30 Woven effect (mushiro-nui)

There are a small number of techniques that come under the heading of Novel Effects. They are three distinctly different techniques. The first of these that I learnt is one that I enjoy very much. I first encountered woven effect (Nw) on Phase III, Venerable Friends, and have used it a couple of times since. It is fun to stitch and produces and interesting effect that I have not seen in any other form of embroidery.

The effect is created in several stages. The first step is similar to creating a weft foundation, two stitches are made across the width of the motif in the weft direction, then a space is left, the width of one stitch. This sequence is repeated, stitch two, miss one, until the entire motif is filled.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The second step is to stitch lines perpendicular to the foundation at 5 mm intervals. To prevent these stitches from moving they are couched, at approximately, 1cm intervals, in the open spaces. It is not necessary to couch into every open space but the couching stitches should be staggered so that there will be some couching stitches in each of the open spaces.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The open spaces can then be filled using the same thread as for the first step. Finally, the filling stitches are couched half way between each of the perpendicular stitches made in step two.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The text book suggests that the weft layer stitches should be a fairly thick tight twist thread, e.g., 4->1 but the pine on Kusudama is first time that I have worked this technique in twisted silk. On Venerable Friends flat silk was used to great effect.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Woven effect is used again on Phase IV, Karahana, this time using twisted gold for the weft layer.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On the Flower Circle, I stitched a variation based on something I had seen in an exhibition of Japanese Embroidery. When I stitched the foundation I stitched two and missed two so the “weave” was more even. Instead of laying perpendicular stitches across the first layer, I couched both layers of weft stitches in a brick formation.

© Shizuka Kusano/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching