Tuesday, February 24, 2015

100 Stitches - Back Stitch



Time for another 100 Stitches post.  This beautiful stitch is the Back Stitch. 
I love doing this stitch and use it all the time.  It is a very nice stitch to use for outlining. 

I am using perle cotton floss, this is DMC #4200 Color Variations



 I used a ruler and a water soluble marker to draw a straight stitching line to follow:


This stitch is going to be worked from right to left on the stitching line.  The first step is to come up through the fabric a little bit in from the right edge of the stitching line:


Then take a small back stitch to the right with the needle going into the fabric at the end of the stitching line:


Pull all the way through to form a stitch:


Now bring the needle up through the fabric a little ways to the left of where the floss first emerged:


 Pull all the way through:



 Next, go back into the fabric in the same hole from which the floss very first emerged:



Pull all the way through to form the second stitch:



 Continue in the same way, coming up through the fabric to the left of the last stitch:


Pulling through and going back into the fabric in the same hole as the previous stitch:


Keep stitching to the end of the stitching line:


When I got to the end of the stitching line, I secured my thread on on the underside of the fabric by running my needle under a few of the stitches.


Here is a look at the underside of this stitching line:


The back stitch is number seven on the list of 100 Stitches and is found in the Flat Stitches category.


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

100 Stitches - Long-legged Cross Stitch

 I have a new stitch to share from my 100 Stitches journey.  This is the Long-legged Cross Stitch.  It is also known as the Long-Armed Cross Stitch.

It is from the Canvas Embroidery Category so I stitched this on my canvas, rather than fabric. 


For my floss, I am using a lovely lavender perle cotton - DMC no. 340.

This stitch is worked from left to right.  The first step is to come up through the canvas:


 Pull all the way through.
 
To make the first long "leg" you count several squares above and several squares to the right of the square that your floss first emerged from.  There were no instructions as to how many to go over so I did five above and 10 to the right.  Go into the canvas:


 and emerge on the same row that your floss first emerged from:


 Pull all the way through:


 bring the needle around and go back into the canvas five squares to the left of and on the same row that the needle went into the canvas on the right end of the first stitch:


  Emerge back at the same row the needle first emerged from:


 Pull all the way through.  Now go back into the canvas on the top row, five squares to the right of the end of the first stitch.  Emerge at the bottom row of the first stitch:


and pull all the way through:


 Bring the needle around and go into the canvas one square to the right of the first stitch:


Pull all the way through and that completes the second stitch.  Just continue stitching this way 


for as long a stitching line as needed.


This is a beautiful stitch, especially in a line of stitching. 


The Long-legged Cross Stitch is number 86 on the 100 Stitches list.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Horse With A Flower Crown


I have another completed project!  It is this beautiful horse with a flower crown. 

I stitched this from my I Love Horses embroidery pattern:


I like these flower corners - I used the stem stitch, lazy daisy stitch, French knots and straight stitches:


For her mane, I used the stem stitch:


For the ribbon on the flower crown, I used the split stitch:


I am really happy with the way this turned out! 



Here are the colors and floss numbers I used:



Saturday, February 7, 2015

Triceratops Project - Part Six


I have finished all the embroidery stitching on my triceratops pillow project!  

Once I finished the stitching, I rinsed out all the tracing lines and blocked the fabric on a towel to let it dry without too much puckering.

Now for some details...I didn't really have that much more to stitch since my last update, just adding some accent lines and finishing the erupting volcano:


Here is a close up of the ash clouds - on all the gray outside edges I used the stem stitch.  For the colored inside edges, I used the back stitch:


After I had blocked the fabric and everything was dry, I squared off the very uneven edges of the fabric:


Now it is ready for a final pressing with the iron. 

This is going to be the front panel of a pillow.


For the back of the pillow, I would like to make a patchwork panel.  If I have enough fabric, I may make a pieced border around the front panel as well.  I already have this bright green and this nice orange fabric with yellow accents.  I think I need to add a few more colors.  Definitely some browns and maybe a yellow?  Any suggestions? 



Here are the colors and floss numbers I used:






Wednesday, February 4, 2015

100 Stitches - Tent Stitch




Time for another 100 Stitches post.  This is the Tent Stitch - also known as Petit Point.  Since I am using my new canvas, you may have guessed that this stitch is in the Canvas Embroidery category ;) 

To work this stitch, I am using perle cotton floss, this is DMC No. 988:


The first row of this stitch is worked from left to right.  First,  I came up through the canvas:


Pulled the floss all the way through, circled around to the left and went back into the canvas one square to the left and one square below the square where my floss first emerged:


The needle will now come back out of the canvas one row above and two squares to the right of where it just went in:


 Pull all the way through, circle around to the left and repeat - into the canvas one square below and to the left:


and emerge one row above and two squares to the right of where the needle went in:


I just kept repeating that stitch:


until I had a row of stitching.  To make the next row, the stitch is worked from right to left:


Just repeat and now the same steps working from right to left.  Then left to right for the third row and so on....:


This is a really nice stitch, I like the way it fills in the canvas.

The Tent Stitch is number 83 on the 100 Stitches list.