Do You Love a Mystery?

A stitching mystery, that is....

Well, check out the American Needlepoint Guild website (www.needlepoint.org) and look at the brand new STITCH OF THE MONTH 2010 project called "A Promise of Mystery" designed by Sue Reed.

AREN'T YOU ALL READY TO START SOMETHING NEW AND FUN TO GET THE YEAR OFF TO A GOOD START? Well, January is the perfect month to begin a project that you build on month by month. And if you like counted canvaswork - especially geometrics - you'll certainly enjoy stitching on this piece too! This month is the start of the project, with the instructions on what materials are needed, where to start, and a schematic showing the overall dimensions of the piece (which has a finished size of apprx 8.5" x 8.5" on 18 ct. mono canvas.)


I can't resist a good counted geometric, so I'll be starting to work on it this month myself.... All I have to do is figure out what colors I'm in the mood to stitch with right now... pinks? blues? greens? hmmmm, that's the biggest mystery for me right now!

P.S.: The thread palettes shown in the above photos are NOT the threads used in Sue's mystery design - I just used them for illustrative purposes only.

Blackwork Mystery, part 3

I've posted the third and final part of my BLACKWORK MYSTERY SAMPLER on my website.

Here's what my finished model looks like:


I'm so very disappointed that you can't see the really bright, shiny metallic I used for the third "layer" of this design. If you look back at my threads photo, you can see the spool of shiny turquoise Kreinik blending filament that I used. Those are the tiny turquoise glints you get on this piece, when you finish adding your metallic work.

I particularly like using Kreinik's blending filament as a metallic accent in blackwork because it gives a really subtle but great ZINGY accent. It gives off these little zaps of sharp metallic lights throughout the piece, which is a surprise and delight to the eye.....Really! You'll just have to stitch with it yourself, to see what I mean....

Also, you'll see that the finished design has lots of "wagonwheel" elements in the overall piece. I've done many blackwork designs where I've stitched the wagonwheels in Kreinik blending filament and WOW, the effect is very elegant and eye-catching! You might like to try that option some time, too.

I'd like to point out at this time - after you've stitched parts 1 and 2 - that you have lots of options to fill in the remaining empty spaces. I've chosen the "wagonwheel" elements, but can you see how you can change the look of the patterns by adding other elements? Can you visualize how it might look if you put DIAMOND SHAPES or FLORAL SHAPES inside the circles, instead of the wagonwheels? And you can always put cross stitches, upright crosses or smyrnas just about anywhere. I've inserted a few cross stitches and upright crosses to show you how easy it is you add these simple elements in your blackwork patterns.

That's one of the fun things about doing blackwork: it's so geometric, you get to add or subtract the various elements you like into the pattern, thus creating new and different patterns every time you stitch. It's a good way to dabble in designing.... and a very fun way to play with colors, pattern density (how light/open or dark/filled you make your pattern) and pattern design.

And...for you bead lovers, there are lots of places to sprinkle some beads, if you so desire. On the final graph, you'll see some suggested places to put beads. Follow my lead, or feel free to bead it up to your own satisfaction!

Anyway, I hope you've enjoying stitching this little project with me!

(P.S: In my typical designer-eye style, as I was stitching this one I was leap-frogging ahead to more ideas for other projects...SO STAY TUNED FOR MORE FUN FUTURE PROJECTS!!!)

Blackwork Mystery, part 2

Are you ready for part 2 of the Blackwork Mystery? Here's the completed part 2 of my stitched model for you to study:


In part 2, you'll be stitching the next "layer" of stitches in a solid color. That color can be harmonious with your variegated thread (like my turquoise is with my variegated thread) or it can be a contrasting color (to create a stronger tension between the colors). Below are the three threads I used in my model: a blue/green/purple variegated floss I dyed myself; DMC 807 floss; and Kreinik Blending Filament 014HL - a fine, bright silvery blue.



One of the nice things about blackwork is: it doesn't take a lot of thread, especially when you're working on fine fabric and you're stitching with just one ply of a 6- or 12-ply strand. I've worked all of my part 2 with one ply of the 6-ply cotton floss, DMC 807... and I think I must have only used 2 or 3 strands MAX. So you're thread goes a LONG WAY in blackwork. ( Also, you can certainly stitch this design in just one color ...or one color and a gold metallic, perhaps - like traditional blackwork!)

[ASIDE: You may be tempted to correct my use of ply instead of strands... yes, I'm well aware of the technical difference between them. However, when I started writing my patterns I made the decision to use the term "ply" instead of "strand" because: 1) it just became too cumbersome and confusing to repeatedly tell stitchers to use just one strand - but I mean one strand of the three-stranded Watercolours or one strand of the six-strand cotton, etc.; and frankly, 2) since the majority of stitchers are not creating their own threads by actually twisting 2 or 3 plies of raw cotton or silk fiber, I felt I could borrow the "ply" terminology to make my patterns more understandable to stitchers. So, unless we're talking about creating thread by twisting raw fiber into plied strands, I'm using the term "ply" to mean one of the individual strands of the larger strand... Sheesh.See how confusing that STRAND usage gets???]

