Guilloche Stitch Variation, Cross Variation and Diagonal Half Guilloche Stitch

I really did feel confident enough to try the guilloche stitch variations without practicing them first on my doodle cloth.

Guilloche Stitch Variation
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I think that I could have made the weaving a bit more regular but as Tricia suggested in her instructions, it is not easy to keep the initial loops a consistent size.

Cross Variation
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I am happier with the cross variation. I think this is my best stitch on the sampler so far.

Diagonal Half Guilloche Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

The weaving is more regular of the diagonal half guilloche stitch but there are a couple of places where is could be improved.

Happy Stitching

Guilloche Stitch

Guilloche stitch is a completely new one for me. I have not heard of it let alone done it. It consists of three rows of thread woven around foundation stitches. I did practice the stitch on my doodle cloth but found it fairly straightforward and easy to learn.

The foundation is very simple to do, the only slight difficulty is counting the correct number of threads for the long foundation stitches. The weaving is also relatively simple but, as with the spider web stitches, the art is getting the stitches to lay neatly side by side. I only realised what I needed to do to assist this as I was weaving the last row hence the first two rows are not a neat as I would like. Again, a may redo this spot at a later date.

Guilloche Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Guilloche stitch in #345 silver is used for the veins of the leaves on the large rose. The foundation was easy to lay here with a predetermined length for the long foundation stitches but it was very difficult to weave under the foundation stitches without catching the silk Queen stitches on either side.

Guilloche Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Guilloche Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

With only one row of weaving completed, I decided not to attempt weaving the second and third row. I thought that would be better for the surrounding silk and my nerves. Besides, I think it looks pretty as it is.

Happy Stitching

Reverse Chain with Double Buttonhole Edge

I thought that I had done reverse chain stitch and buttonhole enough to do this without practicing on my doodle cloth.

Reverse Chain with Double Buttonhole Edge
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

As with the detached buttonhole with return stitch, there is more silk core showing here than I would like but otherwise I am pleased with this stitch.

Happy Stitching

Detached Buttonhole with Return Stitch

I have done a little detached button hole with return stitch before, enough to realise that it might be tricky in metallic threads. I did my first sample on the doodle cloth in imitation metallic. This went more easily than I expected but I found it difficult to keep the tension consistent. I then did a sample in #371 gold. I found the heavier thread more difficult to manipulate through the stitches but found it a bit easier to control the tension. The gold seemed to crack more than I had experienced in the other stitches and exposed more of the silk core than I would have liked. Also I managed to finish with two stitches fewer than I started with. This distorted the rectangle.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I was not fully happy with the stitch yet so decided to practice some more on the doodle cloth, this time using a silk thread. Again when I finished, I found that I had two stitches fewer on the final row than I had started with.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

At this point I looked in my stitch dictionary and on the web for other descriptions of how to do detached buttonhole with return. Sometimes I find that reading a different set of instructions or seeing a different diagram can help me understand the mechanics of a stitch. After reading several descriptions I finally realised why I was dropping (and sometimes gaining) a stitch.

Detached buttonhole stitch, with or without a return, begins with a foundation row. The buttonhole stitches on subsequent rows are made into the loops of the preceding row but there is always one more loop than there are stitches. You can either stitch into first loop or into the last loop but should not stitch into both (stitching into neither will result in one less stitch than the previous row, stitching into both results in one stitch more than the previous row). If you stitch into the first loop on one row, you need to stitch into the last loop on the following row and continue alternating between the first and last stitch to keep the area being stitched rectangular.

On my final sample, I maintained a consistent number of stitches in every row but I encounter a new problem. At the end of each row there is a small stitch from the final buttonhole stitch to the beginning of the return stitch. My stitching thread was sliding between the warp and weft threads of the linen making the row appear shorter.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I felt ready to add the detached buttonhole with return stitch to my sampler. Well, I kept the number of stitches consistent and a rectangle is a nice shape. I think that I still need to work on the tension and there is far more silk showing through the gold that I would like. I think that I prefer this stitch is silk; I like the lacy appearance in silk and I think that the stitches are difficult to see in this thread. I also don’t see the point of the return stitch. In my view it makes the stitch look cluttered. I may or may not rework this spot at a later date.

Detached Buttonhole with Return Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Four and Eight Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch

Again, I have done Spider Web stitch before but not in metallic thread. The stitch is relatively simple and just involves weaving the thread over and under the spokes of the foundation stitches. The main difficulty is getting the stitches to lay next to each other in neat spiral. I found it easier to do the weaving on the four legged version but found that the stitches formed a neater spiral on the eight legged version.

Four Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch
© Carol-Anne Conway

Eight Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch
© Carol-Anne Conway

A four legged spider web stitch was worked in the spaces left between rice stitches. #354 silver was used with the blue stitches and #340 gold with the cream. It was a little more difficult to work the stitches here than on the doodle cloth because again the sharp point of the Japanese needle tended to catch on the silk.

Eight Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Eight Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Heavy Chain Stitch

Heavy chain is a variation of reverse chain stitch. I have probably done it before but I am still getting used to the feel of the metallic threads, especially the heavier #371 gold wire. I practiced the stitch on my doodle cloth with both the imitation wire and the #371 before working the stitch on my sampler.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Heavy Chain Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Heavy chain in #345 silver wire is used to create the leaf veins on the large flower. I like the delicacy of the stitch done in this thread. The main difficulty I had stitching this was catching the silk of the surrounding Queen stitches with the extremely sharp Japanese needle.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Reverse Chain Stitch and Twisted Chain Stitch

The first two stitches done in gold work are stitches that I am familiar with but I have never worked them in a metallic thread so I decided to practice on a doodle cloth before doing them on the sampler. I chose a piece of linen similar to the linen used for the sampler. It seemed a bit decadent to use good quality linen for a doodle cloth but then a thought that spoiling the sampler fabric and all of my work so far could prove far more costly.

We were supplied with some imitation gold and silver threads and I decided to practice with these first. The imitation thread is quite fine and fairly flexible. It had a tendency to kink but, as long as I remembered to twizzle, both stitches worked well with this thread.

Next I practiced with the #371 gold wire. This is a heavier thread and less flexible. It did form a nice curve for each stitch if the wire was relaxed but it kinked and buckled if there was too much overtwist. I had to concentrate on maintaining a correct amount of twist at all times.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

A short length of each stitch is worked into the spaces around the motifs using #371 gold wire.

Reverse Chain Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Twisted Chain Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Lost and Found

Recently I was searching for a book at my parent’s home. I didn’t find the book but a came across two embroiderers that I had done in my late teens and thought that I had disposed of long ago.

© Erica Wilson/Carol-Anne Conway

Both designs came in a kit – I think that they were part of a series. My intention, I recall, was to mount them onto chip board and hang them on my bedroom wall. The racoon got mounted but the fawn never did so they never went on display. I think that I was a little disappointed in them, especially the fawn which I think I stitched first. This may account for why I never finished them.

© Erica Wilson/Carol-Anne Conway

I have now donated them to a local charity shop. Perhaps some little girl will like them enough to hang them on her bedroom wall!

Happy Stitching

Forget-me-not

My local branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild always has a social evening for the July meeting. Sometimes we have a small competition. This year we were invited to make Magic Wallets for the competition.

Although I had plenty of notice, I ended up making mine at the last minute.

And instead of keeping it nice and simple, I decided to make my own silk paper and speckle it with gold leaf!

The metal thread that I used in the sewing machine kept jamming and breaking so it all ended up being a bit rushed and stressful. Give me hand stitching anyday!

Happy Stitching

Do You Twizzle?

The silk motifs on the Gold Work Sampler are stitched with a single strand of Soie de Paris – a 'Z' twisted thread.

I noticed that as I stitched I was adding over-twist to the thread especially as the thread got shorter. This causes the thread to twist around itself and even to twist itself into knots.

To correct this, I like to twizzle. I am right handed and stitch with my right hand on top of the frame and my left hand below. When I take the needle with my right hand and begin to pull it through the fabric I slide my thumb towards the tip of my index finger just a tiny amount rolling the needle between them. It is not necessary to do this every stitch but is necessary more often with a shorter thread. I watch the thread and try always to maintain the original amount of over-twist.

Do you twizzle?

Happy Stitching

Gold Work Sampler, motifs finished

If it had not been for the gold work I would never have begun this spot sampler. It is many years since I have done a large counted technique piece and frankly it does not appeal to me now. I expected to find it boring and wondered if one of the other projects currently in progress would lure me away. Surprisingly, I did not tire of it except briefly while doing the large rose and by that time I was so close to finishing that the thought of the gold work kept me going.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I have grown quite fond of Queen stitch and found it to be another of those techniques that I find relaxing, despite the counting. I found myself counting all of the time: counting stitches on the chart, counting the four stitches that make up each Queen stitch, counting threads. The constant counting became rather meditative and rhythmic. Even so, I am pleased to have finished the motifs and am really excited to move onto the gold work.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

As usual, it has taken me far longer than I anticipated. I have been having a problem with my right shoulder. While using the computer or stitching I was getting a burning sensation in the shoulder muscle. I have to use the computer for work so I have been limited the amount of time I use the computer at home and strictly limiting my stitching time to 30 minutes a day or stopping sooner at the first hint of pain. While frustrating, this has paid off and my shoulder is now much better although I still get some pain occasionally. Over the past few weeks I have gradually allowed myself a little more stitching time but I take frequent breaks and still stop if my shoulder starts to complain.

Happy Stitching

Gold Work Sampler - Motif #11

I saved this pretty little motif for last expecting it to work up quite quickly and it did. I’m not certain what this flower is, a carnation perhaps!

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Gold Work Sampler - Motif #10

This is the largest motif on the sampler but I stitched it in less time than it took me to do the large rose. It is one of the more complicated shapes but I didn’t make any counting errors – perhaps because it was so intricate I took more time to check and recheck before stitching.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Gold Work Sampler - Motif #9

Another break from Queen Stitch. This motif is worked in two stitches that I have never done before but I found both of them easy to learn and quick to execute.

First the four squares are outlined with Romaine stitch.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I worked the stitch in one direction on the top left and bottom right squares and the opposite direction on the remaining two squares. The instructions did not call for this but it pleases me to have adjacent stitches pointing in the same direction.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Five rice stitches are then worked into each square.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Gold Work Sampler - Motif #8

The large rose motif took me longer to stitch than any other motif and I made a few mistakes with the counting so had to remove some stitches and rework them. Queen stitch is even more fiddly to remove than it is to stitch and I found it virtually impossible to do without damaging the thread.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching