Todays detail is a Shi Sha surrounded with a combination of detached chain stitch and fly stitch sealed with a colonial knot…
If you have ever tried to sew on a shi sha and given up in disgust I will encourage you to give it another go…as they are not that difficult once you know the tricks and are worth mastering because they are a lovely embellishment and the technicque can be ever so handy for attaching many interesting items to your crzy quilts.
Shi Shas are held in place with straight stitches, the difficulty with sewing shi shas on is holding them in place while you do the first four stitches…to overcome this I suggest that you start with a sequin or coin charm that has a hole in it so that it can be stitched in place and wont fall out while you are trying to figure out where the next stitch goes…OR Learn/practice the stitch sequence on a circle drawn on some scrape fabric, then when you move onto the shisha you will know the stitch and can concentrate on holding it in place with your thumb.
Drawing a circle on the Fabric is what I did for my sample because it solved the problem I was having with the flash on the shi sha.
   
These are the first 4 Straight Stitches that hold the shi sha in place…don’t pull the support stitches tightly as they need some movement so that they can be pulled closer to the edge when you do the edge stitching.
   
Another 4 Straight Stitches complete the support structure for the edgeing.
When you start you will possibly find it easier to go come up and go down as 2 motions, once you understand how the support structure works you will find that you can go down and come up with one motion.
Step 1 of the edgeing stitch is worked by slipping the needle under all the threads from the centre to the edge of the shi sha and looping the thread under the needle as you do for a blanket stitch.
Step 2 is a small back stitch beside the shi sha which anchors the step 1 stitch to the background.
Repeat these 2 steps….
The edge stitches can be close together as in the top of my sample or spaced apart as on the bottom of my sample…
POSTSCRIPT posted 31st Oct 2007
Sharon B has illustrated Shisha stitchfor Week 35 of Take a stitch Tuesday…She has shown a different method of anchoring the Shisha to the fabric and of the surrounding stitches…I have tried her method and love the way she anchors the shisha, but I prefer the method I have described above for the surrounding stitches.
Leave a Reply
|
July 1st, 2006 at 12:55 am
I have always wondered how this is done. Thank you for the clear tutorial. I’m going to try it tonight!
July 1st, 2006 at 10:41 am
Annie…thanks for the very clear instructions. I am having so much fun following both yours and Sharon B’s series!
Do you know what the term ‘shi sha’ means??
July 2nd, 2006 at 2:27 am
Thank you… thank you… thank you… now I can do it too…. WooHoo!!
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Cool! Thank you so much!..I’m going to try this too!
..one question, would it be cheating to use a dab of fabric glue to stabilize the coin/trinket before stitching..making stitching easier without slipping around?
August 25th, 2007 at 3:56 am
Wonderful tutorial! I knew how to do this once upon a time, but can never remember when I need it. Thanks!
September 14th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Suze’s question got me curious, so I did a google search – Apparently “Shisha” is the Persian word for glass … lol
(or so it says here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah … interesting article actually … even though it isn’t about any kind of embroidery! LOL)
This article – http://hsc.csu.edu.au/textiles_design/design/1_1_5/shisha.htm – says shisha means “little glass” in Hindi …
er … take your pick?
(methinks that maybe that if shisha glass originated in Persia, then maybe the Hindi speaking people just used the Persian word for it? … or vice versa … lol)
August 11th, 2008 at 7:30 am
I know I’m a little late here, but this is an awesome tutorial! Thanks so much for explaining.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Very pretty! I was wondering..why not use a dab of FabriTac to hold the shi sha in place while stitching? .
April 24th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
how to do a square and diamond mirror
October 10th, 2012 at 1:43 am
not only beautyful…. totally different idea….. thank you