A lovely opportunity to get more thread! I have a three drawer Madeira 40 box of lovely threads but had few of 30 strength so purchased sets of colours from Barnyarns and have now got them as a beautiful display on my stash cupboard doors. They were on the windowsill but got too many to store they, so my work-room looks a lot more organised and tidy now.
Page 24. My 30 threads with others shaded in colour ranges. Variegated and metallics bottom right.
Vermicelli
So, the first exercise was to free embroider vermicelli stitch starting large and reducing in size on a range of fabrics.
Page 24. Vermicelli on black felt with red thread, reducing in size
I managed to not touch the other rows of stitch most of the time. This isn't the easiest stitch to do freehand, but with practice, I will improve. I then changed to unsupported calico on a hoop with a variegated thread
Page 24. Vermicelli on calico
A couple of close calls with the stitches very close. The variegated thread looks nice. I did have difficulty getting this small sample in focus on the camera.
Page 24. Vermicelli and zigzag vermicelli on purple velvet
This was not very good. I didn't support the velvet and had real difficulty getting the hand motion that I needed to create the stitches as I wished. I don't have a zigzag vermicelli stitch on my machine to try the automatic version.
Granite stitch
The exercise was to make a small picture using granite stitch, so I stitched a red imagined flower shape in granite stitch and then placed a square of contrasting green in granite stitch around the flower with a stem and the idea of a leaf (straight-stitched). This is quite pretty. Doing very small granite stitch is not simple and hurts my thumbs if I do it for too long!
Page 25. Imagined 'poppy' in granite stitch
I then used a piece of random dyed felt and using the colours suggested by the dye dispersal used granite stitch to create contours on the felt.
Page 25. Granite stitch on random dyed felt
I made larger granite stitches this time and found that the result was easier to get. Less sore thumbs from less tight circular actions. I think that this is very pretty and can be developed more in the future.
Whip stitch
The top tension was increased to maximum and I stitched on black felt for this sample.
Page 25. Whip stitch on black felt
All free- embroidered, with black felt supported on a hoop.
The left hand side uses a small stitch length with a variegated thread on top and yellow in the bobbin. The central stitching is done with purple thread on top and gold in the bobbin and the right-hand with red thread on top and yellow in the bobbin.
I am reasonably pleased with these results but feel that I may have to by-pass the bobbin to get a better outcome. I have never done this before but sort of worked out that if I didn't take the bobbin through its tensioning plates, I would remove any bottom tension. So I did this for the next exercise. I do have a spare bobbin race but haven't done anything with it yet as I have been a bit nervous of making adjustments and not getting it correct. I must be more courageous!
Feather stitch
Bobbin tension by-passed, I put red 30 thread on top and yellow in the bobbin. I the top section I probably stitched too slowly to get the effect I was looking for, although I did stop every now and then to deliberately create little bobbles
Page 26. Feather stitch on black felt.
In the centre right of the sample, I used faster hand movement which pulled the bobbin thread up more and created a good feather stitch. I then changed to a red thread on top and metallic in the bobbin and a medium fabric movement which also creates a good effect.
Moss Stitch
Page 26. Moss stitch on Cotton
For this sample I used some simple cotton and a variegated thread in the bobbin and monfilament on top. The sample was supported in a hoop with top tension at maximum and bobbin tension bypassed.
Once stitched, Bondaweb was ironed on the back and then a piece of calico behind that. The monofilament was removed (not easy as I couldn't see it!!) and the bobbin threads were then free loops on the top of the fabric.
This was fun, I have never tried this technique before.
Final sample
This sample was to be stitched onto a transfer painted or random dyed fabric base. I chose a piece of beautiful random dyed felt and mounted it in a large hoop. I then selected the colours I thought would be good with the fabric.
Random dyed felt and threads
Page 27.
I chose honesty as my flower and drew this is air-dispersible pen. I used 30 lime coloured three on top and a variegated metallic thread in the bobbin with the bottom tension bypassed. I stitched the flowers in feather stitched and the stems in whip stitch.
I then used the other colours, blue, hyacinth and fuchsia with lime in the bobbin to create an outline. I do think that the honesty sort of vanished in amongst the rest of the stitching but don't mind as this looks quite organic and almost like a cabbage. Lovely!
So before I fixed this into my book, I photographed the back and really like that as well. Delicate and really like a cabbage.
Back of stitched sample.
I enjoyed this chapter and look forward to using the thicker 'threads' in the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment