Ruskin Garden Square Progress

Just a quick progress picture tonight, folks! Enjoy!

How Do You Manage Your Pattern While Stitching?

Many professional designers, especially those designing counted canvas work, offer a project’s instructions as just a set of loose pages. As far as I can tell, this is for a number of reasons:

• Good counted canvas instructions, particularly for complex designs, take a lot of pages. (Ruskin Garden Square, for example, has 70 pages of instructions, with at least one diagram on each page.)
• Stitchers will often have to refer to multiple pages simultaneously, and binding the instructions makes this cumbersome.
• Not everyone would agree on the best binding, anyway.

Since Ruskin Garden Square was originally a class project, Gay Ann separated the instructions into those pages that could be pre-class work from those that would be the focus of the class. When she sold the instructions to me, they came in a plain folder with the pre-class pages on the left, and in-class pages on the right.

I actually found that division of pages helpful to start, to get all of the various borders in, so I left the pages in the folder, and just pulled out one or two at a time as I needed them. But now I'm reaching the end of the borders, and I need to re-integrate those pages back into the main instruction set.

Juggling 15 or so loose pages of instructions (the pre-class work) is much easier than trying to shuffle 70 pages, though, so I’ve switched to my preferred method of managing instructions with loose pages. I prefer to use a three-ring binder with heavy-duty non-glare page protectors. I put two single-sided pages (back to back) into each page protector.

This is actually a fairly inexpensive setup. Over time, I’ve purchased a couple of boxes of 200 page protectors at my local warehouse club store (BJ’s in my case), along with a six-pack of 1/2” three ring binders. I prefer the kind with the clear pocket on the front so I can put the project’s picture there (though that’s not the type I first laid my hands on for these instructions, so the picture’s in the front inside pocket, as seen above). I’ll reuse the binder and page protectors for a future project after this one is finished. Theoretically, that should keep my WIP count fairly low, but I have a tendency to just buy more binders and page protectors. :-)

Here are the benefits I find to this setup:

• I can pull out a few pages at a time for reference (still in the page protectors).
• Since the protectors are non-glare, there’s no issue with my bright stitching light interfering with readability.
• The page protectors keep the instructions in great shape, and prevent me from losing individual pages.
• If I have to add notes to a page for some reason, I can just pull the paper out, make my notes in pencil, and reinsert it. The protector keeps the pencil from rubbing off, and I can always erase the note later if I want to give away or sell the instructions when I’m done.
• With the project picture on the front of the binder, it’s harder to grab the wrong instructions when I’m taking the project somewhere.

What about you? How do you organize instructions with large numbers of loose pages? I’m really happy with my setup as it is, but I’d love to hear if somebody has some way that might work better!

A Quick Peek at Another Upcoming Project

Okay, folks, NaBloPoMo is starting to take its toll. I actually had a pretty good topic for tonight’s post, but if I actually wrote that post tonight, it would be far less than stellar due to the author (a.k.a. me) falling asleep every other line.

I’ll leave you tonight with a brief look at an ANG correspondence course I’ll be starting on the first of the new year. This is Hiogi, a project designed by Kay Stanis to teach silk and metal thread techniques on Congress cloth.

Another beauty to look forward to!

Preparing for a Ruskin Lace (or Reticello) Cutout

If you’ve ever done any Hardanger embroidery, you’re familiar with the idea that cutwork areas need to be “hemmed” with little blocks of satin stitches called kloster blocks. The preparation of a cutwork area for Ruskin lace or reticello is a bit similar, except that it is padded first and that buttonhole stitch is used as the hem.

The first step is to lay down a few long satin stitches along each side of the area that will be cut out. As in this block, there is often a row of four-sided stitches just outside of the square.

On top of those stitches, add a round of buttonhole (or, if you’re being a stickler, closed blanket stitch), with the loop side of the stitches on the inside of the cutwork area.

Then you can fill in the corners with a few straight stitches just to pretty it up a bit.

That’s all there is to getting an area ready for cutting in Ruskin lace and reticello. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got another 11 little boxes to stitch!

Four-Sided Stitches Complete!

At last. Here’s the reason why my last few posts have been a bit skimpy (as this one will be!). I’ve been plugging away at four-sided stitches on Ruskin Garden Square from Gay Ann Rogers for the better part of a week. Who knew that such a simple stitch could take up so much time? But it’s done now.

