Twisted lattice band

TAST stitch 121 is twisted lattice band. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

My twisted lattice band is done in perle 5 on 17 count linen.

Page 116

I finished another page in my altered book Een stem van papier, the background is watercolour paint. The heart was a design in my studio journal, I used it for the tutorial Boekselen met de o-tjes. It was fun!

Work In Progress Wednesday - July 16

I continued the second block for my Crazy White quilt. First I added a little crocheted butterfly. I used Pinguin #12 and a size 1 crochet hook. The pattern is number 84 in the book 100 flowers to Knit and Crochet.

Then it was time to start the beading. I started with these flower beads on the seam with up and down buttonhole stitch, detached chain stitch and straight stitch.

I secured the edge of the doily with seed beads.

It took me a lot of time to add the beads to the feather stitch, but I’m very happy with the result.

And this is my second block today. Still more beads to add!

Work In Progress Wednesday is a support group to encourage people to complete languishing projects, Works In Slow Progress or UFO’s. 

More info at Pin Tangle.

How to make a knitted ATC

Last week I shared my ATC Yellow Cable and promised to write a tutorial, so here it is.

You need:

• a knitted piece that measures 2½ x 3½ inch when stretched
• a piece of thick cardboard 2½ x 3½ inch, so you can put pins at the sides (mine was 1½ mm)
• matching fabric for the backside 4 x 5 inch
• pins
• a sewing needle
• strong matching sewing thread
• optional: a piece of matching paper 2½ x 3½ inch to put between the knitting and the backside

Iron the fabric and centre the cardboard on the wrong side of the fabric.

Sew the long sides together with a strong sewing thread. Secure the thread with a few knots, leave a small tail and cut the thread. The tail will help to keep the knots secured.

Pin the small sides and sew them together with a new sewing thread.

Make sure you only stitch the top layer of the fabric at the corners, so you can adjust the fabric when you are sewing the knitted piece.

Secure the thread with a few knots, leave a tail and cut the thread.

The finished backside of the ATC.

Weave in the thread ends of the knitted piece at the backside. It doesn’t have to be neat, only make sure it’s not visible at the right side.

Put the wrong sides together and pin the corners of the knitted piece in the corners of the backside. This is why you need a thick piece of cardboard.

Pin the sides halfway.

Continue pinning halfway until it’s stretched enough to sew the parts together. Sew the knitted piece to the fabric with a whipstitch.

I wasn’t happy with the larger holes in my knitted piece, the inside of my ATC was visible. I just put a piece of yellow paper between the layers and pinned it again. It would have been easier to put the paper between the layers before pinning the first time!

Make 2 small knots in the edge of the fabric and put your needle between the fabric and the cardboard.

Pull tight and cut the thread as close to the fabric as possible without cutting the fabric. The thread will disappear between the layers.

The finished ATC.

Of course this is just my way of finishing a knitted ATC, I’m sure there are more ways to do this.

Work In Progress Wednesday - July 9

I started my Crazy White quilt in February 2012. The first block was finished very quick, but then there were other projects that needed my attention. Last month I finished block 4 with many TAST stitches. To speed up the process I decided to make it my new WIPW project. It worked, a week ago this was just a naked 8 x 8 inch block. Now it’s almost finished.

This is a seam with Chevron stitch in perle 8. I decorated it with long tailed chain stitches and straight stitches in Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid Petite, which is very difficult to photograph.

Up and down buttonhole stitch in YLI Silk buttonhole twist with straight and detached chain stitches in cotton a broder. I’m going to add beads at the straight stitches when the block is finished.

My unfinished floral spray. I used silk ribbon for the gathered flowers and French knots. The feather stitch is done in Stef Francis perle 5, the detached chain stitches in DMC perle 5.

Work In Progress Wednesday is a support group to encourage people to complete languishing projects, Works In Slow Progress or UFO’s. 

More info at Pin Tangle.

Double herringbone stitch

TAST stitch 120 is double herringbone stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

Today I used this stitch for a seam on my CQ fan block. First I made a small herringbone stitch with 3 threads of stranded floss (Cottage garden threads, a gift from Catherine). Then I added the larger stitches in Tentakulum painters thread cotton a broder. I decorated it with 2 mm beads.

My new bead bowl was very helpfull. I found this bowl at the kitchen department of Big Bazar for only € 0,49.

Of course I have some old samples of double herringbone stitch for you too. 
This detail is part of my ATC Herringbones. It’s stacked herringbone or double herringbone without the weaving.

Here I used double herringbone to attach rickrack on my ATC 004.

A detail on my ornament Flip Flop. The double herringbone in stranded floss is decorated with French knots.

This curved double herringbone stitch (again without the weaving) is part of my PLOS sampler for week 5. The threads are perle 5 and a metallic thread.

My last sample is the triple herringbone on my TAST 2012 sampler. I stitched a big herringbone stitch in perle 5 and added smaller woven herringbones in cotton a broder and Caron Wildflowers.

This last sample was the inspiration for today's stitches. It was fun to flip through my TAST 2012 fabric book!

Woven trellis stitch

TAST stitch 119 is woven trellis stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, 

an embroidery challenge Pin Tangle.

I stitched this woven trellis stitch on my pretty fabric sampler and added French knots to the centre. The threads are perle 5 and Caron Watercolors.

It’s a rainbow - yellow

 . . . was the name of the ATC swap I participated. I knitted this cable ATC and made photos of my progress. I’m planning in writing a tutorial for how to finish a knitted ATC in the next week. My swap partner was very happy with his first knitted ATC!

And this is the pretty ATC I received. It’s made by Pat, she told me she used watercolour, pencil and graphite. Thank you Pat!

Beaded buttonhole stitch

TAST stitch 118 is beaded buttonhole stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

Before starting my sampler I looked in my bead embroidery books. I bought them after reading the reviews at Needle ‘n Thread here and here. I just love the section of beaded needlepoint in the RSN book!

For now it was only beaded buttonhole stitch. These first 2 rows were inspired by the samples in the RSN book. They are done in cotton a broder and perle 12.

In the RSN book I saw a row with round sequins. I don’t have any matching ones, but luckily I found a few star sequins. The thread is perle 8.

This row is a copy of sample 31 in the book Bead embroidery stitch samples. 

The thread is perle 12.

The first row in the next photo is a copy of row 30 in the same book. The second row is a variation of Sharon’s sample in her tutorial. The threads are stranded floss and perle 12.

Here I made a simple pattern with the beads. The thread is wool.

The first row in the next photo is closed buttonhole stitch in perle 8. In the last row in perle 5 I flipped the arms of the buttonhole from top to bottom. It’s just a tiny stitch, there was not much space left on my sampler!

Take a closer look at my complete sampler here.

Old woven trellis stitches

TAST stitch 119 is woven trellis stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

Woven trellis stitch is a great stitch to experiment with, so today I share a few of my old projects. Of course I start with my TAST 2010 sampler. You can read about the details in my original post.

This is a detail of my slipped detached chain sampler for TAST 2010. I stitched a woven trellis stitch in the centre. There’s a slideshow here, where you can see how I stitched it.

The wings of the dragonfly on this ATC are woven trellis stitch with 2 threads of DMC satin and 1 thread of DMC Jewell effects. His body is padded satin stitch with 1 thread of DMC antique effects.

This woven trellis pumpkin is part of my quiltie Harvest, which I made 3 years ago. 
I wrote a tutorial for this pumpkin here.

There are more old samples of woven trellis stitch from other participants in the Flickr TAST group.