Karahana, woven effect

As discussed yesterday, last weekend was stitching free so here is one I did earlier.

The three leaves on Karahana are stitched in a design called woven effect. I have already used this technique on Venerable Friends and I like both the stitching and the finished effect. You begin by laying a weft foundation, but unlike a normal foundation where you cover the fabric completely, for woven effect you lay two stitches then miss a stitch resulting in a stripped effect. When the entire motif has been filled in this manner, stitches are laid perpendicular to the foundation at 5mm intervals.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The perpendicular stitches are couched between each pair of foundation stitches. This holds both the foundation and the perpendicular stitches in place. Stitching into the space between the original stitches then completes the foundation. These stitches also serve to hide the couching stitches and the perpendicular stitches now appear to weave under and over the foundation. Finally the new stitches are couched half way between each perpendicular stitch so that they also appear to weave in and out.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

For the scroll on Venerable Friends the foundation was stitched in flat silk and #1 gold was used for the perpendicular stitches; on Karahana both the foundation and the perpendicular stitches are worked in #1 twisted gold. I like both versions but I think that the twisted good looks really effective.

I stitched this leaf while in Bournemouth earlier this year. Last night I completed a second leaf slightly smaller that the smallest petal. Where as it took me 4.5 hours to fill the petal with #4 gold couched round and round, it took me little more than an hour to fill this leaf from start to finish.

Happy Stitching