Showing posts with label linen thread. Show all posts

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Stitching procrastination

I've been in the mood to stitch! 😊 I started in the car and just kept going.

Chain stitch

I went away for a couple of days to Toronto with my hubby to see a concert. He had booked it before lockdown, so two years later we saw Airborne Toxic Event with Mondo cozmo opening for them. It was a really great concert. The artists were so obviously happy to be back out there doing their thing!

I wasn't going to bring any stitching but at the last minute threw a few threads and this fabric that I had started stitching on in a bag for the journey. I'm very lucky that I can stitch in the car. This was the picture in my Instagram post on the way. Turns out it's easier to embroider in the car than it is to take a photo of it or actually post!

Stitching in the car - all chain stitch variations

I kept stitching during the week. I used a variation of chain stitches. As you can see, I love adding hexies to the mix. They add colour and are fun to stitch around.

The fabric that I was using was larger than my previous 8" blocks, so I cut off this side that had half-chain stitches. The openings can be large or small. It's good to see what a stitch can do. I also used rows of them above - they are very interesting together (the pink rows under the ladder stitch.

Half-chain stitches

This is what the sampler block looks like today. Over the open chain stitch (or ladder stitch), I added some long tail chain stitches because they look like flowers behind the fence! I also love the single chain stitch (or detached or lazy daisy) in a cluster in different threads and colours. It's a little more elaborate (and fun) than just using seed stitch.

Many variations of the chain stitch

It always takes me a few stitches to figure out the correct angles of the feathered chain stitch (at the bottom of the piece and under the top hexie). These are very popular in Crazy Quilting and can be part of quite elaborate combinations.

I learned a new variation while reading Textile Stories #12, by Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam textiles. Mirjam does some great organic embroidery, mostly on her eco-printed fabrics. The heavy rows on the right are made with heavy chain stitch. I really love their weight and tried them out in a few thread weights. The orange is 6 strands of embroidery floss, the blue is #5 perle cotton; the fuchsia is #12 perle cotton. The final row is Honest Yarn's hand-dyed indigo lace linen.

Heavy chain stitch

Embroidering on eco-printed fabric

This is a piece of eco-printed linen that I started stitching on a while back. I added a few open chain stitch rows (ladder), some detached chain stitch as well as quite a few French knots.

Adding more stitches on eco-printed fabric

In the image below, in the bottom left corner, you can see Mirjam's variation of the blanket stitch to make lace like or what she calls cell like structures. That was my first try and I will be practicing this - it's quite beautiful.

Stitching on eco-printed fabric

Biodiversity piece

I love procrastinating and I'm quite good at it! However, sometimes I have to talk myself into getting things done. I promised myself that after stitching and preparing this post, that I could go back to my biodiversity piece. Since I've been working with the chain stitch, I started with the lazy daisy in the blue flowers below.

Biodiversity - getting back to it.

This piece was started based on another workshop with TextileArtists.org's stitch club. In March 2021, Kate Tume's workshop was about exploring narrative potential with embellishment. See Related links for details.

Making detached daisies within
detached daisies

What I learned

I've had a good time playing with thread - it seems that I really needed some slow stitching time!
It's been a while since I worked on a new embroidery sampler. I've added links below to the other ones I've worked on.
Embroidering in the car is a great way to pass the time, especially since I can't sleep in the car anymore.
The best thing about a live concert was seeing how happy the musicians were being on stage and doing what they love. It was very inspiring.
I was also reminded how much I love my quiet little suburb!
Now that I've started stitching the biodiversity piece, I'm going to put away the other embroidery until I finish this one.

Monday, August 09, 2021

#100dayschallenge started

Hi! I started another challenge on Instagram - not really following anyone, just stitching my free motion quilted (FMQ) Improv piece to encourage me to stitch every day and to post a little more on Instagram.

Stitching on my FMQ Improv piece

As you may have seen in my last post, I am having too much fun collecting yarns and threads. I have to justify those purchases, so the least I can do is practice my stitching and play with these beauties.

My new silk and linen threads

A little about the thread

Before I talk about the effects of the thread on the stitches, below are the different threads so that you can compare.

From the left:

Bengal linen in Indigo. It is very fine and so far I've used two or three strands.
Honest Yarn, hand-dyed lace linen in a light Indigo. It came in a skein so I prepared it so that I can more easily stitch with it. It's thicker than the Bengal linen, closer to a #8 perle cotton.
Bengal silk in Indigo. It not as fine as the linen but varies in thickness.
My hand-dyed thread - it's a thicker perle cotton - I believe that it's a size #5.
WonderFil size #8 perle cotton, which is slightly different in size from a DMC #8 perle cotton.
Another hand-dyed thread - it's a #12 perle cotton by DMC.

Comparing different size thread

Day 2 - Mostly Chain Stitch

It really has been a great education. The threads are so different from each other, and therefore stitch very differently. Here's a closeup of the first stitches so that you can see what I mean.

What a difference the thread makes in the stitches.

