TAST week 28: Up and down buttonhole stitch

English name: Up and down buttonhole stitch
Swedish name: Langettstygn med omtag

I took a break from the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenges while working. Last week I did was 20, bullion knots, which isn't even on this blog (but a pic can be found on Flickr). A bit of a shame really as it was about the same time there came many stitches I haven't done before. But anyway, now I'm back on track again. Not such when I'll catch up on the weeks I've missed, but right now my focus is on the new challenges.

This stitch is one I've been waiting for. Saw it in TAST 2011 and so thought I might as well wait for it to appear in TAST to learn it. Of cause, liking the look of it I could've learned it whenever I wanted, but I wanted to do it this way so why not?

As the stitch is new to me, I stuck to some simple variations and did most of the stitching on my bright red aida as the grid makes it easier to focus on the technique and stitches than on trying to get everything nice and even. I wanted to make it in all black, but ran out of black floss -- just in time for the doubled motifs!

At first the stitch felt a bit tricky, but once I began stitching rather than just looking at step-by-step illustrations and finished embroidery, it turned out to be a fun and relative easy stitch. And it looks great too so this will be another one of my favourites.

No aurica yarn this time. I actually did a few stitches with beads too, but forgot to take a pics so it'll have to be added later.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 19: Half chevron

English name: Half chevron
Swedish name: ? (variation av flätsöm med sidostygn)

This was a new stitch for me, though I have of cause tried my hand at both chevron and cretan stitches earlier during the TAST challenge,  so I kept it simple, tried to get familiar with the stitch. I like the effect you get when stitching multiple rows together and how much it changes depending on how you rotate the stitches/rows.

Along the right side you can also find two threaded variations of the stitch.

Having found that the Aurica yarn worked very well for both chevron and cretan before, it was likely the yarn would work for half chevron too. But it was a little tricky to get it at least a little even as the stitch has two different sides to it. If I hadn't been so tired when stitching it might've been easier to get the stitches nice and even, though.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 18: Crossed buttonhole

English name: Crossed buttonhole
Swedish name: Korslagda langettstygn

Hope you aren't expecting any exciting stitches. These two last weeks I've mostly stitched as a kind of meditation. Sure, I wanted to test different variations too, but one thing I like about some stitches are how they work up so fast and almost stitch themselves. So I just let myself go with the flow. Which is nice for the embroiderer, but doesn't result in any exciting or revolutionary stitching for the onlookers.

Here, I mostly tried different sizes/shapes and positioning rows of stitches in different ways, but I did try to make double crossed buttonhole stitches -- one of those ideas I thought was my own, but then realised many had done before me -- and there's also a few tacked down stitches and a little whipping.

I only did one stitch with the Aurica yarn. I liked the effect you get when measuring the stitches so the "filled" sections of yarn creates a border and the "open" sections are left for the crosses. Was just a little too tired to measure when doing this so I gave up after messing up the subsequent stitches and had to rip them up, leaving just one stitch.

Crossed buttonhole is a very decorative but still simple stitch. If I ever need to do some blanket stitches, this will be a variation to consider for that extra touch.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 17: wheatear stitch

English name: Wheatear stitch
Swedish name: veteaxsöm?

Last week the challenge stitch was wheatear, a stitch I hadn't tried before. To be honest I wasn't that impressed with it -- ok, but nothing more -- not until I begun adding beads to it! I also tried whipping the stitches (with and without beads), which I thought looked good. So in the end it turned out to be a stitch I'd love to use in the future. With beads.

I first did a few detached stitches with two or three straight stitches (above, left) and then continued by making a few horisontal rows of stitches. For the dark green horisontal row I whipped the straight stitches. For the blue roes, I added a second row of stitches above the first one.

Then I began doing the vertical chains. First just trying out different lenghts of the loops and then, below it, I tried whipping the loops. The remaining green rows are beaded, though it can be hard to see as I did most of them with frosted dark green beads. So let's look closer a bit closer at those.

