This variation of overlapped feather stitchs is one that came out of my TAST feather stitch experiments.
I did the first line in 2 colours so that you can see how the second row of stitching shares the top holes of the first row but has a shallower V.
The shape of this stitch can be varied by changing the depth of the V and the angle on the needle when working the second row.
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A few nights ago I showed double back stitch and the pattern that double back stitch looks like on the back of the fabric. When I showed Sharon I commented that I had actually stitched the back pattern from the front side and that it felt like I was stitching a two sided Stem Stitch, Sharon pointed out that it was actually Closed Herringbone, which was obvious to me as soon as she said it and at the same time I realized that I have always known double back stitch as shadow embroidery which is what it is when done on a sheer fabric so that the closed herringbone on the back can show through the fabric…The next week I found a stitch, in The Batsford encyclopaedia of Embroidery Stitches, called side stem stitch which looks like 2 very close rows of back stitch…The way that a single stitch can have 2 or more names and in other cases a single name can be used for 2 different stitches makes nameing stitches difficult which is why I prefer to think of stitches as variations on the family groupings such as buttonhole or even more broadly as straight, looped and knoted stitches.
Shadow Embroidery, which I now know as double back stitch, was the first embroidery stitch that I ever learnt when I embroidered my initials on the front of a half slip petticoat.
To do a sample of Shadow embroidery on my sampler I cut a hole in the linen and turned the edges under to expose the lining which is a sheer fabric.
I was delighted with how well the double pekinese stitch worked to make a frame for the mushrooms.
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Top line is Beaded Back Stitch…
The middle line is Pekinese Stitch.
The bottom line is Double Pekinese Stitch
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running out of back stitch ideas I remembered that when Elizabeth at Quieter Moments experimented with back stitch I was impressed that she could even make the humble back stitch exciting so I went back for another look.
I found another Threaded back stitch variation which is the top line…well I thought that it was until I have just looked again while getting the link, Elizabeth 2 rows of back stitch have the stitches lined up and she has threaded through every second stitch, I did double back stitch which has the stitches in the 2 rows staggered, my stitches are longer and I threaded through every stitch.
The other stitch that I found was the double back stitch which is the second line and I liked that she had what the stitch looks like on the Back which is the bottom line.
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The top line is Threaded Back Stitch.
The second line is Threaded Back Stitch which I have threaded back around each stitch to make a loop.
The bottom line is a back stitch pattern that jumps out at me every time I see it on Sharon’s sampler, I think that it is simply beautiful Sharon drafted it from a 16th century Italian sampler at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
I am finding that as time goes by I am writing more notes on the lining of my sampler…My notes are a little cramped and some of them may well need a little deciphering but I like that the information is recorded with the details.
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 The first line is Threaded Arrowhead Stitch.
The second line is also Threaded Arrowhead Stitch but using a smaller stitch which doesn’t look as different from the first line as I thought it would…this is the last line of Arrowhead..
The Third Line is the Start of Back Stitch…and no I haven’t flipped the image by mistake, it just appealed to my sense of humour to stitch back stitch backwards.
The 4th line is Whipped Back Stitch…the first have of the line shows the bigger back stitches that I did, the second half of the line shows how whipping the back stitch with the same colour makes a more solid line.
The 5th line is back stitch whipped with a contrasting thread, I have also done a couple of different lengths of backstitch along the line to show how the shorter stitches alter the look of the whipped backstitch.
The 4th line is also the finish of my Take it Further July colours (I am stitching a foot on my sampler with each of the take it further colours)
and the 5th row is also the start of my Take it Further August colours…Sharon has made the thread selection of threads for the August colours very easy for me, on the last wed of July she gave me some of the threads that she had recently bought, the next week I found out that she had used those threads for the August colours.
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 I did a quick sketch of my idea for the first line and then it twisted my mind until I figured out that some of the arrowhead stitches (turned out to be every 4th stitch) have to be bigger than the others, it was worth working out because it makes a lovely seam.
The second line is the arrowhead variation that I did last year for TAST.
Line 3 is a 2 stitch Variation of the second line, when I realized that it was a row of upside down hearts I mirrored it with a second row so that I could do a single row, the bottom line, the other way up to show the hearts.
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It is 6 Months since I started this sampler and to mark the 6 months I have started the 5th panel with a summary of the information that I record on the back of the sampler.
The seam at the bottom is a row of elongated Algerian eye stitches.
I started backing the panels of my sampler with a light weight fabric because I like the firmer feel of the double layer of fabric…I then realized that I could also use the backing fabric to record statistical information…the number on the right hand side are the blog post detail numbers, numbers preceded by letters are the stitch count ie ch29 is the 29th chevron stitch variation, the number on the left side is the running count of details on the sampler, I also record the panel number and the date I start and finish each panel and along the edge I mark the length in feet and metres.
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Top line…I had played around,in visual diary, with slopeing the bar on the edge of the chevron stitch but looking at my sketches I didn’t think that it would work but it does,Elizabeth got it working
by having the bars meeting along the edge.
The rest of the details are
a Chevron Stitch variation of Elizabeths, I followed her illustrations for how to do the stitch, Then varied the angles, width and spacings of the stitch, it is amazing how different each one is with only small changes.
I left the side border of my sampler so that you can see where I joined another peice of fabric on to make the panel longer.
 The first line was also the end of my 12 inches of stitching with the Take It Further June Colours
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The top line tonight was inspired by one of Lin Moon’s TAST stitches.
The Bottom detail records the visit of my brother and his family.
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