Tuesday, November 10, 2015

TAST Stitches 17 & 18


TAST Stitch 17: Crossed Buttonhole Stitch

I really wanted to find a way to add the crossed buttonhole stitch to a Christmas stocking I am working on, but failed to think of a way to do so. Instead, I used this stitch to tack a ribbon down and added small flowers to dress it up.


This seam uses white glittery ribbon and size 8 perle cotton in green and pink. Stitches used were: crossed buttonhole stitch, straight stitch, detached chain stitch and French knots.


Imagine my delight when Anneliese shared her examples with the TAST Facebook group using crossed buttonhole stitches and upside down wheatear stitches to create trees. (I just LOVE embroidered trees and hers were fantastic!) I had to give her crossed buttonhole trees a try. My first attempt was the tree on the far left. I think my technique improved a bit as I went along. I do so love being inspired by creative thinkers!

For my trees, I threaded a needle with a strand of white and a strand of green DMC floss because I wanted the them to have a snowy look. What a fun way to try out a new stitch!


TAST Stitch 18: Half Chevron Stitch

In the future, I plan to use waste canvas with the half chevron stitch. This seam intersects with one I had already added beads to and they would have interfered with the waste canvas, so I did not use it this time. This was a fun stitch to try, but I found it difficult to make even stitches freehand. 


This seam was created using white size 12 perle cotton for the half chevron stitches (basic seam) , size 12 pink perle cotton and 2 open detached chain stitches (hearts), light green size 8 perle cotton for straight stitches and detached chain stitches (stems and leaves), and light pink size 8 perle cotton detached chain stitches and French knots (flower petals and centers.)

Sorry for the photo quality. My camera really does not like to focus on white and light pink stitches. This was the best of over 30 shots taken in totally different lighting situations.



TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. on Facebook and on her blog, pintangle.com. You may read more about it here. Last week the crossed buttonhole stitch was introduced and this week the half chevron stitch was introduced. If you follow the TAST Facebook group, you know there are some incredibly inspiring examples of these stitches being shared. Thank you, Sharon, for offering TAST!

Oh! Before I forget... Many of you know that Sharon B. created a set of crazy quilting templates a while back. You will be happy to know she will soon be releasing a second set of templates. If you missed her post about them, you may check it out here. (Please note: I am not affiliated with these templates. However, I have only heard positive comments about the first set from members of the on-line crazy quilting groups I belong to.)

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

8 comments:

Christine B said...

Renee your TAST stitches are just beautiful! I love the trees they look fabulous! Love the way you have snow on them!! Christine x

Gina said...

Great stitches. I love the trees, so cute

Katie said...

Beautiful stitches. Love the trees.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Hi Renee
I saw those trees and saved a link for future reference. They look just great. I saved the 1/2 chevron too. I realllly like that stitch. I'm so glad Sharon started the TAST over again. Now that I'm more sure of myself, I am really enjoying learning more new stitches and some of the ones members are creating are amazing.
xx, Carol

Anonymous said...

Your half chevrons look neat to me. Do you not have any template sets? I like the trees a lot and will have to study that out a bit. Perfect for your stocking, though the ribbon you stitched looks great, too. Thanks for sharing such lovely work. I have fun watching this since I'm not on FB, and did the 2010 and 2012 TAST, plus took an online class from Sharon. I think the group is great, though, because there's a different kind of interaction on FB.

Annet said...

Great to see the trees you made of wheatear stitch inspired by Anneliese.

Renee said...

Thank you, Annet!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Your trees look like such fun! I wouldn't worry about the first one you did either - after all not every 'real' tree is absolutely perfect!