Tag: Learning Stitches
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Course – Month Three Practice
Month Three Goldwork Practice
I am continuing to work practice lengths and fragments of the stitches in the Goldwork MasterClass, since I am still working the silk motifs that form the basis for the Spot Sampler.
Again I worked the Heavy Chain Stitch in two “scales”. I find it rather surprising that the stitch changes width with the length, even though the needle comes up from and returns into the same hole. Still, it is useful to know that I can change the appearance of scale so much without changing the thread I am using.
The second stitch is Four-Legged Flat Spider Web Stitch, and I’ve not found a diagram on the web anywhere. It is a large cross stitch, woven around in a weaving pattern. Simple to do, if you make sure to go over the top layer of the cross stitch and under the bottom layer. The challenge lies in keeping the thread spiralling smoothly around, rather than catching itself and crossing where it shouldn’t. I think I would be reluctant to use this stitch on a garment or something that would move a lot, as I would be uncertain of the stability of the coil. Using it on my sample cloth might reveal that, of course. I shall try to remember to examine it at the end of the course!
Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclass – the first two Goldwork Stitches
I’ve not come near finishing the silk work on the Spot Sampler, so I am going to do some practising first. The fabric is a heavy plain weave, about 16 threads to the inch. Compared with the linen for the actual piece it is almost like binca! I chose it to give me some chance to see what I was doing and to count the threads if it proved necessary for the stitches. It wasn’t really for the first two, but I did so anyway!
Reverse Chain Stitch
Reverse Chain Stitches
This produces, to all appearances, simple chain stitch, but it doesn’t involve the “scooping” motion used when working in the hand and seems somewhat easier to control.
I’ve done it both over three and over two threads.
Reverse Twisted Chain Stitch
Reverse Twisted Chain Stitch
Again, the resulting appearance is of simple twisted chain but the stitch is worked backwards, I think this reduces the chances for the gold thread to snag on itself, which certainly helps.
As shown in the original diagram, it is worked over a grid in effect, of two threads by two. After doing that fairly easily I decided to play a bit.
So I worked several variants, over two by four, two by one, one by one, and two by two.
The one by one was quite a challenge, but I am pleased that I have an impression of the changes in appearance effected by the different stitches.