Chevron Stitch-1

TAST-2012-6th Week-Chevron Stitch

Chevron Stitch belongs to herringbone stitches family. Its been long time for me since I touched this stitch. Now that Sharon has chosen Chevron stitch for this weeks challenge, I seized the opportunity to experiment with it. 

Here is my first batch:

1-3: Chevron Stitch with different lengths of spacing

4. Chevron Stitches with beads

5. Chevron Stitch worked closely

6. Laced Chevron Stitch

7. Chevron with detached Chain Stitch

8. Chevron Stitches

9. Cheron with Bullion

10. Chevron with beads

11. Chevron pattern

12. Chevron with Herringbone

Well there is more to be explored. I was just getting the rhythm of the stitch. Keep watching my blog for updates.......

Oh by the visit Sharon TAST Page for the details of how to work the stitch and also look at the comments where the participants have left their site/blog addresses. if you visit their pages, the creativity is really worth looking at and learning. Thank you Sharon for giving all of us this opportunity  to unite and show case our work. I am enjoying visiting others pages and learning from their work.

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Herringbone Stitch-1

TAST-2012-5th Week-Herringbone Stitch

This weeks Stitch was Herringbone Stitch. Visit Sharon's site for the Challenge. 

Well I have not been feeling well. Though I have thought about a lot of variations and experiments with the stitch, I could not do most of them. Actually I could hardly sit for long, let alone able to stitch. So here are a few of my doodles with the stitch:

1. Herringbone 2. Stitches worked apart 3. Stitches worked closely 4. Double Herringbone 5. Criss-cross Herringbone

6. Closed Herringbone or Double Back Stitch  7. Triple Herringbone  8. Tied Herringbone with Straight Stitch  9. Threaded Herringbone

 9. Tied Herringbone- with + stitch  10. Herringbone with French knots 11. Closed Herringbone with seed beads

 12.  Herringbone with Beads 

 13. Herringbone with Beads  14. Herringbone with Feather Stitch

14. Herringbone with Buttonhole Stitch 15. Herringbone-patterned Stitches

I have made a note of lot many other ideas, but may be I will try it later. Stitch 14 and 15 were extra challenge-combination of Herringbone with previous stitches of TAST 2012. Keep watching for more....

Eagerly waiting for the new challenge tomorrow....

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Feather Stitch-7

TAST-2012-3rd Week-Feather Stitch

Some more experiments with Feather Stitch.

Though I have many ideas, I think I will just try them out and post them later as 4th weeks stitch has been announced.

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Feather Stitch-6

TAST-2012-3rd Week-Feather Stitch

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Feather Stitch-5

TAST 2012-3rd Week-Feather Stitch

The last one is detached Chain Stitch anchored with French Knots. Well my French Knots are not neat-need more practise........watch out for more....

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Feather Stitch -4

TAST 2012-3rd week-Feather Stitch

 Slanted Feather Stitch circle, with detached Chain  Stitch as leaves and beads for berries. Looks like a wreath. I could have done better with the circular shape.

 You can see the detached Chain with the beads.

This is one sided Feather Stitch circle with beads.

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Feather Stitch-3

TAST-2012-3rd Week-Feather Stitch

Feather Stitch in combination with different Stitches

 Feather Stitch with detached chain. This gives the affect of wheat ears, grasss etc.

The first one is with French knots, the second- beads and the last one with Bullion Stitches. You should forgive me for my bullion Stitches. I was too lazy to pull out my needles suitable for these and even then I have not perfected this stitch.

Watch out for more....

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Feather Stitch-2

TAST 2012-3rd week-Feather Stitch

Feather Stitch  is one of my favourites. I stitched it on a sari. Here is the link and details:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-embroideries.html

Hope you like it.

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Feather Stitch-1

TAST 2012-3rd Week- Feather Stitch


So Friends I missed out on the first two weeks. That I will catch up with later. 

Here is Sharon's TAST 2012 Challenge-Week 3
http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2012/1/17/take-a-stitch-tuesday-week-3.html

Here is my first batch of Feather Stitch Sampler.