Anyway... back to the blackwork! I wanted to tell you that there are three different stitches that can be used for blackwork: 1) Backstitch; 2) Double Running Stitch; and 3) Running Backstitch. However, in my experience, the regular Backstitch (the stitch you use to outline all your cross stitch areas) is not the best choice for blackwork because it can create SHADOWS on the backside of your fabric as you work your 45 or 90-degree stitch angles. Frankly, it's too sloppy to use in blackwork, where you want all your lines and angles to be crisp and even - on the back as well as the front.

A better choice would be the Double Running Backstitch or the Running Backstitch. Now let me explain their advantages. With the Double Running Backstitch you stitch every other space - sort of leap-frogging over every other stitch, then you turn around and hop, hop, hop - fill in the remaining spaces with more stitches until the whole line is complete. This way of stitching can be lots of fun. It makes you plan out your line of stitching in advance. It works great for solid colors. BUT: if you're using a variegated thread, you'll fracture the color flow and your stitching line will have broken colors - it will have a more confetti look to it, which may or may not work for you.

My personal favorite is the Running Backstitch (where you complete each stitch as you come to it, going first in one direction, then the next stitch goes in the other direction) because you follow the stitching line accurately, you don't get too far afield (like when you stitch every other stitch), you minimize the shadowing problem, and best of all - when you use a variegated thread, you keep the colors flowing naturally one stitch at a time, all the way along the line.
And let me mention right now: THIS IS NOT REVERSIBLE BLACKWORK. Nope. I'm not into doing reversible blackwork. I just try to be as neat as possible and as I'm stitching away on the top, I try to be aware of what my stitches are doing on the back ("Hey you guys, are you behaving yourselves back there? Are you staying neat and tidy? ...No stragglers? Knots?.. Good-O! Carry on...")

Stitch With Me!

In my July 16th posting, I talked about all the geometric patterns that are appearing in decorating magazines. Well, looking at all those geometrics got me itching to start stitching some blackwork patterns based on those geometrics. I've been so focused on my other designs this year, that I haven't done any blackwork in quite a while and I miss it. So.....

Here's what I've come up with:


I've decided to whip up a little BLACKWORK MYSTERY SAMPLER for those of you who might like to give blackwork a try. Here's what I'm going to do: I'll post the graphs on my website: www.ljperindesigns.com, under the FREE PATTERNS page. Go there and print out the graphs. You might want to print out this blog page as well. [Aside: the graphs posted on my website are the best I can manage. If you need the graphs to be larger, please take them to a copy shop and get them enlarged.]

This little BLACKWORK MYSTERY SAMPLER will be stitched in THREE PARTS. Each part will add another layer to the design. The photo above shows PART ONE completed. (If you go back to my previous blog posting, you can pick out some of the geometric patterns I've used...)I will post PART 1 now, and in a week or so I'll post PART 2, followed in a few more weeks with the final PART 3.

And here is the materials list, if you're interested in stitching along:

DESIGN COUNT: 120 threads by 120 threads

DESIGN SIZE:
on 24/25 ct. Lugana: 5" x 5"
on 22 ct. Hardanger: 5.5" x 5.5"
on 18 ct. aida: 6.5" x 6.5"
on 16 ct. aida: 7.5" x 7.5"
on 14 ct. aida: 8.5" x 8.5"

(I recommend a light-colored fabric, such as white, ivory, ecru... but if you really want to be creative, you could try it on a dark fabric, using very light threads - it's up to you!)

THREADS: You can stitch the whole design (all three parts) in one color if you wish. Or...
You can stitch each part in a different color/type of thread, like this:
- PART 1 in a dark solid color (or a dark-to-medium variegated color)
- PART 2 in a medium-to-light accent solid color
- PART 3 in a metallic accent that matches your solid accent color

The type of thread you choose will depend on which count of fabric you use. The finer the fabric count, the finer thread weight you'll need. I'm working on 22 ct. white Hardanger, with just ONE PLY of a 6-ply cotton floss (shown above) that I've dyed myself in a variegated blue/green/purple colorway. You can see when it's stitched, there's a very subtle color change thruout the overall design.

You can also use silk thread, as well as a single-ply cotton such as Bravo! or Wildflowers - in solid or variegated colors. The different thread thicknesses are shown in the photo on the right. On the right is variegated cotton floss; on the left is a Bravo! or Wildflowers weight (see how a single ply is slightly heavier than one ply of the floss?) One way to test the colors is to lay ONE PLY of whichever thread you're considering against the fabric. You can then see how fine it will look, as well as how much of the coloring will show up. Darker colors will show up better and the lines will look crisper; lighter colors will be muted and create a paler, watercolory effect. The photo below shows how the two threads look when they are stitched.

Are you interested?
Well, ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET....STITCH!

[For those who might be interested: Stitchers - YES, you have my permission to teach this project in your guild groups - but please give me copyright credit for this design. And NO, this pattern is NOT for resale in any form. I will not be kitting it up or selling it in pattern form. This pattern is just for us all to blogstitch - to have fun experimenting and playing with. Okay?]