Next up on this project is to do a bunch of borders for areas that will eventually be cut out.

On a recent post about my completed Reticello 1 project, Wendy commented that she is “not completely sure what [reticello] is.” I’ll try to clear that up a bit, Wendy, as I go through the process here. From the little bit I’ve read on reticello and Ruskin lace, there are only a few differences. I’ll go over what I’ve learned about those differences as I stitch the various areas in this project.

Stay tuned!

A Couple Quick Progress Pics

In the interest of actually stitching a bit, tonight’s post will be short and sweet. I leave you with a couple of quick peeks at Magi #3 and his companions…

Enjoy!

Fun with Composite Stitches

So what is a composite stitch, you ask? It’s a stitch that is made up of combinations of other stitches, often layered on top of each other.

The sleeve on Magi #3 is stitched with a fairly simple composite stitch. It starts out with a simple lattice of a medium weight metallic in gold.

This metallic is tied down with upright cross at each intersection, using a lighter-weight silver metallic.

And in all of the open areas, an upright cross is stitched too, this time in a few plies of silk floss.

The result is a rich-looking “fabric” that looks complex but is actually very straight forward. You can barely see the silver metallic, but it helps the entire presentation by holding down the diagonal lines of gold and adding just a touch more shimmer.

This is by no means the only composite stitch in The Magi. Perhaps the most challenging of these is found in the robes of Magi #2. The stitch seen here has no fewer than 6 steps to complete.

What fascinates me about these stitches is thinking about how the designer created them. This isn’t a matter of simply picking up a favorite stitch book and filling in an area. Creating composite stitches requires either a) a lot of time so that you can try out various combinations or b) a VERY good intuition on what stitch diagrams look like. Or both.

So the next time you’re trying to figure out what stitch to put in an area, consider if that area could us a bit more texture that just a standard stitch out of a standard book of stitches. Then try playing with adding various stitches on top of a light stitch. And see what you can come up with.

A Wonderful Time Was Had By All

We had a wonderful day at the mini-retreat. The day started with greeting longtime friends and acquaintances, some of whom had traveled over an hour to be with us. Then it was time for breakfast from the hotel’s great buffet and omelet and waffle station.

Then on to the stitching! Here we have a room full of happy stitchers finishing up breakfast and starting to stitch.

Shortly before lunch, we had our first finish for the day. Here is my mother-in-law’s project from a recent regional EGA mini-seminar. This is Daphne Reborn by Michael Boren in the olive green color scheme. Isn’t it stunning? Congratulations, Mom!

One of the highlights of the day was the raffle. Tickets were 6 for $5. I started putting my tickets into  an entry  bag here and there when I came across the sweater. One of the ladies who helps to organize this event had hand-knit a gorgeous sweater in a lovely shade of blue in a size 4T.  I ended up putting my last 3 tickets in this drawing, and then I went back an purchased another 6 tickets to put in the sweater’s bag. So maybe I stacked the deck by purchasing so many tickets, but it paid off!

Isn’t it lovely? I do need to hang onto it, though. It will be at least a year before my daughter fits into this beautiful creation. Oh well. It will still bring out the blues in her eyes! (Thank you, Judy!)

My only complaint about the day was that it almost wasn’t bright enough if you weren’t right next to the windows. I’ll be sure to bring my portable light for the next event (currently being planned for March). I’m already looking forward to it!

Thank you, Janice, for organizing this lovely day!

Stitch Study: Four-Sided Stitch

Simplicity and elegance are two words that come to mind when I think of four-sided stitch. Simple, because the stitch really only has three steps. Elegant, because of the clean lines and lacy look of this beautiful stitch.

Since four-sided stitch is often worked as a pulled-thread stitch, I like to use a needle that’s a bit larger than usually used for the thread choice. This opens up the hole in the fabric or canvas a bit more, making it a bit easier to pull.

Four-sided stitch is most easily started with a waste knot in the path of the stitch. Come up at the upper left end of where the line of four-sided stitches is planned to be. As this line develops, the tail end of the thread will be covered.

Step 1: Bring the needle to the back just two threads down from where you came up. Give the stitch a little tug. This tug opens up the holes of the canvas or fabric just a bit.

     

Step 2: Come back to the front of the fabric up two and to the right two threads, as seen in the photos above, to get ready for the next leg of the stitch. Give the thread another tug. Sink the needle again two threads to the left (where step 1 began). Tug once more.

