This week I concentrated on using capital letters in a quarter inch grid, using alternate squares. I think I got some interesting results and some cool tassellations and secondary patterns. It doesn't work with all letters of the alphabet, but I'm trying a few more next week. I am still doing only straight stitching.
K This is one of my favorites. I love the patterns it formed and it looks different each time you give it a quarter turn.
L With a little spike in the intersection.
L Turned on its side and three contrasting color spikes at the intersection. Whoops it wasn't until I saw it just now writing this that I see that I missed one of the L's spikes. Can you see it? I will fix it.
I I like the basketweave look that it achieved.
A No having to guess this one. I think it is more interesting on its side.
M Another favorite with the tallessations formed. This one looked good turned any way.
Y No guessing this one either, but I still like it and it will look good turned on its side or upside down.
I was trying to outline the circles with a back stitch and I was never happy with the way it looked and usually picked it out and just did a simple running stitch. But I went on Youtube and watched a couple of videos on the stem stitch. I like it so much better and that's what I'll be doing for now.
All finished squares on my design wall. I am not sewing anything together yet because I want to mix up the designs. But so far, so good, I think.
4 comments:
The circles are looking good!! Have you tried coral stitch? Kind of like a straight stitch with a little knot every so often. In my year of daily hand stitching that became my default stitch, gave such a nice strong line (because the floss never goes behind the fabric except to make the little knot on top) and easy to work with.
My rule was never to make any markings on the fabric, just stitch. At the start of the year my "circles" looked awful -- squashed, lumpy, when the line came around to meet up at the starting point it would be a quarter-inch away from where it was supposed to be. Midway through the year I started noticing that I could stitch pretty decent circles! Practice does count.
I love your idea of stitching letters. I think the A would have been more interesting if they touched each other at some point. Might be worth a try! Your blue book is looking good. Seems like a good challenge!
I like your circles a lot. They are proving to be diverse and interesting and you are just scratching the surface. And being a huge fan of handmade books of all kinds, I find your monthly book idea intriguing. Are you layering your batting with fabric and then stitching or are you stitching just in the batting? What does the back of the page look like? Are you covering it somehow to hide the back of your work or just letting it show? Can't wait to see what you do for February.
To "unknown". I am layering the batting with fabric then stitching thru all layers. The back of the page is a mess, but it will be covered with a cover with more fabric and stitching. The pages will be put together so that they are back to back. Norma
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