{"id":1071,"date":"2010-07-22T06:27:21","date_gmt":"2010-07-21T20:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2010-07-21T20:04:01","modified_gmt":"2010-07-21T10:04:01","slug":"sal-deciding-on-stitches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/2010\/07\/22\/sal-deciding-on-stitches\/","title":{"rendered":"SAL: deciding on stitches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just to recap, so far in the Mountmellick stitch along we have covered tracing the pattern<\/a>, and getting inspiration<\/a> for embroidering lily flowers. I suspect that yesterday’s post did not come through in the RSS feed (probably due to my little mistake last week!), so if you didn’t see it, my apologies, and please make sure you check it out.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve decided that I’d like to start with the large, open flower. This has wide outlines on the edges of the petals. Often these are worked in padded satin stitch, or padded buttonhole, and on one historical example that I’ve seen, it was worked in exquisite bullions down one side of each petal, and in padded satin down the other. Another option that I can think of is padded detached chain stitch, ie single chains worked stretched across the padding. There’s another historical one that is outlined in French knots, with rows of stem stitch along inside of that.
\n\"spotted<\/a>
\nBecause of the spotted petals, you’ll often find some sort of powdering on Mountmellick lily petals. It could be French knots or small single chain stitches, which are usually scattered across the petals in a pattern.<\/p>\n

What to do?<\/p>\n

Ok, a bit more poring over my photos, I have decided on padded buttonhole stitch. To do this, I begin with a line of chain stitch down the centre of each petal outline area. I work my chain stitch for Mountmellick stitch in a stab-stitch method, as I find it gives me more control over my stitching.
\n

\"stab<\/a>

Stab stitching the chain stitch down the middle of the petal outline<\/p><\/div>
\nThe line of chain stitch down the centre will raise up the buttonhole stitch in the centre, to give it a bit more height and life.
\n

\"chain<\/a>

Chain stitch down the middle of the petal outline<\/p><\/div>
\nOnce the chain stitch is complete, the buttonhole is worked over the top. I tend to work buttonhole in whatever direction works best. I know that some people can only go in one direction, but sometimes I find that a little limiting.<\/p>\n

So firstly, I started off from the petal tip on the right side of the petal, and worked up to the other end. The rolled edge of the buttonhole was on the right. I didn’t like the way the stitches were sitting though. The thread twist was making it so the stitches didn’t sit nicely.
\n

\"buttonholing\"<\/a>

Starting from the petal tip<\/p><\/div>
\nRather than undoing it (just in case it turned out to be the better option), I left it there and started again with a new thread at the top of the petal, and worked down towards the tip, again with the rolled edge on the right. This produced a much better result, so I then pulled out the bit down the bottom.
\n

\"starting<\/a>

Starting again from the top of the petal<\/p><\/div>
\nI then completed both sides of the petal, keeping the rolled edge on the right down both sides.\"completed<\/a>
\nYou can see how the chain stitch raises the buttonhole stitch up in the middle.<\/p>\n

A really important thing when working buttonhole with Mountmellick thread is to make sure the thread keeps its twist. If it gets too twisted, untwist it a bit. (Actually I’ve never had a problem with too much twist!) If it untwists, retwist it. This will give a much better result. Its because the thread is made of so many ply (6 for the No 3 Mountmellick thread which we are using – and no, it is not divisible), and if the thread twist does not stay constant throughout, it becomes really obvious. It does take practice, so work slowly and carefully.
\n\"angled<\/a>
\nAnother important aspect is the angle of your stitches. Because Mountmellick thread is quite thick, if you stitch it as you normally would, with the needle going perpendicular to the outline edges, it can look like the stitches are falling over. To counteract that, you can angle your needle with the tip just slightly back towards the stitching you’ve just done. This will allow just a little extra space at the rolled edge, making the stitch look like its standing up straight rather than falling over.
\n\"angle<\/a>
\nIts also good to try to angle the stitches so that they take the curve of the petal edge into account. Try to keep your stitches perpendicular to the outline. This will mean that the stitches are closer together on the inside edge of the curve, and slightly further apart on the outside edge.
\n\"smooth<\/a>
\nThen the next thing to try to master is that you want the ends of the stitches to make a nice smooth line, with all the ends aligning. If some step in or out even one or two threads, it can make the edge of the buttonhole lose its smoothness.<\/p>\n

You will find that such careful stitching takes time. That’s ok. Just take your time. Don’t be afraid to pull out stitches if you’re not happy with how they’re sitting. (I do it all the time!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just to recap, so far in the Mountmellick stitch along we have covered tracing the pattern, and getting inspiration for embroidering lily flowers. I suspect that yesterday’s post did not come through in the RSS feed (probably due to my little mistake last week!), so if you didn’t see it, my apologies, and please make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,16,29,22,10,5,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-designing","category-embroidery-stitches","category-historical-embroidery","category-making-stuff","category-mountmellick-embroidery","category-mountmellick-embroidery-inspired-by-nature","category-stitch-along","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}