     

Step 3: Bring the needle up down two threads from the start of step 2. Tug. Sink two threads to the left. Tug.

     

Then it’s time to repeat the three steps. The next "step 1” stitch starts at the point where the first step 2 did. Keep repeating, giving a slight tug after each stitch, as you stitch from left to right across your fabric or canvas.

Occasionally, I find that I lose track of which leg should be the next to be stitched. There’s a very simple way to find out. Simply look at the back. When stitched in the correct order, four-sided stitch results in a row of X’s on the back of the stitching. Doing the stitches in a consistent order keeps the pull at the corners of all of the little boxes the same.

When you near the end of a thread, bring the tail to the front about an inch further down the line of stitches. This is easiest to see from the back.

To start a new thread, I find it’s easiest to switch to a smaller needle, perhaps even one with a sharp point. Put a waste knot in the end of the thread, and bury it in the back of the most recent stitches. Doing this keeps the pull of the thread the same, so you can’t tell from the front where the thread was changed.

After bringing the thread to the front again, switch back to a larger needle and continue the line of stitching, working over the old thread tail. When you reach the point where the tail comes to the front of the fabric, give the tail a tug to make sure that last stitch is taut. Holding the tail tight, cut it very close to the surface of the fabric. If any of the tail is still sticking up, use your needle to poke it to the back.

When worked in a contrasting color to the fabric, four-sided stitch gives a neat and clean line of stitches and is a great addition to a border.

Four-sided stitch is often worked as a tone-on-tone stitch, though, and that’s when the lacy feel comes out. The stitch itself becomes almost unnoticeable, and the pattern that emerges from the resulting holes becomes the highlight. This is my favorite way to use this stitch.

I’d love to hear about some of the different projects in which you’ve used four-sided stitch. Please share in the comments!

Ocean Waves: The Finale

Don’t you hate it when you don’t know the ending? Somebody leads you along, telling you a story, and then just stops, and you’re left saying, “And then what?”?

Sorry. I kinda did that. In the early months of this year, I wrote up a number of posts describing my progress on Judy Souliotis’s Ocean Waves. And, like a tease, I stopped writing when I was almost done with the project.

There are two bits of good news. I did eventually finish the project. And I remembered that I left everyone with a cliffhanger.

So, without further ado, here it is:

Once again, this is Ocean Waves by Judy Souliotis. It is a former teaching piece which I purchased from Judy’s website a few years ago. It is stitched on congress cloth with Japan metals, Kreinik metallics, and a bit of couching silk. The ocean spray consists of just a small handful of tiny seed pearls.

The glare in the photo above makes it a little hard to see the details of the center medallion. Is this better?

I think this was one of only two pieces that I finished so far this year. By the time it was done, I certainly felt more confident in using couching as a filling stitch!

Upcoming: A Bit of Ruskin Lace

Every year, Gay Ann Rogers holds a week-long sale of some of her patterns. Some are from her years of teaching, and this year, some were brand new. Gay Ann’s “E-Week” (as she calls it) was just a few short weeks ago. And despite the fact that I have many, many, many of her designs in my stash, I did feel the pull to purchase a couple more.

While I was combing through my stash to make sure I didn’t re-purchase something I already had, I decided that if I was going to order any more of her patterns, I should probably actually stitch some of those already in the stash.

I had two requirements for starting one:

• It had to be relatively small (with the assumption being that small would be faster)
• I didn’t want to spend a lot of money to get going (especially since I would be purchasing additional projects anyway. Fortunately, I had several already kitted up.

The one I decided on fits both criteria. It’s only about 8-1/2 inches square on congress cloth, and I had the kit.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if in this case small equals faster. Because I apparently didn’t choose something easy. This project is a study in ruskin lace, in which areas of the canvas are completely removed so the stitcher can add threads back in those areas and stitch on the added threads.

Here is Gay Ann’s Ruskin Garden Square:

It’s unfortunately not a terrific photo, since it’s printed on regular copy paper and seems to be a bit washed out.

Time will tell if this doesn’t take as long as I think it might. Stay tuned!

Kimono Revisited

It should come as no surprise to most of you that I have a fairly extensive stash. Okay, a really extensive stash. I have project instructions that I’ve forgotten I’ve purchased. Every once in a while, I go through things and amaze myself with some of the stuff I’ve collected.

