Annies Crazy World

Spot one uses herringbone stitch in a a circular design inspired by Rosalie_sews’…the centre is buttonhole stitch and around the edge I used double knot stitch…yellow and varigated threads are 3 strands of cotton, purple thread is cotton pearl size 3.

Spot two is a pattern from Sharon’s sampler, I think the thread is silk and it has a very fine metalic thread running through it.

Spot three…When I saw the pattern in spot 2 I thought Fan….easier thought than done, it is not the shaped fan I set out to make, it is very bulky at the bottom, I didn’t expect the ribbed overlapping of the herringbone stitch to be so high and the stitches are to long not to be held down somehow…I wove a thread around the middle and found that I could pull the crossover threads lower and then continued to weave the rest of it, as it neared completion I started to like it more and more and I really like the scolloped edge, to form the scollops I wove the last 3 rows over and under the same threads and leaving the thread loose on the overweave…all the threads are 6 strands of stranded cotton.

Spot fourTRying the fan again, this time I did the first stitch as a single herringbone and then filled in the curve with closed herringbone making bigger stitches on the outside curve…This time it is the shape I wanted (I drew the curve onto the fabric) and not as bulky, It was quick and easy to do and should embellish up nicely on a crazy block with extra stitches and beads…and maybe a thinner thread, thread used for this one is 6 strands of cotton.

The bottom row is a variation from Quiter Moments TAST stitchings…It plays with angleing the edge stitches up and down…thread is a cotton pearl size 3…I think that I am going to have to do another row of this one leaving room to add a trim that will emphasis the curve formed along the edge…time for bed……….

I am so enjoying my sampler for many reason one of which is that I can take it with me and even on a buzy day I can still get a couple of stitches done.

Top row is a basic Herringbone stitch done with a varigated cotton pearl size 5 thread with a cotton thread woven through it.

Bottom row is a variation that I found on
Connie’s Blog, it drew my attention because I like this use of bugle beads…I have stitched the herringbone with 4 strands of silk floss.

Thus far the herringbone stitches I have used have been obvious variations, variations I have used in the past or variations that I have seen on Sharon’s Sampler…Today I went to the Flickr group and put Herringbone into search tonights stitches are inspired by variations I found there.

The top row is a herringbone variation by Sapphire_Dakini…It is worked with open herringbone at the top and closed herringbone at the bottom…I liked the squares in the pattern and I think that with a second mirrored row it would make a lovely trellis to put vines on…I think that the thread is Linen.

The second row…When I started this sampler I thought that I would be recording known variations but it would seem that I am still playing with the stitches as well because after doing the top row I used the same variation idea and turned it upside down, made the edge stitches smaller, stepped alternate stitches along the bottom edge and finished it with beads.

Third row…I thought this variation of herringbone stitch done by Lin Moon, looked very elegant and refined…I think that Lin might have used a thinner gold thread then the DMC metallic that I used and I think that she may have done bigger stitches than I did because even with petit beads mine is not quite as delicate as Lin’s.

The Bottom row was inspired by the other stitch in Lin’s, image…I liked the way the straight stitches linked the 2 row’s of herringbone…3 strands of stranded cotton thread.

Top row, long narrow herringbone stitches make a nice base for a sweet row of flowers, the flower stems are stem stitch and the leaves are detached chain stitches…Both greens are 2 strands of silk floss

Middle row is a basic herringbone stitch with Detached chain stitches over each cross…Both threads are Rayon Thread…Tip when working with Rayon Thread, damp the thread and let it dry or holding thread at each end pass the thread through the steam of a kettle, it takes the kinks out and makes the thread managable.

Bottom row is a basic herringbone stitch with needle weaving in the V shapes…The second colour was introduced when I realized after doing the first 5 that I only had enough thread left to do 5 more, I did get 6 so I did them at the other end of the row with the 6th one in the middle so the pattern is still balanced…Both Threads are cotton pearl size 5.

Before silk ribbon was available I had worked out a way of stitching baskets using Herringbone Stitch, visit this past post for what lead me to think of the idea and the first basket I stitched. (My photography skills have improve since I wrote that post.)