The beaded variations are the ones I'm most pleased with. I tried several different onces and here's a summary of them:

1. With one bead on each straight stitch
2. As above, but afterwards beads were back stitched into the loops, one bead per loop
3. Detached stitch with one bead on each of the three straight stitches
4. Whipped with one bead per whipping stitch
5. Whipped with beads on the straight stitches
6. Whipped with beads on both whipping and straight stitches
7. One bead on each side of the loop
8. Longer stitches with multiple beads in each loop
9. Loop enters from and exit in one bead
10. As no. 1, but with longer loops
11. As no. 9 but with beads on the straight stitches too
12. As no. 7, but with longer loops

The last two rows with sand coloured beads are made to show the difference between using tone-in-tone beads and beads in a contrasting colour. Variations used are no. 9, 12, 11 and -- in the last row -- 10.

Of cause I also tried the Aurica yarn, but this stitch is a bit too complex to use with only the aurica if you want even results. Detached stitches work better than rows. I tried making rows of stitches, but it was so bad I ripped it up.

So it wasn't a good stitch for my novelty yarn, but again I must say it was a very good stitch for beads. I makes for lovely beaded borders so I'm glad I tried this stitch!

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 16: French knot

English name: french knot (pl. french knots)
Swedish name: fransk knut  (pl. franska knutar)

Ok, so now I've catched up. Or I will have when showing the aurica sampler, which is the second half of my catch-up post (to be published here soon). This week I focused on ribbon embroidery as I've never really tried to make french knot ribbon roses before. Do know how to make french knots with thread/floss so why not focus on a type of embroidery I want to learn but haven't got very far with yet (oh, I don't want to use my pretty silk ribbons for my first clumpsy attempts -- what a waste of beautiful, and not always that cheap, silk!).

So these are officially my first ribbonwork flowers. First rose I made was the pink one, using 25-30 mm wide ribbon. Actually it's my second because I messed up, trying to just tweak it a bit and then pulled it too hard so it had to be redone (hence why the ribbon is a bit frayed). Not perfect, but I'm pleased with it considering what a newbie I am.

Then I went on to do the blue knots in 7 mm ribbon -- one turned out better than the other -- and the purple flower, which I made from a cheap synthetic ribbon yarn. I think I'm going to try and do some more embroidery with that yarn in the future...

Of cause I've also made knots with the aurica yarn. I tried a few variations, altering the number of twists and changing between starting with a section "open" or filled yarn closest to the fabric. My faves are the two knots in the middle (which you can see close-ups of below). I liked the black centre and puffy orange "petals" around it. In the top right corner you can see some stem stitches -- better pic of them will be found in the coming aurica sampler post. Hopefully you'll also find a less blurry photo of the french knots there...

 Making these stitches made me think of a UFO I found when looking for my old cotton floss stash. It's a cat embroidery I designed and began, but never finished, to stitch as a kid or young teen. The cat is modelled after a fridge magnet I had.

Stem stitches, french knots and bullion knots -- must be the first and last I've ever made so far! -- it was pretty ambitios considering how bored I was with stem stitch as a kid and knots aren't always that easy when impatient. Of cause I also have the first colour sketch and finished pattern (which was traced onto the black fabric).

Wonder if I'll ever get around to finish it? If nothing else my taste in embroidery and colours have changed a bit since then, making it less interesting to pick up again. I'm into other designs and materials today. On the other hand it's a pity not to finish a design I actually took some time to compose and pick out colours for...

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST catch-up, part 1

I've been doing my best to catch up with the TAST challenges. Five stitches it added up to, all in all, and today I've got samples of four of them to show The couching isn't really part of the challenge: all those pieces are stuff I've done last year; for the TAST challenge I'm only doing couching and satin stitch with Aurica yarn so I won't show that until part 2. Which I'll hopefully write before I need to finish this week's challenge stitch.

Be sure to click the image above for a close-up. To see what everyone else have done, do please click the english name of each stitch to go to the Pin Tangle blog posts. Don't miss the weekly TAST highlights on the blog either!

English name: Whipped wheel
Swedish name: ?

At the top of the sampler above, you see a couple of whipped wheels. A pretty fun stitch, though slightly tricky to get even. I've used similar techniques in wirework. Decided to try and do two beaded versions too, which was partially successful. For the first beaded wheel I added beads to the centre of four spokes. Only had room for one row of thread around them so it's barely visible. For the second wheel I put the beads on the edge of each of the eight spokes. Looks kind of nice, but I should've make it bigger as it was tricky to get the needle in between the beads.

