I was astonished Monday morning (western USA) by an email from Annie Whitsed at Annies Crazy World. She had posted an engaging seam treatment and was thanking me for inspiration. My memory was rather short on details so I had to look it up. Right in the middle of writing her back a congratulations (she’d taken the idea far beyond what I conceived) and a thank you for the kind words, I had to pull out a needle and thread and try it on a counted ground. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right beads, so I substituted by using a triple up and down buttonhole stitch.
As you can see I was more excited about getting the idea down. I didn’t count too closely!
Wow! I could adopt her idea over into counted thread and it stitches so easily. I would have never thought of it because with counted thread I don’t especially need a line. But a seam treatment will make you think about a line.
I am so glad it made Annie think about a line. Thank you, Annie!
The little adjustments I made for counted thread are here. I started out with a holding stitch went up to make the top of the teardrop
Then at the end of the teardrop and the start of the next teardrop one or two more adjustments since I don’t have to think about the bulk of a seam and so forth.
And here
The 1 shows where I went down as shown it the photo above then up at 2 down at 3 up at 4 (which in this example is one between the two threads under loop and one thread down). And then slip your needle between the loop at 2 and 3 and your on the way to the second one.
I love this interaction between two areas of embroidery. We use so many of the same stitches but in different ways because of the application. And we both have our own avoid lists and favorite lists, too! I appreciate all the energy and know-how Sharon b pours into TSTC to foster this environment where stitchers working in various areas are pulled together in close proximity by exploring the same stitch and viewing each others work week by week. It makes me kick out my prejudices and stop retiring to my favorite ruts. I can’t help but think this is going on in the work of so many others stitching, watching or involved in some other ways.
I love ethnic and traditional embroideries, I want to see them learned and preserved and handed down to others. But I also love seeing an expanding, growing work of embroidery go on in our day. The internet, digital cameras, scanners and many other factors have allowed stitchers to connect and learn together from all over the world as never before possible. While these things can be distracting and keep us from investing the time and patience of earlier generations of stitchers, they may also be the very things that enrich us and encourage us on to better work.
Quieter Moments 