A Pulled Work Sampler – Second Installment

Pulled Work Detail 3

Pulled Work Detail 3

Pulled Work Detail 4

Pulled Work Detail 4

There are so many pulled work stitches that I was in more danger of running out of patience than of running out of stitches.

Star Stitches in the heavier thread create a strong horizontal divider, with the colour change rippling across the fabric.

Then I worked two pulled work stitches each at two different scales. One of the patterns creates something a little like festooned curtains, another creates the effect of a tiled roof. Although I worked this many years ago, this playing with scale is something that, when I was doing the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass, I came to realise was a very important element of stitch choice and effect.

Pulled Work Detail 6

Pulled Work Detail 6

Pulled Work Detail 5

Pulled Work Detail 5

Again the heavier thread made a good divider, this time a dagged edge straight out of medieval heraldry, and then Wave Stitch ( the right- hand picture – possibly not pulled tightly enough!) and a brick pattern follow on.

I still cannot recall what I had in mind when I started this piece, except, perhaps, that I wanted to use the citrus-coloured thread for something. I think that if I were to start this again, I would work a narrower sampler and start by working the pulled stitches in a fine self-coloured thread. It seems to me now tht the pattern of spaces might be more interesting, in fact, than the stitches themselves.

9 Comments

  1. Lady Fi says:

    What lovely work!

  2. Sue Jones says:

    Pulled thread in self-colour is good, and can be very beautiful, but it is a different beast to the pulled thread in colour which you are experimenting with here. You have picked very apt stitches for working in colour – a lot of pulled stitches look a total mess done this way, especially the lacier ones. Again, you haven’t pulled the thread too tightly, which suits this version of pulled work. So you’ve made a lot of good technical decisions in this experimental piece, and it’s a useful reference for future projects. If I’d done it and didn’t want to display it, I’d keep it filed in my workbook, unmounted so that I could see the back. Make a white one one day, by all means, but don’t look down on this piece. It’s a good, practical sampler.

  3. Janice says:

    I love the Caron Watercolours and Wildflowers too.
    I was trying to think what I would do with a piece like this, and wondering what you might be thinking of doing now that you’ve found it again … and then I read Sue’s comment above, and I thought yes, that’s it: you need a sketchbook / workbook / ledger (à la Karen R). It is so clearly a valuable reference for future projects.
    Unless of course, you have other plans…?!

  4. Carolyn says:

    As Sue said, self coloured work is different and the techniques are quite different for using both types of threads. Both versions have their place and personally I like this piece. You could work the same design in the self coloured thread as a comparison, that could be interesting.

  5. karen says:

    there is so much to love about this…the patterning and yes, the stitch forms. It is so refreshing, possibly the colour!!

  6. I especially love the bricks in #5. These are some gorgeous patterns (and I still really love that thread).

  7. Penny says:

    This is so lovely. You have so much patience, far more than I do I’m sure! These colors certainly show off the stitches in a beautiful manner.

  8. susan says:

    how fun! I really like the open tile stitches. Interesting that the spaces are beginning to come forward in your mind more than the stitches themselves.

  9. Anita says:

    A lovely sampler! I’ve never worked pulled thread with variegated thread and it’s interesting to see your sampler.I think you’ve picked the stitches which looks good with this thread,very clever!