English name: Barred chain and alternating barred chain
Swedish name: ? (Alternerade räta och avigvända kedjestygn?)

At the middle of the sampler you will find a mix of barred and alternating barred chain (the difference being if the twisted chain stitches stick out on only one side or on both). Fun stitch, which like the whipped wheel, I'd never done before. As I loved doing beaded chain stitch earlier in the challenge -- read about that here -- I just have to play around with beaded stitches. Tried different versions, adding beads to different parts of the stitch. Liked the result!

English name: Stem stitch
Swedish name: Stjälkstygn

Last week's challenge was stem stitch. I used to hate that as a kid: you need a bit of patience to make the stitches short, even and smooth -- didn't really have that as a kid. So when I tried it last autumn for the first time in many years, I didn't think I'd be able to make a nice, even line -- but it was really easy! I was surprised. Unfortunately, I can't find the piece of cloth I stitched on and so can't show the kitty I made.

But I did make a new sample for TAST. This time stitching on aida, which works really well. The first row is short, long and whipped stem stitches. The second row is bead stem stitch. I began -- stitching from right to left -- by just adding one bead to the middle of each stitch and then making "fully beaded" stitches, adding five beads per stitch. The last two variations are whipped, adding one or three beads to each whipping stitch.

English name: Couching
Swedish name: Läggsöm

The sample above is another one from last autumn. I played around with cross stitches and ended up doing these variations. Not sure they can actually be called couched, but I like how fixing the centre of the large cross stitches subtly altered them so I wanted to add a pic.

Earlier I've shown my couched ball chain, which you can read about here, and my aurora borealis bead embroidery (one of the first I ever made!), which include lines of couched beads near the horison. You can read about the bead embroidery here.

---
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).

TAST week 10: Running stitch

English name: Running stitch, darning stitch, (if long, often temporary: basting stitch)

Swedish name: Förstygn, tråckelstygn (= basting stitch), stoppstygn (darning)

Well, I haven't done very much this week. And I will be doing and posting the week 9 stitch sometime in the near future. And I'm behind on seeing what others have done for the TAST challenges for weeks as well as on my bead soup blog hopping (still half the list to go!). But I have a few things to show this week.


First out is the pièce de résistance (yes, I had to google the spelling) -- the stitched silk cord. For the first time I dared use my fancy silk embroidery thread! Like all my more expensive supplies I was saving it for "a special project" (read: never using it), but now that I got the idea to embroider on my silk cords, it felt like silk thread was the only way to go. So I took out a skein of  hand dyed 12-strand silk yarn from Stef Francis -- see pic below -- and began stitching the length of the cord, which I had previously dyed with tea. All in all, I added three rows of stitches. Each stitch is begun at the same end and using two filaments from the variegated floss so the colours are the same in each row.

For a while I considered adding a few more rows, filling the space between the existing rows, but I like it this way too. And, yes, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to stitch with such long lengths of floss as the thread wears easily, but I felt it was the best way to ensure the colours lined up the way I wanted.

I've of cause also done a few stitches with the Aurica yarn, which I showed already in the first part of the sampler (here).  The long stitches probably can't be called running stitch. They are twisted, inspired by a technique I found on Di van Niekirk's blog, called twisted straight stitch. I've also stitched a few running stitches with Aurica on tulle:

(Below the Aurica is some bouclé yarn stitched on the same coarse tulle.)


And that's all I've done. Instead I treat you to some easy pattern darning sample I did last autumn. Which means I once again subject you to that horrible red aida... The pattern are stitched in one colour: using multiple colours would've enhanced the patterns more. Also, the chevron pattern would probably have been more visible if it was smaller in size. Now it's a bit like standing too close to a pointillist painting.

The last example isn't pattern darning. I just did a few offset rows of running stitches and then "connected the dots" with back stitches so a brick-like pattern began to emerge.

Seeing how I like whipped, threaded and interlaced stitches you would perhaps think I'd do something along that line, but I didn't get that far this week. I do have a sample somewhere, comparing whipped back stitch with whipped running stitch, but I just can't find it. And most of my other old samples use back stitch rather than darning stitch as a base. This goes for the threaded sample below too, though it looks a bit like running stitch so I added it anyway...

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 8: Chain stitch

English name: Chain stitch
Swedish name: Kedjestygn, kedjesöm

As mentioned in the previous posts I have some issues with chain stitch, often pulling the stitches too hard. Sometimes I prefer tambour stitch instead as it's at least faster. Inspired by Jane Davis' book I wanted to do some beaded stitches as the beads help me with the spacing and tension. That is also the reason I used aida. Let's just say it's been a week where I didn't want the embroidery stitches to add to my frustration.

My focus was on basic chain stitch and variations of it. No fancy variations or anything like that, but really what you can make with this relatively simple stitch "everyone" learned in school.

First my Aurica sample. It took some trial and error to get the right spacing this time. The open chain stitch in the middle was kind of a flop, but I liked the last chain stitches (bottom right). The top row could probably be useful in certain designs too.

For my first variations I played with alternating long and short stitches (bottom row) and making zig-zag rows. The second row from the bottom has a second, off-set, row of stitches on top of the first. The top right row (below the 2-loop stitches) is a row of stitches interlaced with the first row beneath it.

I then proceeded with some beaded variations, using 2-6 beads per loop/stitch. Viewed from the top, the first three variations have beads on both sides of each stitch. The remaining variations only have beads on one side, either on the same side (bottom right) or alternating (middle right and bottom left). The left side of the top row is whipped beaded chain stitch -- the only whipped variation I did this week. For the last row I experimented with two colours, wanting to get a striped pattern.

Lastly, I used the chain stitch to couch a short section of ball chain -- inspired by the couching I showed in this post. Gave up halfway through before realising that unlike my latest attempt couching this chain, it would be much easier if I tacked both ends of it to the fabric first. So if you see a break in the middle that's why.


PS! I just remembered I forgot to add a couple of pics of the chain stitches I tried last autumn. Will be adding them here soon. -- And here they are below, finally!

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 7: Detached chain stitch

English name: detached chain stitch, lazy daisy, daisy stitch
Swedish name: öglestygn, enstaka kedjestygn, bellisstygn

Today there'll be double TAST posts as I didn't post in week 7.

Chain stitch, detached and "regular", is a stitch I've tried before and which I'm not all that fond of. I do like it, it's really not that I hate it or anything, but it comes with a big but. I really like the look of detached chain stitch and admire lots of embroideries made by others using this stitch. But I don't use it that often myself and the main reason probably is that I keep pulling the stitches too hard, making them lose that pretty petal-shaped curve. It's the same reason I only crochet once in a while and don't like writing too much by hand. I pull, push and press too hard. Maybe I'll learn some day.

For the "doodle page" above I did a few rather basic variations. My aim was to make something other than flowers, which the stitch so often is used for. There's a butterfly and a dragonfly for instance. But in the end I had to do a few flowers too. It really is hard to tell, but the long-stemmed tulip have anundsjö stitch leaves. Wanted to try that stitch and doubt it will appear in the TAST challenge.

I also incorporated some buttons -- and learned that it's easier to add chain stitches if you stitch the button to the foundation first (like in the white button) rather than try to do nice, even and "open" stitches with the button moving around like the red one did. I also stitched one button with "reverse engineered" fly stitches (grey, left corner).

This is the result of my Aurica sampler. I've tried different lengths etc for different effects. Just playing with the yarn, seeing what I could come up with. I am planning on taking what I learn from these doodles and make e.g. a flower, dragonfly  or something. I was focusing on making petals here, but when I showed the pic on Flickr (and later here on the blog in the Aurica sampler part 1 post) I got comments from people seeing all sorts of things in my embroidery doodles. Fun!

Here are a few detached chain stitches with beads that I stitched on the bracelet made for Erin's Challenge of Color. I stitched the beads first and then added the daisy stitches around them.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

Aurica sampler, part 1

A few weeks into the Take a Stitch Challenge, I got the idea to experiment a bit and stitch with some of my novelty yarn instead of just using embroidery floss. Of all the knitting yarns, I picked up a ball of Red Heart Aurica ribbon yarn. It turned out to be a lot of fun working with it in my needlework.