Then there are projects where I certainly remember that I have the instructions, but that project just hasn’t reached the top of the “STITCH ME!” pile. One such project is simply named Kimono. It was one of the first must-have counted canvas projects I can recall seeing when I purchased it perhaps ten years ago.

The front cover shows Kimono stitched in shades of ecru. It’s pretty, but I likely wouldn’t have purchased it if I hadn’t seen a few others in progress in other colors. They were gorgeous. And huge.

Kimono already has an interesting history to it. It began life in Maggie Lane’s book Gold and Silver Needlepoint, published in 1983. Maggie came up with the outline and all of the division lines. In 1998, Ietje Jackovich published her version, which used Maggie’s outlines, but included all new filler stitches.

And now, nationally-known needlepoint instructor John Waddell has entered the picture. John has reimagined this project yet again. Rather than just three values of a single color family, all stitched in floss, John has introduced multiple colors, variegated threads, and metallics. It brings this slightly dated piece to a project for today’s stitcher.

If the colors above aren’t your style, John has pulled together eleven different color combinations, or, of course, you can choose your own.

If you don’t want to stitch on 18-count canvas, don’t worry. Those eleven color combinations have also been pulled for congress cloth, with changes to the metallic sizes as needed.

To top it off, he’s teaching it as online class called Kimono Revisited through Shining Needle Society throughout 2012. If you already have the original book, you pay a discounted class fee (since you don’t need two books!).

Can you tell I’m excited about this class?

If you are too, just head over to the Yahoo! group for the “Home Room” of Shining Needle Society to read more about it, including the pricing information. If you’re not a member of Shining Needle Society yet, what are you waiting for? Membership is free, and you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for any one (or more!) of the seminar-quality online classes offered each year. All you need is a Yahoo! account (also free) to join the SNS_Home_Room group.

And yes, I’m completely unaffiliated with Shining Needle Society, other than being a very satisfied member, customer, and student! Thanks to Kate Gaunt of SNS and John Waddell for letting me post these photos here and go on and on about this upcoming class.

Is anybody joining me?

Ink: An Unusual Embellishment

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that my Magi #2 pictures from yesterday were from September. So if it looks like I’m much further along today, it’s not that I have smoking needles. I’ve just been such a slacker in the blogging department that I have plenty to catch all of you up on!

One of the last steps on Magi #2 (as on Magi #1) was the applique of Sensuede.* For Magi #2, the applique is used in one section in the robe, and also as the Magi’s hood.

Here’s how the hood turned out when the applique and trim were put in place.

It doesn’t look bad, but it seems to be missing some dimension. It’s a bit flat until the addition of an embellishment you don’t normally see in needlepoint: a tiny bit of ink. Specifically, the judicious use of a brown Micron Pigma pen.

Four nerve-wracking minutes later, the hood was no longer flat:

I did find that it helped to smudge the ink just a tiny bit while it was still wet. It’s not exactly realistic, but we’re talking about a guy without any facial features here. It works for me!

*As an aside, and to answer a few questions I received when first writing about Sensuede: Dorothy Lesher tells me that Sensuede is just ultrasuede (though I’ve seen plenty of ultrasuede that wouldn’t be as nice to work with). Specifically, it’s the name given to some of the ultrasuede sold by Nancy’s Notions. You can buy a sample pack of this, with pieces plenty big enough to work with, at a very reasonable price.

Reminding Myself that it’s Just String!

Poor Magi #2. He sat in this state:

…for over a month. Why, you ask?

Because I had forgotten. I had forgotten my mantra. It’s JUST STRING!  I had a block. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t fix it if I didn’t like it.

You might be wondering what specific technique had me avoiding this lovely project for a month. You’re probably thinking it’s something terribly complex, and that I had visions of ruining the project.

Alas, no, I’m more of an idiot than that. Complex stitches are a challenge to me, and I relish them.

The part that had me stumbling used the dreaded “R” word. Can you guess?

RANDOM.

And here’s how dumb I am. It wasn’t even completely random through the whole section. It was a line of bargello. Yes, I said bargello. As in, once the first darn line is in, the rest just follows along.

And it held me up. For a month.

All I had to do was this…

  …and then fill in above and below that line.

Let the virtual head-slaps begin.

Magi #1 gets some BLING!

Many needlework projects call for individual beads or charms. But how often do you really get to jazz up a project with a glitzy chain of Swarovski crystals?