1. Feather Stitch
2. Straight Feather Stitch
3. Closed Feather Stitch

4. Straight Double Feather Stitch
5. Straight Triple Feather Stitch

6. Slanted Feather Stitch or Thorn Stitch or Briar Stitch

7. Slanted Feather Stitch Variation and Interlaced Slanted Feather Stitch

8. Triple Slanted Feather Stitch
9. Long Armed Feather Stitch or Spine Stitch
10. Single Feather Stitch


Well there is more to come. Moreover this time though I would be working a sampler with different fabrics, different weights of threads, beads combination of different threads as usual among other things, I want to do something different.


That is something, which I am toying with, trying out different ideas. So that will come out much later...


Keep an eye on blog....

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Shisha (Mirror) Work-3

Frame Work Stitches-1

Mirrors or Shisha used for embroidery or decoration on fabrics do not have holes. Similarly some Paillettes also do not have holes. In such cases we need fasten them and hold them on to the fabric by using a frame work of stitches. 

For Paillettes, the basic frame work of stitches are enough to hold them as they are not heavy. Care should be taken to do these stitches neatly and precisely.

In case of mirrors, we need to encase the sharp/irregular edges in stitches, so that it will not slip out of the stitches, as the bigger ones are more heavier, the edges harm the fabric as well as our hands while washing them. For this one has to stitch around the mirrors, over the basic frame work of stitches.

There are many ways of stitching the basic frame work stitches which hold the Shisha to the fabric. These stitches depend upon the shape of the mirror, size, ground fabric and thread used. Similarly, there are variety of stitches made over the basic frame work stitches to cover the edges. Apart from this one can use many stitches, and other materials to adorn Shisha work  to make it more attractive.

As far as our Indian Embroidery is concerned, there are some Shisha Stitches used in the Banjara Embroidery (Banjara-Gypsies of India) and embroideries from Gujarat(Kutch, Ahir), Rajasthan and others. Usually wool, cotton or silk floss was used which were hand dyed (in earlier days). The fabric used was mostly cotton. Now commercial embroidery threads and other fabrics are being used for commercial productions.

OK here we go now on the journey of exploring the stitches....


Some Tips Before We Start:

• Use cotton threads and cotton or jute fabric for practising
• Stick the mirror or the paillette to the fabric with fabric glue. This way it is easier to handle
• Work with Paillettes first
• Use embroidery, frames or hoops 

Frame Work Stitches For Round Shaped Shishas or Paillettes:

There are many ways to hold the Shisha on to the fabric. Some are traditional, some modern.

1. Star Stitch: Here four straight stitches are used for holding the Shisha. This is actually star stitch. I have used a Paillette.

After sticking the shisha to the fabric, bring out thread on to the surface of the fabric. Stich from A to B, C to D, E to F and G to H, pulling thread tight enough to hold the Shisha. One can use more stitches in between these to secure it more. Different colours, weights or varieties of threads can be used for interesting effect. I used pearl cotton.

For Paillettes and shishas with smooth edges, we can leave it there. But if the shisha is heavy and edges are not smooth, we may have to add stitches for covering the edges. That I will post in subsequent posts.

Please do drop in your valuable comments and suggestions and any questions...

Watch out for more.....

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Shisha (Mirror) Work-2

Shapes And Sizes

So let us start with the sizes and shapes of the Shisha. 

Here you can see the various shapes and sizes of the mirrors or shisha available. Circular or round shaped, square, diamond and triangular shaped ones are the popular ones. You can also see the rare forms of crescent and eye shaped shishas.

Tiny mirrors in melon seed shapes are also available, but not shown here.

These are the round ones I have. You can see some of them have irregular edges. Machine cut ones have  perfect shapes and edges.

Here you can see the back side. These are perfectly cut by machines and of good quality, hence costlier.

 These are square and diamond ones.

These are all encased in thin metal sheets to protect the edges of the mirrors as well as for safety. They can be stitched without removing the covers or after removing the covers.

These are the paillettes which are like sequins, light weight and available in round square, diamond, oval and seed shapes. If these have holes(one of two) it is easy to attach. If not, one has to attach them like shishas. These days these are more popular because of their light weight and also safe as compared to real shishas.

These (Shishas)are sold by weight(in case of smaller sizes) or in boxes and in pieces, if they are big. Paillettes are sold by weight.

So in my next posts, I will be posting tutorials on shisha stitches.....

Please do drop in your suggestions and comments.....

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