Parterre and Knot Gardens

Barbie, Do you have any photos we can see or a web site to suggest? I checked the book on amazon and they don't have the look in the book feature, only the front cover, so I can't see more than the cover piece. It looks like great fun. I hope we can meet in Williamsburg so I can see what you are doing. Margaret in Midlothian (Richmond)

I'd love to see this too. I don't have a very good track record where French knots are concerned, but I'd love to see this!

Tegan

French knots are not my favorite either but I have found that I can often substitute colonial knots (sort of a french knot twisted the other way) and they come out much nicer - more even in tension, size and look. You might try a few of these on a scrap piece of fabric to test it out.

MelissaD

If you can just pull up the cover of the Little Book of Parterre and Knot Gardens in French Knots by Christine Harris you can see a sample. She also did another book called French Knot Pictures I think. It is a simple process to go to the real thing in a garden with a sketch book as they are all symetrically made so if you get half you can mirror it when you get home and don't have to draw the whole thing. If you want to try it you can use a myriad of DMC or silk like I am playing with BUT I love love love the Gobi Sand Caron Waterlilies for the seashell or pebble paths. Next time when you are at a place that carries these check out this color and you will see what I mean. It works great !!!!

AND I do hope we can all meet at CW this summer if we can. That would be a blast. barbie who says after you do 15 hours of french knots you get pretty good at them !

I seem to recall that back "in the day" when I would embroider on any pair of jeans that weren't occupied by a leg(and some that were!) that French knots were no challenge. Skip forward a few decades (ouch) and my first attempt at doing a FK on aida.. I honestly don't know if what I ended up with was a French knot, or just a knot! Logically, I do know what went wrong, I just couldn't seem to figure out how to fix it. Any attempts to repair it just got worse. I think that particular project ended up being tossed across the room and left for quite some time. It has since been finished, but I can never pass it (thankfully not often, as it lives at my SIL's house)without remembering the temper tantrum involved.

I have attempted to do a Colonial stitch, but for some reason, and I think it's willfull obstinancy, my fingers turn into all thumbs and I can't make the thread do what I tell it to do. It's like a teenager and just won't listen. LOL I keep telling my fingers if they can do that wrapped spider stitch, they can darn well do a colonial knot, but they just aren't listening to me! Ah well..wish I knew where one could purchase patience..

Tegan

My father tells me that I shall inherit all of his as he has had no use for any of it. No doubt I shall pass it intact to my goddaughter.

Elizabeth