Gold work Sampler – Finished

Gold Work Sampler
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

67 hours to complete the silk motifs and a further 37 hours to complete the gold work. This sampler has taken far longer to complete than I anticipated. At times it was tempted to put it aside. Not because I was not enjoying it but because I am longing to get on with either my Japanese Embroidery or my beading. But I knew that if I put it aside I may never get around to finishing it and I very much wanted to finish it and I am very pleased that I persevered. I have had a lot of fun learning these stitches and for the most part I am pleased with all of them.

I really enjoyed doing the interwoven stitches and the plaited braid stitch variations. I am probably least pleased with the ladder stitch variations. If I could be bothered to take them out and redo them, I think that I could do a better job now but I am more than ready to move onto another project.

The Back
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Plaited Braid Stitch Variations

In her book Elizabethan Stitches, Jacqui Carey, describes a slightly different method for standard plaited braid stitch.

Plaited Braid Stitch (Jacqui Carey’s standard method)
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Jacqui starts the stitch in a different way but for me the significant difference is how/where the thread passes through the fabric and re-emerges for the start of the next link. Using Tricia’s method the thread passes through the fabric outside of the loops and shows as little legs along the length of the PBS.

Using Jacqui’s method the thread passes through the fabric inside of the loops and you are not left with legs showing. I prefer the look of this method.

Jacqui also describes two variations on the standard PBS. It was fun to do the different variations and I used them to fill a couple of gaps on my sampler but I still prefer the look of her standard PBS.

Jacqui Carey’s variation 1
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Jacqui Carey’s variation 2
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Plaited Braid Stitch

Whenever possible, I like to save the best to last. On a piece like this, where so many of the stitches were new to me, it is difficult to know which technique will be ‘best’. I chose to leave the stitch that intrigued me the most; the stitch that I had heard and read so much about. Opinion seems to be divided over Plated Braid Stitch; it is a marmite stitch, you either love it or you hate it. I have often read that it is a difficult. I think that it is like many of the other stitches I have learnt on this sampler; the mechanics of the stitch are not difficult to follow but practice and patience are needed to get the correct and consistent tension on the loops.

I read the instructions through a couple of times before attempting the stitch. There are several steps involved in the making of each complete ‘link’ and I had to refer back to the instructions frequently at first while practicing on my doodle cloth. After a few repetitions I got into a rhythm and was able to do the stitch on the sampler pretty much from memory except for the first link, which is worked slightly differently.

Plaited Braid Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

The tension is not as consistent as I would have liked but I am pretty pleased with my first attempt at PBS.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

When the Sun Shines

Most of my stitching is done in the morning before I leave for work. In the summer months my frame is located beside an east facing window where there is sufficient light to work by but I am not in direct sunlight. Recently I was stitching at the weekend late in the afternoon. It was an overcast day but there must have been a break in the cloud because briefly the sun came out and lit up the gold work on my sampler.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I enjoy the technical challenges of gold work and metallic threads but seeing how my work sparkling in the evening sunshine reminded me that the best thing about gold work is the glitter and the glitz!

Happy Stitching

Josephina Knot

The foundation for the Josephina Knot is a little more complicated that the other foundations. It employs the help of a pin to hold the loop in place until the first round of interweaving is completed after which the 'legs' hold each loop securely. The stitch is completed by following the original thread path twice more.

Josephina Knot
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

This was one of my favourite stitches both to work and in appearance.

Happy Stitching

Interlacing Stitches

The next few stitches are interlacing stitches worked on a variety of foundations. I found them all relatively simple and pleasing to do. The under over foundation grids hold the interwoven thread nicely in place.

Circular Interlacing Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Diagonal Four-sided Interlacing Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Four-sided Interlacing Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Eight-sided Interlacing Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Figure Eight Interlacing

The next stitch, taking them in order of the lessons, would have been Plaited Braid Stitch but I want to leave that to last. Figure Eight Interlacing looked a little complex at first glance but once I had read through the instructions a couple of times I realised that it was fairly straight forward. The instructions warn that the loops have a tendency to sit up and I found this to be the case.

Figure Eight Interlacing
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

As with some of the other interlaced stitched, I was not able to make the loops a consistent size. I guess these things come with practice and cannot be mastered in a short length on a sampler!

Happy Stitching

Knot Stitch

This is yet another new stitch for me. I thought this one looked a little more complicated but it didn’t take long to get the hang of it.

There is only a short length of the stitch in #371 on the sample but it is used again to fill the ‘V’s on one of the motifs.

Knot Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

At first I used #371 to do the knot stitch in the motif but when it was finished, I thought that it looked out of proportion with the Queen stitches.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I stitched the second ‘V’ in #375 gold before I removed the first attempt so that I could compare the two.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I much prefer the colour of the #371 gold but here I think that the finer thread is works better.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Cable Chain Stitch

This was another new stitch for me. There is little I like more than learning a new stitch or technique.

Because I had never come across this stitch before I did a short practice length on my doodle cloth but I quickly got the hang of it and was happy to move onto the sampler.

Cable Chain Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I think this is a very sweet little stitch that is fun to do.

Happy Stitching

Alternating Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

I also enjoyed working this variation of up and down buttonhole stitch. It was slightly easier to work the second and subsequent rows of stitches into the gaps between the pairs of stitches on the previous row but I found it slightly more difficult to control the tension.

Alternating Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

I have done this stitched once before while doing TAST. I thought that I had found it difficult but when I looked back at the post about buttonhole stitch, I’d written that up and down buttonhole was my favourite variations. No surprise then that I really enjoyed working this stitch, both the silk version on my doodle cloth, and the #371 gold wire version on the sampler.

Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Ladder Stitch Revisited

When I had finished the ladder stitch variations I realised that I could not bear to look at my ugly ladder stitch a moment more. I took my scissors and cut through the rungs.

Then, using my tekobari, I teased out the wrapped thread at each side.

It was easy then to pull out each piece of thread.

The reworked Ladder Stitch is not perfect but it is far better than my first attempt.

Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

While I was in a fix it mood, I decided to rework the Detached Buttonhole sample.

Detached Buttonhole Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

I am much happier with it now.

Happy Stitching

Ladder Stitch Variations

I enjoyed working the variations although I continued to struggle with the ladder stitch foundation and never managed to get a neat even edge to it.

Interlaced Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Wheat Sheaf on Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Zig-Zag Wrapped Bars on Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Guilloche Stitch on Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Ladder Stitch

I practiced ladder stitch on the doodle cloth in #371 gold wire and found it rather difficult. The sides of my stitch were irregular and uneven. I should have practiced some more but did not want to waste the gold thread so went ahead and worked the stitch on my sampler.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

This attempt was even worse than my practice stitch. I will certainly redo this stitch at some point.

Ladder Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

The ladder stitch foundation for the first variation was going a little better and I was beginning to understand what I was doing wrong. This is where doing a class with a tutor in the room wins out over an on-line course. A tutor would have told me what I was doing wrong rather than me having to figure it out for myself! I realised I was making the 'rungs' too tight; they need a little slack which will be taken up by the 'wrap' at either end of the stitch.

Happy Stitching

Ceylon Stitch

I thought that it was worth practicing Ceylon stitch on the doodle cloth even though it looked relatively simple to do. Tricia suggests that the first time you try this stitch, you do an extended version of it. It was easy to work at this scale but it was difficult to maintain an even tension and the stitch looks far too loose and open. I then worked the stitch at the scale in the instructions. I was more difficult to work but easier to maintain an even tension. I think the stitch looks too crowded at this scale.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

On the sampler I decided to slightly extend the stitch. I found it reasonable easy to work and to control the tension at this scale and like the look of the stitched sample.

Ceylon Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching