Greetings all, and happy Sunday! After a week of chaos and lethargy
in equal measure, I am feeling more relaxed and recharged today. Got some big school-related
meetings and events out of the way, so today I’m enjoying some quiet stitching
time.
I’m working on a candlewicking project, which I have
been documenting on the &Stitches blog these past few weeks. It is a snowflake
cushion kit printed with water-soluble ink. You can read about it here.
Candlewicking is a historical technique that uses two-strand
cotton string embroidered on cotton muslin fabric. The overall effect is very
rustic, with a texture that gives the single-coloured work some depth.
Now, using cotton string is not as pretty as smooth
embroidery floss, and stitching onto rough muslin fabric is not as elegant as
fine linen, but it is very easy to see the difference in the stitches. And with
such crude materials, I find inconsistencies in stitches to be even more
glaring, even with small spaces.
Like all stitchers, I strive for neat lines with uniform
stitches. Normally I can stitch along quite evenly, on my own designs or in a
freestyle manner – but this kit is printed with definite straight lines and
patterns (I have discovered that I am not a fan of pre-printed kits. I’m a bit
of a control freak, and I like dictating my lines and stitches, even when I’ve
traced a pattern myself). I found that as I toodled along with my needle, my
stitches would come up short to fit on the end of a line. This happened on the
left side of the diamond, you can see the bottom stitch is shorter than the
top.
I realised this would be a project where I would have to actually
employ some brainpower, heaven forbid some sort of mathematical formula to
calculate stitch length...but like so many problems in life, it simply took a tray
of brownies to make everything better!
When cutting brownies or other tray-baked goodies, I start
by cutting a line down the middle of the pan, then I cut the halves in half,
and so on, until I have lovely, even little pieces of yumminess. I was doing
this the other day when the light bulb lit in my head and I realised the same
could be done with embroidery.
So I eyed the centre of the line – which mind you isn’t consistent
with the spokes of the snowflake jutting out from the centre – and stuck my
needle through to mark it.
Then I judged half of this line and started backstitching.
The results were far more equal than the top side...
...just not as tasty as an even brownie square. But at least
this will make quicker work of this cushion.
I’m sure the non-stitchers are looking at this and saying, “I
don’t see much of a difference, they’re all such tiny stitches.” But you
embroiderers will know what I mean. You know I’ll sleep better at night...hee
hee!
Hmmm, I should keep embroidering...but I feel a little
peckish now. Chocolate, anyone?
Link up your stitching projects below!
Chrissie x
