Chapter 3 – Tonal Effects in Machine Stitchery (c)

I stitched six strips of fabric which had a thin Vilene on the reverse to provide support.  (To view the images close up please click on them and they will take you to the source image). 

Image 1 – Fabric strips:

Image 2 – Straight stitch with zigzags introduced along the length:

Image 3 – As above but with a second line of stitching mirroring the first:

Image 4 – Good old basic zigzags:

Image 5 – Straight stitch with zigzag introduced (as in image 2) but with a change of needle position and no gradual change of zigzag stitch width:

Image 6 – A decorative stitch (honeycomb?), this seemed to take forever to complete!:

Image 7 – Straight stitch in three directions:

Chapter 3 – Tonal Effects in Machine Stitchery (b)

Image 1 – Straight stitch, this gives teeny tiny little loops:

Image 2 – Zigzag stitch, the little ‘loops’ are a more elongated with the zigzag:

Image 3 – Varying zigzag stitch, gives different sized ‘loops’', I quite like this haphazard look:

Image 4 – This is absolutely my favourite!  Black thread on both sides with zigzag stitch and some pulling at the top thread to give little (unsupported) loops.  You’d have to bond the back of this to stop the little loops unravelling but I really like the effect this gives:

Image 5 – Black embroidery floss wound onto the bobbin, finding my feet with simple stitching:

Image 6 – Black embroidery floss wound onto the bobbin, far more haphazard:

Image 7 – Black embroidery floss wound onto the bobbin, zigzag stitch:

Image 8 – Black embroidery floss wound onto the bobbin, straight stitch with varying length.  Of all of the ‘cable stitch’ samples this is my favourite because of the little nobbles of thread:

Chapter 3 – Tonal Effects in Machine Stitchery (a)

I’m going to log Chapter 3 with three blog entries:

1. Using the basic stitches on the machine
2. Creating whip and cable stitch effects
3. Machine stitched strips

So first off here are the straight stitch samples.

Image 1 – Stretch blind hem:

Image 2 – Zigzag stitch (varying width):

Image 3 – Straight stitch (varying space between lines):

Image 4 – Zigzag stitch (varying width between stitch lines):

Image 5 – Straight stitch:

Image 6 – Zigzag stitch (running the stitch in different positions on the fabric to create voids):

Image 7 – Zigzag stitch (varying length and width of stitch):

Image 8 – Zigzag stitch (varying length of stitch)

Image 9 – A decorative (honeycomb?) stitch (this is actually my favourite):

Image 10 – Zigzag stitch (varying stitch length and width):

Image 11 – A decorative (honeycomb?) stitch from the front of the fabric:

Image 12 – A decorative (honeycomb?) stitch from the back of the fabric:

Chapter 2 – Blackwork and Tonal Effects (2)

So with the planning done I moved on to the extra enjoyable bit – the stitching. 

Tonal Column 1 – Using Pattern Development

For column 1 I used one strand of embroidery floss and built up the pattern gradually.

Image 1 – column 1:

Image 2 – close up of column 1:

Image 3 – close up of column 1 

Tonal Column 2 – Using Spacing of Stitches

For column 2 I used one strand of embroidery floss and used one little pattern to alter the tone.

Image 4 – column 2:

Image 5 – close up of column 2:

Tonal Column 3 – Varying Thread Thickness

For column 3 I built up the thickness of the thread starting with one strand of embroidery floss and ending with 12 strands.  I must admit that I did go wrong little along the way but unpicking would have been a nightmare so I bit my lip and decided to let it go.

Image 6 – column 3:

Image 7 – close up of column 3

Image 8 – close up of column 3

Chapter 2 – Blackwork and Tonal Effects (1)

I began this section by noting a handful of blackwork patterns in my sketchbook (all hail graph paper!).

Image 1 – a handful of blackwork patterns:

Image 2- another handful of blackwork patterns!

Then I started to look at building up patterns within the patterns to explore tone.

Images 3/4/5/6 – tone within the patterns

With a few little drawings done I decided to do something a bit bigger.

Image 7 – two tonal columns with blackwork patterning: 

Images 8/9/10/11/12 – close ups of image 7:

I decided it was time to move onto the stitched part of this section of the chapter so I planned two more tonal panels.  The one that is in blue ink is simply because I picked up the wrong pen but seeing as it was purely for planning purposes I wasn’t bothered.  (I also found it was easier to follow the blue pattern).

Image 13 – stitch plans:

When I was working out the bottom part of the left-hand panel I did extra little drawings and one is included below.  The black ink represents the stitching (scaled by half) and the little blue dots helped me work out where I would be placing the small diamonds.  Using a different colour made it easier to see the pattern.

Image 14 -  planning drawing:

I will write about the stitching in the next blog entry but I must at this point reference the books I used for this part of the chapter.  Please see the reference link here.