Thursday, October 23, 2014

100 Stitches - Double or Italian Hemstitch


I have another installment of my 100 Stitches journey to share.

This is the Double or Italian Hemstitch.  Beautiful, isn't it?  I had a few problems working this stitch which I will explain at the end of this post.

For the floss, I used DMC Color Variations, this is number 4160 in perle cotton.


This stitch is from the Drawn Thread Embroidery category so I prepared the fabric by pulling the horizontal threads from the area to be worked with the stitch. 

This one was a little different than the usual Drawn Thread stitches in that there needs to be two working areas to complete the stitch:


This stitch is worked from right to left starting with the top working area.  The first step is to come up through the fabric behind the first four threads:


Pull the needle to the left all the way through.  Then bring the needle back around to the right and go into the fabric behind those first four threads.  Bring the needle back out where the floss first emerged.  Notice the needle is behind the working thread:


Pull all the way through and now the needle is going to work on the bottom area.


Bring the needle into the fabric behind the second group of four threads on the bottom working area.  Come back out of the fabric:


and pull all the way through:


Bring the needle around and go back into the fabric at the right edge of the group of four threads you just passed under.  Pass the needle under the fabric and emerge on the top working area four threads to the left of the first thread group worked. 

Notice the needle is passing under the working thread:


Now the same steps are just worked over and over until you fill up the areas to be worked:


I had three problems with this stitch. 
First - There are no instructions on where to secure your floss when beginning the stitch.  
Second - Notice the bottom working area - the first group of four threads on the right side are skipped.  According to the instructions, this is worked from top area to bottom area from right to left so how can the bottom right thread group be included?
Third - How to finish off this stitch.  I finished at the top left side of the working area - where should the floss be secured?


I am going to do a little more research on this stitch - any tips would be appreciated! 

This is a fun stitch to do and really pretty.  I especially love the way it looks when done with the color variations floss.

This is number 80 on the 100 Stitches list and is from the Drawn Thread Embroidery category.

2 comments:

Ana Love Craft said...

Hello Kim! Very nice, I love that kind of stitch.Thanks for sharing this tutorial.
Hope you have a wonderful Autumn!
Hugs from Portugal,
Ana Love Craft
www.lovecraft2012.blogspot.com

Kim said...

I like this kind of stitch too - I think it would be so pretty done in a long row. Wishing you a wonderful Autumn too!