The first, outside chain stitches are made with the Bengal silk. Because it's not a consistent weight, it makes for a rather sloppy chain stitch. The second thread is the Bengal linen that I doubled. It's a better stitch but pretty tiny. The inside chain stitch is made with the lace linen. The stitches are much more defined and because of the thickness, it's slightly raised.

In between the chain stitching, I tried out two strands of the Bengal linen in marigold. There's a running stitch and a back stitch.

Day 3 - Couched Filling Stitch

My hexie lost a bit of it's angles as I stitched inside, so it looks a lot more like a circle in the middle. I used a couched filling stitch, so essentially I prepared a quadrant with the two strands of marigold Bengal linen and then made knots at the intersections with one strand of the Indigo Bengal linen.

Adding a couched filling stitch to the middle

What I learned

I really need to practice my embroidery stitches but I tend to get bored easily, so this is a great way to try things and compare the results. As well as keeping a record in this post, I'm also writing it down in one of my many journals. It will be a great reference.
I posted my Day 1/100 on Friday and then managed to forget to post on Saturday, even if my information was all ready to go. It's going to take a little bit of time to get used to posting again.
I'm a little bit ahead so that if I don't stitch every day, I'll still have a post ready to go...if I remember 😊
As I found out, Bengal silk thread is not good to use in stitches that are more even. I did use it in a backstitch for the new version of "All for One". In this case I didn't mind that the stitches would be uneven. I should be posting it soon - it's almost done and looking much better!

Thursday, August 05, 2021

Improv piecing and FMQ

Welcome to week of Free Motion Mavericks linking party. I'm not sure if the eye candy will show up today since I waited too late in the day to take pictures.

Playing with improv piecing and FMQ

I'm really into mindless at this time. The heat is back and Chevy is not letting me sleep as much as I need to! All that to say that last night I wanted to sew but I didn't want to follow a pattern or plan, therefore, improv piecing! Since I also wanted some free motion quilting for today's post, I added solid fabric in the middle of the improv piecing.

FMQ the Improv piece

For the improv piecing, I used up fabrics from a box of partially stitched pieces that didn't make it into an improv quilt. Since I wanted to be able to FMQ and hand-stitch, it needed some solid fabric. This is what the piece looked like this morning. I kept looking at it during the day, hoping for inspiration on what to FMQ on it.

Improv pieced background

In the end, I decided on various shapes. I was inspired by a placemat under my work laptop in the dining room. There were boxes within boxes and diamonds on them. I added a circle, some hexies (of course), and other shapes.

This is what it looks like so far. I used mostly variegated thread for the stitching, which doesn't show up well.

Close up of the free motion quilting

What's next?

Playing with thread - both hand stitching and possibly more FMQ.

Last week I discovered Maiwa. Two orders in less than two weeks later, I'm in big trouble. I'm totally addicted 😊 I think that it's a great addiction - it's socially acceptable (there may be some eye rolling from non textile people), it has no calories and it takes up less space than fabric. That's a win, win, win situation!

In the box are two sets of hand-dyed Bengal thread - silk and linen. They also have cotton and wool in these colours but I couldn't resist the silk and linen. I have started using them and I'll tell you all about them in another post.

Bengal hand-dyed thread from Maiwa (silk and linen)

These are hand-dyed linen, also from Maiwa

I will be using these and other threads to add to the FMQ. I'm really not sure what I'll be doing except for using some fun stitches over and around the FMQ. You'll have to come back next time to see what I end up doing!

What I learned

It's really hard to not plan a project. The improv piecing was straight forward but I really didn't want to spend much time planning the FMQ. I hope that the use of shapes was a good idea...we'll see.
The trick when hand stitching will be to make the piece interesting, with mouvement and cohesion.
I discovered Maiwa from an article where Sue Stone is interviewed and she talked about some of the supplies that she uses. When I read that Maiwa was a Canadian company, I just had to check it out. Wow! (See Related links below)
I'm really looking forward to using the linen thread. I bought a white skein to eventually dye. That could be a lot of fun!

Free Motion Mavericks

It was a small intimate party last time but wow - the FMQ was impressive. I'm going to be featuring them all!

Let's start with Rebecca's White On White Bailee Quilt. Rebecca may be using a computerized long arm but that baby needs some guidance to quilt this kind of quilting.

Rebecca Grace's incredible White on White Bailee Quilt

Sandra of mmm quilts participated in the Just One Charm Pack Blog Hop with a lovely quilt designed by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Design. The Blog Hop was to showcase quilts from Cheryl's book, Just One Charm Pack Quilts. It's really amazing how the fabric and the quilting can change the look of a quilt. Sandra did a stunning job, as usual 😊.

Sandra's version of Blossom Chains, called Captiva Meadow

Gail of Quilting Gail got another UFO finished! She had some trouble with a couple of rows of swirls and found out that a new needle was the solution. It's a painful lesson to learn, but at least the solution was simple! Check out Gail's swirls. She did a great job of putting those two sets of panels together to make the quilt.