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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Elizabeth Harborne - Stitch direction and texture

I was quite surprised at all the interest my last posts on texture and stitch direction generated.
I am a bit short on time at the moment - too many other deadlines closing in again on me - most of these are this time self imposed ones - and it feels good to be back on track again.  I will try and take more pictures of my work and expand on this topic more in the next few months and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the topic too.

For now, I took a few quick pictures of some of the things I have stitched that happened to be close by.... stitch direction is important...and I know I am way too particular and critical of my own work... I know that that makes some of you who know me chuckle!  I enjoy thinking about these things and studying my stitching, books and photographs etc ... and I love to challenge myself ... critiquing my own work is a way for me to learn more on a topic.  Please do not get me wrong though,  I love to see other people's work and enjoy seeing their progress, hearing about their accomplishments and problems while they work through a project and I do not look at their work critically but rather supportively.  We all learn from sharing and I have learned a lot from others who have shared their feelings with me about a teacher, a project, a stitch or technique. 
Anyway, here are just a few examples of stitch direction and how it affects the piece... stitch direction lends movement (see free form petals in my last post), it can influence the flow of a piece (look at the Eliz. Harborne band below with the base petals stitched horizontally or vertically), it can emphasize a shape (see the acorns in the second picture below from another sampler) and it is all important in working realistic technique (last picture below of my pansies)

Elizabeth Harborne - stitch direction discussion - white petals
The Song of my Needle 


My Pansies - Japanese Embroidery - realistic technique
The Song of my Needle

THE main thing in all of this is that we enjoy this great journey and our hobby... so thanks to all of you for your interest and/or tolerance of my quirkiness! 

2 comments:

Krista said...

Beautiful detail, Nupur! The band on Elizabeth Harborne is gorgeous! Amazing how the direction of the stitches gives it a different look. I would think for the flowers going up, I would make the satin stitches up/down and the flowers going to the side, I would do the stitches left/right. It is all a matter of preference. The pansy embroidery is amazing.

~mj~ said...

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of stitchers...I have seen otherwise lovely samplers spoiled by stitching in the wrong direction...I am working on getting better at satin stich myself, and try to be mindful of how the light 'plays' with the stitches. Your work is lovely!!