TAST week 11; PLOS week 4; Blackwork

Linda, a stitching friend of mine, and I did some thread swapping and so all this week's TAST sample stitchings were done with threads in that swap. I still have some threads to do more stitching, Linda! This week's stitch, the Up and Down Buttonhole was not a new stitch for me but some of the things I did with it were. The first sample is stitched on 18ct Aida and I tried doing a half circle. This was really too small a segment to get a good perspective and I used four different colors #8 perle cotton. The second row is just the basic Up and Down Buttonhole in #8 perle lime green. Then I used the same color and size thread for three rows of the stitch adding #8 purple detached chains in the open spaces. Next I used Caron's Watercolors in back to back rows and the last sample on this fabric were single back to back stitches in #8 perle.

The second sample is stitched on 18ct. linen and the first row is stitched in the Watercolors thread. Next I stitched a row of yellow and purple flowers using Detached Chain and Colonial Knots. The bottom row is a line of short and tall stitches in #8 perle. The vertical row was stitched with the fabric turned so I stitched with the short side facing me. I really like the vertical look of this stitch and somewhat makes me think of a Greek design.

This sample is stitched on a scrap of my PLOS linen (25ct) and I really had fun playing with these patterns. The peach base is #8 perle stitched as opposite rows. The lacing is done in a #12 perle burgandy and would have been more effective if the base rows had been alternating but I just wanted to see what opposite rows would look like when laced. I also used #12 perle and wrapped the outside. Very colorful. The next row is sort of a wavy line of Up and Down Stitches back to back done in the #8 lime perle. I used purple #8 in connecting Fly Stitches and also added two rows of running stitches in the open spaces. Can't wait to try these two patterns on a cq square somewhere. The next row is sort of a meandering Up and Down Stitch ...... very uneven, but then that is what I intended. The last sample here is stitched with Caron's Watercolors and shows possibilites of a border. Two rows of Running Stitch were also used here.

This last sample is stitched on poly/cotton muslin. I don't have much luck making curves or circles on evenweave linen so I drew my designs on this fabric. The center of the circle looks like a Buttonhole Stitch but when worked with a #12 perle it is the Up and Down Buttonhole. Alternating Up and Down on the outside circle with Colonial Knots (#8) on the inside and Pistol Stitch (#12) on the outside. The arc is stitched as in the first sample, also using four colors.

The thread colors I chose for PLOS week four don't show well here at all but they work well on my sampler. I think if I had chosen to work with the white linen the stitchings would have been more virbrant. Because this weeks lesson dealt with density my first thought was of Blackwork. Now it has been at least 15 years since I've done any Blackwork so I thought I'd work a little tiny sample and I used a royal blue #16 perle which worked well. Beside that I tried the Ermine Stitch which was a totally new stitch for me. The base Straight Stitch is done in a magenta #8 with various sizes of Cross-Stitch worked in a mercerized purple approximately #5. This purple is a thread left over from a needlepoint project so was not labeled. Under the "Blackwork" is another totally new stitch to me - Knotted Beaded Buttonhole which was also stitched with a #16 perle. Directly under this stitch is the Arrow Stitch worked in Caron's Wildflowers "Sunset". The last stitching is also worked in Wildflowers "Sunset" as a Buttonhole variant and enclosed with a Running Stitch. The Running Stitch was needed to set the Buttonhole Stitch off. This lesson had me look at contrast, scale and density in a whole new light and I want to try some of the other things from this lesson.

Thought I'd share two of my Blackwork pieces here. This first piece was a Bucilla kit that I completed in 1990 and entered in our local ANG/EGA Counted Thread competition where it was awarded a third place ribbon.
This last piece was an EGA Correspondance Course that I actually finished! When this class is finished I think I just might pull out a WISP Blackwork piece and see about finishing it.