Project 2 Stage 2 Handstitching

Holiday Stitching

I took a very limited supply of material on holiday with me but I managed to do some stitching that I really enjoyed.  I may not have always stayed on task but now that I'm back and reading my course notes I think I've explored stitches enough to move on.

It's 40 years since I did any serious embroidery and even then it wasn't very adventurous.  This time around I've just gone with the flow and followed what seemed like a good idea.  I'm pleased with the results and I've learned a lot.

Here's what I did.

Stitching by the sea

My holiday was beside the sea and it was very strange to realise that I had unconsciously chosen an off white background and blue threads and as I stitched it came to represent the sea. I wasn't trying to achieve anything except practice stitching and see what happened.

I started with several rows of running stitch - various thicknesses and distances apart.  Then came the dark chain stitch and from there things just kept rolling.  I like the swirly lines and the way the different stitches bring out the character of others.  I particularly like the stem stitch with the two rows of diagonal stitches on either side.  Some of the simplest stitches seems to work best; the cross stitch of increasing size and the single chains for instance.  The square sections were done when I was trying to ring the changes a bit and I'm not so keen on them; it seems to interfere with what went before.  That said I really like the sets of three straight stitches worked alongside each other.

Doing this gave me so much pleasure and I think that comes through in the work.

Stitching on the sand

This time I chose to use beige shades on a beige ground and of course it represents the beach.  I started with the idea of a seashell and did a spiral (working from the outside) in fly stitch.  I wanted to get the feeling of getting smaller and tighter so I reduced the thickness of the thread and the size of the stitch as I got nearer the middle.  I was really happy with the result; because it was a spiral the thread caught the light whichever way I moved the piece.  There were some largish gaps so I continued with the fly stitch theme and feather stitched in a darker shade again diminishing the size and thickness of the thread.  It was at this point that I could see there was a feeling of falling into the middle of the work.  Next I did the long stemmed fly stitches for no other reason than I wanted to and whilst it detracted from the earlier work it did add a contrast that I found pleasing.  The only thing missing was the sun so I knotted it and surrounded it with fly stitches. I'm not entirely happy with the sun; it lacks radiance.

Omani colours

Whilst some of the women in Oman wear a black abaya the traditional clothing is brightly coloured and I've tried to capture it here.  Again the main point is to experiment with stitch and I think I've done that.  I started with running stitch in red then introduced yellow and changed the feel and the focus completely.  I wanted to have another go at the sun and I'm happier with this version and it's only a bit of backstitch surrounded in red.  The best bit was when I turned it over to fasten off - it looked lovely on the wrong side!

So then I worked the green circle from the wrong side and this is what I got.  I've lightly padded it because it seemed to want it.  The fly stitching is there again in a random way with a few highlights that I like.  I'm not sure how I might use this but it's a pretty effect.

I've  not used seeding before because I thought it was boring but here I used three colours and quite like it.  The curly red bit is 12 strands of thread twisted together and couched.  I've used the idea of increasing and diminishing the size of stitches again and I think it might start to be a theme I follow.






These pieces of work really were just doodling in thread with no effort to do anything but enjoy it.   I just loved it.  It was like reading lots of great books that I couldn't put down.