Here is the first "sampler" of the TAST stitches I've made with the yarn so far. Hopefully it might be of inspiration to others who enjoy needlework and wants to try something a little bit different. As usual you can click on the pics for a larger image.

Feather stitch

The sample that started it all. Loved the effect and decided I should try to do every stitch with this yarn.

Detached chain stitch

This week's stitch was detached chain or daisy stitch. I will make a proper TAST post on this stitch next week. Until then you'll have to make due with these experiments, mostly made thinking they could be used as petals for embroidered flowers or perhaps dragonfly wings.

Blanket stitch, Fly stitch & Herringbone stitch

For the herringbone I did both a single and double version of the stitch.

Cretan stitch

As with the herrinbone, I also tried a double version of this stitch.

Chevron stitch

With the chevron stitch, I only got this far, trying just one basic version.

Straight stitches

This isn't part of the TAST challenge and I don't think it will be either, being such a basic stitch. The long stitches are twisted, one harder than the other -- a silk ribbon embroidery technique I read about at Di van Niekerk's blog.

~*~ You can find all my TAST posts here. ~*~

TAST week 6: Chevron stitch

English name: Chevron stitch
Swedish name: Flätsöm med små sidostygn

This week's challenge was a stitch I've never tried before. To be honest I didn't care that much for it and perhaps felt it was slightly complicated. I have no idea why I thought that because it's a really easy stitch. And you can get some nice effects. I especially like the lattice pattern you get when doing several close rows of chevron. Abover you can see one example of that. The stitches above are threaded with red floss that melts into the garishly christmas red background.

Of cause I also did a few stitches with the Aurica yarn. Nothing fancy and I didn't try making it double as I did with e.g. the herringbone stitch.

Here's a few different variations of single and double chevron stitch. Rows 3 and 7 (from the top) have whipped edges. The fourth row is double chevron with small running stitches tacking the long stitches down where they intersect in the middle.

In the green row to the left I added fly stitches to either side of the stitch. (If you wonder about the muddled aida around the green stitches it's due to me editing out some other unrelated stitches -- I'm stitching on the same aida scrap used for my doodling last autumn.)

Last, but not least, I elaborated on the pattern created already above, adding cross stitches to the diamonds created by stitching multiple rows of chevron stitches to create a latticework. First I did a sample with red floss, thinking it's probably be more visible in daylight, but it wasn't... As you can see below.

And that's it. TAST week 6. I've learnt how to do a new stitch and while I didn't find it interesting before this challenge I've now come to like it. I'm sure it'll come in handy one day.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

TAST week 5: Herringbone stitch

English name: Herringbone stitch
Swedish name: Flätsöm; häxsöm, flanellstygn

A little late, but here's finally a summary of what I did with the fifth TAST stitch. Herringbone is one of the stitches I really like, but haven't used in a while. I've actually used it in jewellery too: in the Celtic Braid Cuff Bracelet, I stitched a herringbone variation called interlaced band with waxed cotton cord on leather.

Last week I didn't get that much done. Of cause I had to try the Aurica yarn. I like how it forms elliptical shapes. Not so fond of the double version, though.

For this week I also wanted to make some "messy" uneven stitches. I like the second row in green, think it worked well. Which I can't say about what was supposed to be threaded stitches using eyelash yarn. I threaded the yarn al wrong, but I guess it works this way too when using this kind of yarn... The lemon/leaf thing was intended to be stitched on both sides, but so far I've only added herrinbone stitches to the bottom half.

And that's all I got around to doing. Below are some variations I did last autumn when doodling.

 Double herringbone stitches. Top row has been 

stitched down with running stitches in the middle.

  Threaded herringbone.

  Herringbone stitches in varying lengths and heights.

 More herringone, open and closed.

 Double herringone stitches (top) and two rows, 

meant as base for interlaced band (below).

Several layers of open stitches on top of each other. 

Looks similar to fjädersöm, a dense type of 

herringbone, but not stitched like it.

---
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).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.