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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Playing Around With Stitches

I woke up one day and wanted to stitch specialty stitches. I wasn't sure how long the yen would last and I didn't want something massive in case I lost interest.

So I designed a sampler. It was exhausting. Trying to make it interesting and getting the spacing right was frustrating. And it was just a mathematical/geometic design; nothing fancy here. I have no idea how designers do this!
I have creatively named this Stitch Sampler I and used green and white for contrast.
I made some changes while actually stitching. What looks massive on a chart actually comes out incredibly tiny on fabric, so something that looks like it's taking up a lot of space turns out not to do so. If it looks like you have too many of the same stitches it's probably still not enough.
I threw in as many specialty stitches as I could. Some I knew very well and some new. There's a lot of Rhodes variations in there.
It turns out I'm very bad at visualizing in 3D, so I have "high" stitches and "flat" stitches scattered with no rhyme or reason.
All in all, designing my own chart was an interesting experience.

TitleStitch Sampler I
DesignerTherapy by Thread
Start dateApril 16, 2014
Finish dateApril 25, 2014
Total time10 hours
Fabric28 ct Prairie Green
FlossDMC 3345, B5200

19 comments:

Poppypatchwork said...

Very nice, I start my own designs but almost never finish them, there is always something not right. Congratulations this looks great.

Melanie said...

Lovely finish and very clever too!

stitchersanon said...

Beautiful. I wonder, could you download what you did. Pm me if you would like to sell the design.
And we do it by locking ourselves in a room and all you hear is mutterings about a blue being too blue or a red not being red enough rofl. I think it is stunning xx Well done

Mii Stitch said...

Well, it is a great design! You've done a lovely job with all these and the colour you chose is very nice :)

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

I agree with the other comments,your design is very attractive and interesting to look at,great colour scheme.

Shebafudge said...

I think it looks fantastic. I would love to stitch it in a variegated thread to see what it looks like. Something fuchsia coloured maybe!

D1-D2 said...

It looks really nice for a first time. I like that shade of green. I've been meaning to try doing this for a long while as well, but just keep going back to my TW. I'll have to try once I'm done I guess.

Julie said...

I think you have done a great job.Nice to see so many different stitches in one square.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty. Some of those stitches are very intricate.

I know what you mean about spacing. I had to change something on a sampler I am doing and it worried me no END that I didn't get the spacing right. (It was okay --- I got it right.)

Anonymous said...

Hello
Wow, that is a lovely piece. I love speciality stitches but wouldn't be able to design with them.

Jennifer said...

Well I think it's just lovely! It reminds me a little of a diagram or a plot for a garden, but that could just be because I have spring on the brain. I love the combination of specialty stitches, and now that you've had the experience of translating what you designed onto fabric, you'll start getting the hang of what works and what doesn't.

Carol said...

You showcased those specialty stitches so well in your sampler!! Great job on both the designing and the stitching :)

Mouse said...

ooooo very pretty :) looks like a wee knot garden and the the high stitches and flat stitches add to the piece ... well done you :)
Its not easy designing ... been there seen and done it ...lol love mouse xxxx

geeky Heather said...

You did a great job! It's worse than putting a puzzle together, isn't it? There's no picture on the top of the box to show you where you're going! =)

Zeb said...

Don't sell yourself short, you've done an amazing job!

I have had a yearning to learn specialty embroidery stitches too. Took a class a month ago and need to finish the piece I did. But it's fun, but also not so easy.

Would love to get the pattern for this :)

Heather said...

It looks lovely. You did an amazing job.

Karoline said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karoline said...

It's gorgeous, congratulations

Lumiruusu said...

Just amazing work!! I so admire your stitching skills beause i am still a beginer in stitching. The pattern looks very stylishand totally ready enough for you to sell it ... Well Done,Blue !