Thursday, 5 January 2012

TAST week 1: Fly stitch


English name: fly stitch

Swedish name: öppet/öppna kedjestygn, y-stygn

*UPDATE: there's a new pic of my spot sampler with new stitches here.*

So here it is, finally, my first Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge. The first stitch of the year is fly stitch, a small stitch that can be very fun and versatile to work with. This was one of the stitches I learned last year when took up my interest in embroidery again after 15+ years. Pics of the (few) fly stitches I did then can be found below.

I've embroidered these little doodles on a thick polyester felt if you wonder what that porous surface is -- I'm pretty much using up scrap fabric and old cotton floss for this challenge. As you can see, I do consider myself to be a beginner level embroiderer. In other words: please don't expect perfect, even stitches, ideal choices of materials etc.

The doodles I'm most pleased with are the "maltese cross"  on the right (made with four long-stemmed stitches and four large regular fly stitches in between) and the border with two rows of interlocked stitches in the middle left. I liked making doubled stitches, e.i. stitching a second v in the same tacking stitch (the third pink flower from the left is made from a triple fly stitch), and making twisted fly stitches as the on i the lower right corner.

The first ever fly stitches I made looked like this:






Fly stitch is fab stitch that I most likely will use a lot in the future. There's so much potential in it and it's so easy to make.

--
What is TAST?
Take a Stitch Tuesday is a weekly embroidery challenge throughout the year by Sharon of Pin Tangle. You can read more about it here (or by clicking the TAST badge to the right).

4 comments:

  1. It's such fun that it has finally started. I was relieved that week one was fly stitch. I like your Maltese cross. A good imaginative use if the stitch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I've been stitching some more so there might be another pic or two this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did some of these last night when I couldn't sleep and I'm thinking of joining the challenge too, it's always fun to learn new things.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! (I never did update with pics of my latest fly stitch variations. Maybe tomorrow.)

    ReplyDelete

A few words can mean so much. Thank you for taking the time to comment!

PS! Feel free to email me if you don't want to comment publicly -- look under Contact (under the header)

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.