9 Short-Stitch Holding (kiri-osae)

The most challenging holding stitch (for me) is short-stitch holding (Hs). This technique can be used on either a twisted or a flat foundation. The holding stitches can be in the same colour as the foundation to blend in, or in a different colour to create a delicate contrast.

Short stitch holding is covered in detail at Phase VI. I choose to stitch Loving Couple which includes a variety of short stitch holding techniques.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Despite the challenges, I absolutely loved stitching “The Ducks”. Here the short-stitch holding is mostly used for effect; to create subtle shading or suggest the iridescence of the feathers. More often short-stitch holding is used to secure foundation stitches where there is no other stitching on top. As a rule of thumb any area more than 1cm long requires holding.

Certain types of leaves consist of either a weft or horizontal foundation with veins stitch on top of the foundation. In some cases the stitched veins with be sufficient to secure the entire foundation. In others, for example where only the central vein is stitched, some additional holding may be required. The vein is stitched first and short-stitch holding is applied only in the sections where the unheld foundation stitches are more than 1cm long.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

In this case the holding stitches should blend, as much as possible, with the background. On a flat foundation, 0.5 flat silk in the same colour as the foundation is used.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On a twisted foundation a 2->1 twisted thread is used.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy stitching

Shaking my Tail Feathers

Once I had finished making all of the tail feathers, I wanted to see how they would look assembled but, in order to do that, I had to make another piece of needle lace for his back. This was a much simpler task than the feathers, not least because it was made on a piece of fabric with a cordonet outline. The detached buttonhole is worked over the same silver passing thread as the body and feathers. I wish that I had taken time to create a template and pad for the feathers, it would have made life much easier!

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

I sometimes struggle to follow written instructions and that the case with the placement of the feathers on the back. In the end, I gave up on the instructions and arranged them in a way that I found pleasing.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

Now that I had completed most of the components, and I still had not made the finger loop braids for the Casket Keepsakes, I thought I would continue with the Bird Thimble Holder. The next step was to make the pouch that sits under his tail feathers. Here I made a couple of changes to the instructions. The first was to the braids that close the pouch. The directions said to make two plaited cords but I thought that finger loop braids might be nicer. Yes, I know that the Casket Keepsakes are on hold because I didn’t have time to make the finger loop braids but the ones I wanted to make for the pouch are a little simpler, so I thought they would be quicker … and they were … except before I could make them I needed to find a video to remind myself how to do the braid I had in mind and when I found a video I fell into a finger loop braid rabbit hole! Anyway, many hours of watching videos later, I was ready to make my basic braid, which I now know is called a 5 loop square braid. The braid is made in a similar way to a plait but instead of passing the outer loop over other loops, it passes through the other loops. Starting with two loops of one colour on the one hand and three loops of another colour on the other hand, you get a chevron effect that looks very much like a plaited cord.

In one of the videos, the cord maker suggested that you can make your cord anywhere provided you have a suitable anchor for one end of the cord, even in bed using your foot as the anchor. This liberated me from having to make my cord in the office where I have a wooden clamp attached to the desk for this purpose. Instead, I could make the cord in the living room and as I was making a "simple" cord, I could do it while watching TV!

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

The first one went well except I had to hold my leg in the air and it soon got tired. DH placed a small stool and a couple of cushions under my heel so that I could rest it for the rest of the operation. For the second cord, I put both legs up on the sofa and found it even more comfortable to work this way.

The second change I made was a minor detail on the pouch. The instructions suggested threading the cords into a large chenille needle and taking several long running stitches around the opening. I decided to make eight eyelets around the opening and threaded the cords through these.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

I had a few more pieces of needle lace to make; six pieces to make the decorative tabs on the ends of the cord and two pieces for his beak. I also needed to make two legs then it was a relatively simple process to assemble all of the pieces to finally finish my showy peacock.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

After his long incubation period, I am very happy to have completed this project and add him to my Cabinet of Curiosities.

© The Essemplaire/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

2 Horizontal Layer (nari-jibiki)

The horizontal layer (H) is very much like the weft layer. The key difference is that a horizontal layer is worked across the width of the motif rather than the width of the fabric. Where the motif has an axis, such as the central vein of a leaf, the stitches are worked perpendicular to the axis and are parallel to each other. Stitches are worked from the middle of the motif to the right, then from the first stitch to the left. On irregularly shaped motifs, I tend to start at the widest point rather than the exact middle. On all but the smallest motifs, I find it helpful to mark parallel lines at regular intervals; I find it difficult to keep my stitches parallel without this visual guide.

Horizontal layer is typically worked on leaves. Were there is more than one leaf, and they are orientated in different directions, the stitches are orientated to suite each individual leaf.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On Camelias, the leaves are all worked in the same shade of green but, because of the reflective qualities of flat silk, each petal appears to be a slightly different colour.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

For chrysanthemum leaves, what appears to be individual leaves may be the lobes of a single leaf. In this case, the horizontal layer is perpendicular to the main lobe and the stitches are aligned across all of the lobes, even when the join is not visible.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching