot to show you and tell you, so I will turn this post over to him. I’ll be back to introduce some of the topics you can expect to see in the coming months.

Hello, all;  J.D.,  Annake’s Garden Gnome here.
 
First, a special welcome to last year’s new visitors from Andorra, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, the Republic of Georgia, and Mozambique. We have now had visitors from at least 121 of the 197 countries recognized by the UN.  I say at least, because Google Analytics classifies a growing segment of our visitors as ‘Not Set’,  so any of you who has never seen your country mentioned — blame Google!
 
Last year’s most popular new posts were the five parts of our series on ‘Landscapes in the Needle Arts’, followed by the post ‘Back to Blackwork’, and (surprisingly) our periodic Question & Answer posts. I don’t know whether we are doing a better job of promoting those posts, or more of our readers have figured out that they are full of juicy bits of new information;  we’re just glad to see them getting more attention. And, since many of you first come to this blog searching for material in our archived past posts, I’ll note that cumulative visits since we launched are still highest for tutorials on various bargello topics, blackwork embroidery, Holbein and Assisi embroidery, and cross-stitch; but last year, Swedish weaving and the posts on optical illusions started to catch up.

Now available for download in our Etsy shop

And now, a major addition to our Etsy shop: by the time you read this, the first downloadable prints of some of Annake’s work will be available for you to buy, for a very reasonable price. We’ve shown a few of these in recent past posts — remember the wolf and bear prints? These and many more will be in our Etsy store. Initially, what will be available is going to be limited in size and scope; but, as we figure more of this process out, you can expect to see many more subjects, colors, and sizes that you can download immediately and print at home, or take to a print shop to have your own high quality example of Annake’s work. This includes our international readers — no hassles with expensive shipping, customs forms, or currency exchanges:  just download from the Internet!

So — why this, now? Doesn’t Annake mostly do needle artwork? Where is all this coming from?

Well, the prints are being offered as a result of a number of converging headaches, needs, and trends, which I will tell you all about in a much longer post later this spring. For now, a quick example:

Black-maned lion needlepoint

Remember this black-maned lion needlepoint (we showed it, still unframed, in this post)? Annake came across her original sketch while digging through files looking for something else. (We do a LOT of that!) 

Damaged original working sketch

You can see that it was in pretty rough shape, so I said, “Let me scan it into the computer; I can clean it up, and then you’ll have it when you need it, and we can print it out in any size you want.” So I did — the result is below.

Edited scan of lion sketch

Annake said, “Hmmmm… print me a copy, I’ll put in some shading to indicate what I had in mind for stitching, then you can scan that in for future reference.” So she did — and by the time I had scanned and cleaned it up, it looked pretty darned good. We decided to sign it, put it into a high-quality print file, and — you can see the result above at the beginning of this section.  And, you can now download and print your own.

Look for lots more prints to come over the next several months… as well as printable downloads of some of my photos, and some of J.J.’s — all in our revamped Etsy shop.

Back to you, Annake...

Here are some of the topics you can look for this year:

• Our next issue will feature a new reverse applique with step-by-step photographs and a pattern to download.
• Then watch for Seascapes IV and V and at least one issue on skyscapes.
• I’m going to revisit Folk Embroidery and feature several new “families” of stitches.
• There will be a new series on color, starting this spring. I think you will get some new ideas from it that will be fun.
• Expect features on collage and scratchboard plus more optical illusions.
• There will be new bargello patterns for 4-way and all-over designs, plus new “diaper” patterns for Spanish blackwork, Russian redwork, and Scandinavian whitework.
• I’ve been looking at landscapes again from a new perspective that I want to share with you.

Photos from some future posts...

Don’t forget out Question and Answer issues where I try to answer your questions and provide additional information.

I’m really looking forward to starting the next year of blog posts with you.

Take care of yourselves. Stay safe, come back often.

* If you're wondering about the title of this post, candy is a traditional 6th anniversary gift.

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

Serendipity at Work

Needlepoint border with top-stitched diaper pattern

SERENDIPITY: The discovery of useful, valuable, or desirable things that you weren't looking for.

The mention of diaper patterns (used in blackwork, redwork, whitework, and Holbein embroidery) in the previous post produced requests for new and different diaper patterns — which have nothing to do with babies' bottoms. Those are time-consuming to create. They were not on my current agenda, so I wrote them at the bottom of my planning list as an afterthought.

But I'm a great believer in serendipity. The very next day it came to my aid, as it has done many times over the years. I was looking through a box of folders that I made 40 years ago, when I was teaching English at a business college at night and teaching art and needlecrafts at a Parks and Recreation center during the day at a city on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. Needless to say, I hadn't looked at those folders for a long time! I was searching for some applique patterns for a project I did with my daughter at about that time period. I didn't find them (I will; I never throw good patterns away!), but I did find enough new materials for a number of blog posts that you will see later this year. Among those materials were several sheets of diaper patterns — and here they are!

All-over Patterns

All-over patterns are meant to be used in large areas of a design. Before you choose these patterns, it is a good idea to know how dark you want that area of the pattern to appear. The darker the area, the denser the pattern should appear. Denser patterns are made by using lots of short line elements that are close together and limiting the amount of background that shows through them. Let me give you an example. This pattern starts very simply at the left. As we move to the right, new elements are added in each vertical row. See how much darker the pattern is at the last row?

Here are some additional all-over patterns:

Tip: It is a good idea to practice a pattern on graph paper before you try it on fabric. Do additional rows both horizontally and vertically until you are sure you know what comes next in the stitching. You may also see the advantage of stitching a pattern on checked gingham before attempting it on monks' cloth, Aida, or even finer fabrics.

Border Patterns

You can see a border pattern enlarged across the top of this post. They are linear patterns and are often outlined in a border stitch like outline stitch, back-stitch, or chain stitch. Any of the border designs shown can be made wider by adding such outline stitches. You can see from the “flower” borders how very small changes can alter the look of a border, as well as how doubling the stitches in facing rows makes a much wider and bolder design. Some of the patterns are designed to be mitered at the corners so that they make a frame around the major design. Here is an example of a corner design:

Tip: Some border patterns can be repeated as all-over patterns. To try this, draw two rows of the border pattern, leaving a row of empty squares between them. Experiment until you can find an attractive way to join them, using short stitches. Then include the pattern in your all-over patterns as well as in your border patterns.

Many of the patterns can be done in two or more colors (thereby qualifying them as Holbein embroidery). Here is an example of a pattern done in two colors. See what a difference it makes when the colors are reversed?

Tip: If you are working a design in a single color and want to emphasize certain parts of the design more than other parts, use more strands of floss or yarn for the emphasized portions and fewer strands for the parts you wish to have remain in the background.

“Spot” or Cluster Patterns

These are small designs not meant to connect with each other. They may be used alone in small areas of a larger design or be scattered across a larger area as repeated designs. These repeats are rarely done at random; rather, they are carefully spaced at regular intervals.

Tip: Don't dismiss these designs as too simple, however. Look at this series of designs. Each one begins with the same design in the center. (The original spot pattern is seen in bold pen at the far left). The developing design is shown in pencil, with the added-on stitches shown in bold pen as they are added. You can create some magnificent medallions in this way. The pattern “grows” much as a snowflake does as it falls through the clouds — adding features to its outside edges.

Tip: Don't be afraid of making mistakes as you sketch these patterns. Who knows? You may create a whole new diaper pattern!

Blackwork and whitework designs are usually done completely in their signature colors of black or white. Redwork, however, is sometimes done in more than one shade of red. When this is done, the denser the pattern is, the darker shade of red is used. Done properly, this gives a three-dimensional appearance to the whole design. It does take some prior planning to make the illusion work, however.

Holbein embroidery is done in multicolor. I am working on a series of new Holbein patterns that you can expect to see in a post a few weeks from now. In the meantime, there is a series of Holbein “spots” across the bottom of this post.

Have fun — always,

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

Swedish Weaving: Part 3

"Right" (top) & "Wrong" (bottom) sides

Swedish weaving, or “huck” weaving, is traditionally done on a closely woven cotton toweling fabric called “huck” (shortened from “huckaback”). If you If you examine the fabric closely, you will find that one side is rough to the touch, while the other side feels smooth. Since the purpose of a towel is to dry something, the rough side is the “right” side of the fabric. Look closely and you will see rows of raised stitches running horizontally across the cloth, perpendicular to the selvage edges (– – – – –). Turning to the smooth, or “wrong”, side of the cloth, you will notice pairs of upright (vertical) threads running parallel to the selvage edges (⌡⌡ ⌡⌡ ⌡⌡). these slightly loose threads are called “floats' or “slubs”. The “floats” alternate position in each row, so that one “float” that is directly above another is in the second row of stitches above it — not the first. It is with these “floats” that Swedish weaving is done. This makes it a rare type of embroidery done entirely on the “wrong” side of the cloth!

Horizontal and diagonal stitches

It has been several months since we discussed this topic, and some of you are new readers, so some of this material will be repetitive. We concentrated in the first two sessions (March 11, 2016 and March 31, 2016) primarily on horizontal stitches and diagonal stitches and the patterns which can be made with them. Vertical stitches were shown only as connections. These stitches, however, are decorative on their own. They are also useful in making tall, columnar patterns and four-sided designs. To make an upright (vertical) pattern stitch, run the needle right to left under the first float. Move up to the float directly above and again run the needle under the float from right to left. Continue until your column is the desired height. This produces a “wrapped” appearance to the stitches. A block of upright stitches gives texture to a design. Upright and horizontal stitches combine well. The red patterns will give you ideas for simple patterns you can do with this stitch. In the purple patter, each upward and downward vertical stitch skips a float in the center of the stitch.

The step stitch combines a horizontal stitch and a vertical stitch, and moves diagonally upward and downward across the fabric Multiple rows of this stitch produce interesting designs, particularly when a different color is used for each row. To do this most easily, begin with the bottom row of the design and work each following row directly above it. The rows can also be worked in reverse to make a larger more complex design. Do all the upper rows first. Then turn your fabric upside-down and repeat the pattern, starting once again with the bottom row. A diamond-shaped space is created in the design when it is done this way. If you like, you can put initials or tiny embroidery designs in these spaces.

A simple step-stitch pattern, repeated two different ways

 Another useful basic stitch is the loop stitch or circle stitch. Begin with one or more horizontal stitches. Slip your needle under a pair of floats from right to left. Point your needle in the opposite direction. Move up to the floats directly above the one you just worked. This time pass your needle from left to right. Return to the lower stitch and once again run your needle under the same floats from right to left. Pull the thread gently until it makes a loop or circle. Tension is very important with this stitch. If you leave the thread too loose, your stitches will be irregular and not look like even loops or circles. If you pull the thread too tight, you will distort (pucker) the fabric. Practice until it feels right. Spacing the loops differently in parallel rows makes different patterns. To make reverse loop- stitch rows, turn your fabric upside=down and proceed normally. Loop stitches and horizontal stitches combine attractively, as you can see in this border. Here the loops are alternated, with the top of each loop passing under the same float as the spacing stitch either above or below it. If you want to have even lines of loops, try them two ways: evenly spaced so that the loops intersect, or lines of loops spaced a row of floats apart so they do not intersect. You will be surprised how much difference this makes.

Aqua/turquoise loop-stitch design

There is another loop stitch that you might like, called half-loop stitch. It is used for up-and-down borders, stems, etc. Work from right to left, make a couple of horizontal stitches, and pick up a float. Then, working from left to right, insert the needle under the float directly above the one you just picked up, but complete only the right half of the loop by picking up the float above. Complete the left half of that loop by crossing under the middle float with the needle pointing from left to right. Complete the right side of the bottom loop, working under the first float again. You can make the column of loops as tall as you like by working in this back-and-forth manner. Make at least one horizontal stitch between loop columns. The stitch gets its name because it is made a half loop at a time. To make the pattern below, begin with a couple of straight stitches. Make a loop stitch and a spacer stitch, then make a column of two half-loop stitches. Continue making columns of half-loop stitches in increasing sizes, with spacing stitches between them, for as long as you like. Then repeat the stitches in the reverse order to the end.

Dark blue half-loop stitches

Finally, there is the long stitch. This is a very flexible stitch which can be used in a variety of ways. It is primarily used to create diamond shapes. In the top example, a long diagonal shape is created by skipping more floats horizontally than you skip vertically. One long-stitch row is worked across the design. Then a second long-stitch row is worked as a mirror-image of the first row. Where the rows intersect, both threads pass under the same floats. The second set of diamonds is more open and the diamonds are square. The same number of floats are involved, both vertically and horizontally.

Two kinds of diamond shapes

The weaving is done with a small tapestry needle. Tapestry needles have blunt points that can slip under the floats without breaking the float threads. The smallest needle that will hold the type of thread being used for the embroidery and slide under the floats without breaking them is the one to use. If the “weaving” is done properly, the needle never dips through the huck fabric and no stitches are ever seen on the other side of the cloth. (NOTE: This is not possible when doing the designs on other fabrics like monk's cloth or Aida; you will always see some thread on the reverse side of the cloth.)

Practice your stitches and patterns, please, because we will soon begin a project with them.

Have fun.

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