The Basket on the left is a sample that I stitched circa 1987…The Thread is 4 strands of a varigated stranded thread which I have seperated and put back together with 2 of the strands reversed so that I got a mix of shades along the length of the thread…Looking at the flowers in the basket I must have been using scrapes of thread and experimenting with combing different colours of thread to get the colour variation in the flowers.

I draw the basket shape that I want on the fabric and then fill the shape with short wide apart herringbone stitches that are closed on the bottom and spaced at the top…A line of Stem Stitch across the bottom to give it a base and across the top for a neat rim for the basket…The handle can be done with stem stitch, Chain Stitch or Coral Stitch, I like Coral Stitch myself because the little lumps of the stitch have the texture/look of the knobby bits on cane.

Now if you look at the basket on my sampler you will see that it looks quite different, part of the difference is the thread (size 5 cotton pearl) the other difference is because I didn’t look at the older ones first and instead of doing small spaced stitches at the top I did bigger stitches and closed the herringbone.

For the flower arrangement in the basket I do leafy looking stitches with a mix of green threads and then put the flowers in on top of the green background, I filled this basket with Gathered Silk Ribbon Roses… I got a little carried away and just about covered most of the green background, so I used a thick size 3 green cotton pearl thread and added straight stitches around the edge and a couple of loops amongst the flowers.

Either side of the basket I did a pattern of 3 individual, overlapped herringbone stitches that use the same hole at the bottom but different entry and exit holes at the top…For the left hand pattern I used a Linen thread and the soft thread combined with stitches that are a little to long caused the pattern to be floppy and I had add a stitch over the cross point to hold it in place…For the pattern on the right I used a stiffer cotton thread, did shorter stitches and spaced the entry/exit points further apart.

Top Another seam with groups of 3 herringbone stitches, this one trimmed with beads.

Middle is a basic herringbone stitch threaded with ribbon floss.

Bottom row is Buttonhole stitch worked over the threads of the Herringbone stitch…my natural inclination is to work the buttonhole stitch from left to right, after writing the how to instructions for work from left to right I realized that some people would want to
work the button hole right to left, if that is you click here for instructions.

Top row is stepped Herringbone stitch done with a varigated silk thread

Middle row is groups of 3 herringbone stitches (Varigated pink cotton Pearl #5 ), they are the same groupings as the top row in section 04 but in this seam I have done a larger stitch and spaced the groupings so that you can see how they are formed…I have trimmed it with gold bead flowers with greeen detached chain stitch leaves done with 2 strands silk floss.

Bottom… The same arrangement of groupings of 3 herringbone stitches with 2 rows faced into each other done in thick Novelty knitting yarns.

Top…A wide row of herringbone stitch, 3 strands of stranded cotton thread with a narrower row of herringbone stitched on top using cotton pearl #5 thread.

Middle…herringbone worked with wide and narrow stitches using a pearl#5 thread.

Bottom…is a basic herringbone stitch done with a cotton broder thread and trimmed with green Detached chain stitch, 2 strands of silk and Yellow Berry Stitch using 2 strands cotton.

Top row is groups of 3 herringbone stitches done with 2 strands of Orange cotton stranded thread trimmed with detached chain stitch done with burgundy pearl cotton size 5 and the green is 2 strands of silk thread.

Middle row, worked with 3 strands of cotton stranded thread, is 2 rows of Herringbone Stitch, one on top of the other with the second row worked in the gaps of the first row and with alternate stitches slipped under the thread of the first row.

Bottom row is 2 rows of Herringbone stitch done with 3 strands of stranded cotton embroidery thread and decorated with beads

I am having fun with my band sampler, today I went to a friends place for a bar-b-que and it is very portable and easy to stitch on while talking.

The Top stitch is 2 rows of herringbone, the second row, pink, stitched into the gaps of the first row, to get the woven effect, with each alternate (upstrock stitches) pass the needle under the blue thread…both colours are 4 strands of stranded cotton thread.

The middle row is closed herringbone with increasing and decreasing stitch widths, worked in a fine silk thread.

The bottom row is using herringbone (3 strands cotton) to hold down the ric rac braid trimmed with Pistil stitch and Colonial Knots worked with a thick, soft silk thread, the trim is only on one side because that is all of the thread that I had.