TAST week 10; PLOS week 3; Crewel

This week's TAST Challenge stitch was totally unknown to me, so I just played a little. But before I could do the Barred Chain Stitch I first had to practice the Twisted Chain Stitch. My first sample for this week is stitched on 14ct. Aida and the first three rows are worked in Caron Watercolors. I used a single strand of this overdyed fiber which is about the same as #5 perle cotton. Row #1 is Twisted Chain and row #2 is Barred Chain. Row #3 is also Barred Chain but with a long "bar". For Row #4 I worked the Alternating Barred Chain in #5 perle (rust color). Row #5 is Barred Chain stitched in Madeira blue metallic and was interesting to work with. Row #6 is stitched in a varigated 2mm silk ribbon also using Alternating Barred Chain. For row #7 I stitched the Alternating Barred Chain using a sinlge strand of overdyed silk thread. One of the things Sharon mentions in her stitch of the week notes and emphasizes in her PLOS lessons is to experiment with various threads and I have worked diligently in trying to carry that assignment out. The silk threads I'm having a little problem with but by working with shorter lengths I'm gradually getting the hang of using them.

I really didn't do a whole lot with the second sampler in this group. Here I used pink 18ct Aida to try curves and a circle (which is really very uneven LOL). I did a small design inside my lopsided circle using straight lines and detached chains. Here I used mostly #8 perle although I did use a single strand of overdyed silk thread on the red twisted chain. The green row on the bottom is stitched with Caron's Watercolors showing a variance in length of the stitches. All in all I must say this stitch was very enjoyable.

Week 3 of my PLOS lessons - I can't believe this class is half over. There is so much to learn, so much has been presented that I am overwhelmed, yet at the same time I can't believe that I'm doing all these exciting stitches and using such a variety of threads. This week our lesson was on "lines" so I tried working in lines, even a curved line LOL Basically I just did some Chain Stitch explorations. The first "line" is vertical and I used 2mm purple hand dyed silk ribbon in the Cable Chain. The second "line" is 5 rows of Running Stitch and 5 rows of offset Running Stitch in #5 perle and laced with a single strand of silk. For "line" 3 I used a segment of 100% silk waste yarn from Nepal and couched with Herringbone using Sulky #40 gold...... very interesting. For "line" 4 I stitched a row of Detached Chains and an offset row of Detached Chains in #8 purple perle laced with Caron's Watercolors. For "line" 5 I stitched two vertical Chain Stitch Cable rows with #5 perle peach and double whipped with purple #20 crochet thread. I surprised myself with this stitch and can't wait to use it on a cq somewhere. The last "line" is a slight curve stitched with a #5 slate blue in a Chain Cable. I added #8 perle slanting Straight Stitches and French Knots in purple. I love these two colors together. I am surprising myself with some of my color combinations. For this lesson Sharon is teaching us how to look for lines in various media. She also told us about how crewel embroidery is an excellent source of linear stitching. Soooo, I thought I'd share some of my crewel pieces.

This Christmas design is filled with lines as the outline of each letter, except the "o", is done with the Backstitch. The "o" is done in Chain Stitch. Other stitches on this piece include Satin, Detached Chain, and French Knots. For some reason I did not date this piece.

I did this piece in September 1978 and it has foam padding to give dimension. This is stitched in Satin, Straight Stitch, French Knots and Outline.

My first piece of crewel and was a Bucilla Kit purchased at a half-price after Christmas sale and I completed it in 1968. Satin, Stem, Chain, Straight and French Knots were used as well as a couple whose names I don't remember. These are all traditional pieces in that they used crewel yarns and were stitched on linen fabric.

This last piece I would call contemporary in that it is stitched entirely of DMC floss using from one to eight strands. It is also stitched on silk fabric instead of the traditional linen. This piece, entitled "Two Sisters", is my favorite and I completed it in 1998. Buttonhole, Stem and French Knots are among the stitches used. Thanks to Sharon and others whose blogs I visit, my stitch vocabulary is expanding as well as learning to use a variety of threads. I'm breaking "out of the box" color, dimension, and idea wise which is the main objective (IMHO) of this class.