My current project is a free style/surface embroidery interpretation of Alma Lynn's Fannie Flosswinder which can be seen at:
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My ground is off white cotton with a not too intrusive pattern. Rather than covering the apron in satin or split stitches, I wanted to make an applique from an unknown content, shiny, translucent fabric and attach it to the piece with WonderUnder and then embellish with crazy quilt stitch combinations.My first practise with the shiny fabric was a disaster!!! The wonderunder attached just fine but when I tried step 2, attaching the shape to a ground, the shiny fabric melted. After shouting a few expletives, a light bulb went on: try another practise run but this time reduce the heat even though the instructions say to use a somewhat high setting. Wahla -- appliqued apron!!
This is the way I read if I am laying in bed or on the plane. If I am working on VERY small count fabric (that would be 40 ct. over 1 for MOI) I will often do this to double check if I have managed to skip any threads/stitches. My eye Dr. said that if you can see this way once you are in your 50's you will be able to do it for the rest of your life! That ability to see very close up, even if you need glasses for near or far sightedness, will never deteriorate or disappear. Now THAT makes me happy -- if all else fails, I can just do without my glasses when I am really, really old and not bother with what is going on around me -- LOL! Means I'll be able to see well enough to stitch for a very long time, too, even if I have to hold my fabric 4 inches away from my nose :-))). CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at
I feel your pain. A few years ago I took a quilting class at an LQS. It's a very interesting process - involving strips being turned into sets then cut and flipped and made into blocks - I forget the designers name. Anyhow, I did mine w/ really interesting fabrics - some orientals, and also some gorgeous kind of shiny, shimmery quilting fabric. When I was ironing the strip set seam allowances - I flipped over - and had melted out a hole near the seams in some pieces of the shimmery fabric! I was soooooo annoyed - given that I bought the fabric in that shop, and there was no indication that it had a synthetic needing to be handled at a lower temp. Now, anything similar, I use a press cloth - which will do the trick. In particular when I use the bonding fabrics, materials, I always use a press cloth. Saves holes.
Congrats.
LOL - nothing good. My epiphany is that I'm getting cranky in dealing with all the insane, stupid, bad run of luck that has hit us the last 6 months....i.e. - my patience is wearing thin, and I'm starting to look old and cranky! But, who knows. I may have a good epiphany soon.
Oh - here's one - though it's pretty minor. When stitching on black - w/ black threads - it's really hard to see. I actually in desperation (and not wanting to get back up to look for something else) took a double length of white paper towel, and attached it to the top of my canvas front via my magnet - and flipped it over to the back - so that there is a white background behind. The paper stays there like a screen (I have the canvas pretty vertical in the stand at this time), and can still put my hand behind the piece, in front of the background. This actually worked really well to help with the stitching process. Lap cloth - just wasn't sufficient. The paper towel gave the nice white, and is light enough that it's not in the way of my "underneath" hand.
-- I'm fighting a cold or sinus infection and my brains are quite mushy
As previously noted, I'm interpretting Alma Lynn's Fannie Flosswinder. The chart has cross stitch representations of skeins of floss. I can't seem to hit upon a process that'll make 1- 1 1/2" long skeins without them being too thick and heavy.
Hrm. Try taking a standard length of floss, stripping and recombining two or three strands of it, then wrapping around a couple of fingers, or making a loop on the table. You may not need the entire length to get the right look. Use gold color floss to wrap the loops at the appropriate places, and voila! skeins of floss.
Or do the same thing with a length of number 12 perle cotton. I don't know which would work better.
hth, jenn
-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com WIP: Poppies (Art-Stitch), two knitted tops, Oriental Butterfly Most recently Finished: Floral Sampler, Insect Sampler
What about doing something like a sheaf or wheat stitch, that is essentialy long stitches that are tied down (couched over) in the middle. You could do the tie down stitches with a different color to represent the label. I'm pretty sure there are some diagrams of this stitch on the ANG Stitch of the Month site - or you could find it in a ref book. Just an idea - and easier than turkey work.
I'm not sure what a standard length of floss is Your suggestion about stripping and using less than 6 strands coupled with a thought to mimic how tassels are made by wrapping around a piece of cardboard gave me some nice mini-skeins.
Since the whole skein won't show because they're going to be placed in pockets, I opted to make long loops, despite ellice's comment , that may or may not have a wrapper when I'm finished. OTOH, I may scatter some skeins to make a floor. When I'm finished with this masterpiece, I'll take pictures and then do a kit -- no decisions which are driving me nuttier than usual!!
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