Check out the bling on Magi #1!This length of chain is very similar to the one found here, except the crystals used here are only about 2mm across. They are attached by simply couching between the crystals.

There are actually two strand of crystals on Magi #1 in Dorothy Lesher’s The Magi.  Here he is in all of his glory. Can you find the other crystals?

This is the reason I love taking classes. You never know what new technique you'll learn that you can use for any number of future projects.

Applique on Canvas, Made Simple

Who knew that appliquéing a fabric to congress cloth (a common 24-ct canvas) would be so simple?

Step 1: Start out with a slightly stretchy, non fraying fabric.

I am completely sold on the Sensuede that came in my kit for The Magi. As its name implies, it’s a faux suede. It’s soft, yet not very stretchy, comes in great colors, and does not fray at all. (And I just learned that it’s made completely from recycled polyester fibers.

Step 2: Cut out the shapes to be appliquéd from the fabric.

It doesn’t sound like it, but this is really the most complicated part. For this project, we started with a cutting out a paper pattern that was “roughly right”.  That pattern is then flipped over and traced on the back of the fabric/Senseude. This “roughly right” shape can then be cut from the fabric.

Then, spend an hour shaving tiny pieces off of it to make it exactly fit the desired shape. No, I’m not kidding. It really took me an hour. Who knew? I ended up with two precisely trimmed pieces of fabric (see left), but there was a LOT of trimming. See? Here’s the scrap pile!

Step 3. Stitch it to your canvas using teeny tiny stitches, spaced as closely as they need to be.

In my case, this didn’t have to be very close. My stitches are about 3/8” apart, since I have some embellishment to add later that will help hold the Sensuede in place.

Surprisingly, the stitching took a total of 15 to 20 minutes for both pieces. The advantage of using a non-fraying fabric is that you don’t have to turn under the edges.

That’s it. It’s really easy!

Magi #1 is getting there. Just a bit more embellishment, and he’ll be done!

A Sneaky Way to End Threads

Have you ever had difficulty figuring out just how to secure the ends of a thin, slippery thread?

That dilemma turned up I was stitching away on Magi #1. One area was covered only in long stitches in a thin metallic thread, couched every so often by more thin metallic thread. There really wasn’t much bulk on the back of the canvas to allow me to bury the thread ends and be assured that they wouldn’t work themselves loose.

I tried hiding a few backstitches underneath the couched thread to start and end threads, but those backstitches peeked out a bit and looked bulky.

For a light stitch like this, sometimes you have to forget about trying to bury the thread ends within the same area. Instead, look at what stitches will eventually be in the surrounding areas. Aha! The area right next to this one is going to be covered with a faux suede applique. Perfect!

For the Magi, I simply brought the threads over to the to-be-appliqued area, then used a simple L-stitch to start or end the thread. (Ok, truthfully, this thread was so slippery that I actually went over the L-stitch a couple of times, but that was the idea anyway.)

Here you can see where I have a few L’s (or +’s) in the empty area.

 

And from the back…

Of course, the area you’re ending the threads in doesn’t have to be eventually covered in an applique. It could be any heavy-coverage stitch that covers up your tiny thread ends. I could have just as easily ended the threads in the blue area on the other side, which is just long satin stitches.

One word of caution, though. Please be aware that if you’re trying to do this with a thick thread, your L-stitches are going to be bulky, and may distort whatever is placed on top of them. With a skimpy thread like this, though, the only thing that might be a concern is if the tiny stitches will peek out from under whatever will be placed over them. With a suede-like applique, I have no worries about this for my Magi!

If you try this technique, please let me know how it goes!

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Just in case you were wondering about how I was progressing with The Magi (designed by the very talented Dorothy Lesher), thus far I have only been stitching on Magi #1. Here he is so far:

I am having a lot of fun with this piece, so despite my previous comments about changing out projects more frequently, I haven’t picked up anything else in a while! But that’s how it goes sometimes…

The Magi Online Class

Several years ago a stitching friend went to a seminar and ended up with one of the most drool-worthy projects I’ve ever seen. That lovely creation was Dorothy Lesher’s The Magi.

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to find out that Dorothy was going to be offering The Magi as an online class through the Shining Needle Society. The class was fully kitted, complete with painstakingly hand-drawn canvas, several yummy silks, spools and spools of metallics, Swarovski crystals, and fabrics for applique. 

Don’t these colors just scream royalty?

And yes, I have started it. But that’s another post…