Throwback Thursday - 1998 (Part 2 of 4)

Hoppy Easter

Part two of looking back on my 1998 stitching begins with Easter. I found a quick, cute chart by The Sweetheart Tree. I wanted to give stitching on black a try. It's cute, but the pastel colors of floss would have been sweeter on a lighter fabric.

Silver Splendor

My next jump in learning about different kinds of counted thread embroidery came with an Embroidery Guild of America  (EGA) correspondence course on blackwork. The goal in blackwork is to make the stitching on front of your work and the back of your work look identical. This is achieved by utilizing a double running stitch in a specific pattern. The added beads are stitched only to the front. The numbers on the white piece in these photos are where the class instructor evaluated the piece and gave suggestions on how to improve my work.

I enjoyed this class so much that I stitched the pattern twice - one on white and the other on black. I used rayon threads and stranded gold metallic threads on the black piece so it sparkles in the light and is striking against the black ground cloth.

Pattern Darning Bookmarks

The next counted thread technique I learned is called pattern darning. This is another technique that can give you a reversible completed piece. Unlike blackwork, both sides may not be exactly the same. But the pattern formed on both sides is pleasing, and thus reversible.

Pattern Darning stitches are executed like a running stitch by using an "over and under" stitching method. As you work back and forth across the fabric, the tread running under the fabric will create a shadow which is an important part of the design. When you flip your piece over, you have a different design, also enhanced by the shadow of the stitches on the other side of the fabric.

Creative Kids Bookmark

This was a teacher gift for my daughter's preschool teacher.

Teacher Pencil Holder

This was the other gift I made for Jodie's preschool teacher. I stitched the apple with red rayon thread so that it would be shiny. I covered a soup can with the stitchery and glued ribbon around the top and bottom edges. Then I filled it with some nice sharp pencils.