A gift and a question

Please see update regarding the question at the end of the post.

Neki sent me the most delightful cloth. My capture of this in electronic images is poor. But the cloth is wonderful. It catches all sorts of interesting depths and shades in the sun. But my camera just can’t cope with it–or is it the operator of the camera? Anyway here are some of the details of what I’ve been admiring.

Many thanks for a wonderful treasure, Neki. If you aren’t familiar with Neki’s blog, a movable feast, please do take time out to swing by and visit. She is always inspiring me, sometimes with the photographs of her work and sometimes with the her thoughts. One of her quotes in a recent post as she returned to her loom was: “As i see it the beauty is that one is creating the cloth that will be acted on.”

Turning a corner here, please help with a question that came up in one my comments on an Eskimo edging stitch post.

This comment is from Bobbi and I share it with her permission:

I’m also working on the TIF challenge but am mainly a beader looking for interesting edging stitches I can do without beads…in other words, regular embroidery edging stitches…can you recommend a good book or on-line resource? I love your E edging stitch, but can’t figure out how it’s done since you’re not actually edging anything with it.

Paula at The Beauty of Life has provided a some information from a book called Stitches of Creative Embroidery by Jaqueline Enthoven. And I’ve forwarded that to Bobbi. And Paula has also allowed me to share that here. She began with a quote from the book.

‘This simple and effective edging is based on the running stitch. It was devised by the Eskimos and the Aleuts to bind together the many seams of their seal gut parkas making them water proof……Until recently I had seen the stitch only once, many years ago, around the edge of a child’s cap. Miss Blanche Payne, professor of Home Economics at the University of Washington has seen it used ornamentally around the hood of an Eskimo’s child’s parka.’

She talks about threads size 5 pearl cotton for the running stitch and size three for the lacing, and details about how to edge a piece with the stitch, but not specifically joining them. Although the diagram shows the front and back of the fabric and I think if you put two pieces of fabric together you could join them with the lacing stitches.

Unfortunately there is no reference list or bibliography in this edition (1964). I think there is an updated edition which may have more information.

But if you can jump in and help please do post a comment. Bobbi in writing to me also added, it would be great to actually see this edging stitch on the edge of a piece! Has anyone tried that or seen that and is there a photograph available on-line?

Update: Nothing like my friend, Neki, who helps me solve part of the question by prompting me to try another on-line search. Here is a link to information on the stitch also known as an Eskimo laced edging. Please click on the magnifying glass to see a drawing on how it is used on an edging. Many thanks to Neki for prompting me to use my own stitch dictionary page and for the folks at NeedleCrafter for their wonderful dictionary. Any other information still very much welcome, please.