Sunday 22 June 2014

NOT my TAST stitch

There are TAST stitches that I like a lot and others that I like less.
#116 Beaded Vandyke and 117 Bullion Vandyke are two of the latter kind. I did not get on well with them when I first tried as you can read here. I put the blame on being moody and that it hadn't been 'my day'.

I was relieved (I know, not very kind of me!) to hear that others had problems, too, (check out Crazyqstitcher's solution) and felt encourage to give those stitches a second chance. Alas...
 I also took Annet's advice and changed from stranded floss to perle 8. It was somewhat easier to control the wrap and the bead on #117 Beaded Vandyke, but I still did not manage do make a decent #118 Bullion Vandyke.
In the picture above you can see the beautiful 'hearts' that form on a plain Vandyke stitch, but NEVER on my Bullion version.
I tried to cheat on where to anchor the Bullion by stitching on a piece of cotton instead of even weave, but that didn't help. 
Sigh!

However, Linda said the stitches that fail us can turn from failures into successes if you use them in a free form embroidery. So in the end there IS a use for my wonky stitches!

16 comments:

margaret said...

now you are being picky Queenie! these stitches look fine to me, I think is is just a hate the stitch problem you have, I must admit it is not one of the stitches I would add to my most popular stitch list

Pamela said...

Beautiful stitches! Isn't it great to be able to learn from what others are doing?

Chris(craft) and Dave(photos) Richards said...

Hi Queenie, wonky or not you've exercised the brain and got your head round
theses complex beauties ! I think its like riding a bike, you never forget some stitches but other more complex ones just elude me, so I put them on the back burner !
Have a peaceful Sunday dear queenie........
hugs
Chris Richards
xxx

Queeniepatch said...

Exercised my brain? Fried it rather! Once the smell of sizzling brain cells fades away I might try these stitches again.

Queeniepatch said...

They would be OK in a 'pile them as thick as possible' embroidery piece, but right now I see no use for them. Thanks for your comforting words.

Queeniepatch said...

You are quite right, Pamela. I love learning all these new TAST stitches, but better still is sharing experiences, wisdom and ideas with others.

Annet said...

Well, I must say you tried harder then I did. I just stopped after one row of bullion VanDyke stitches. It just doesn't appeal to me, I miss the lovely chains in the centre just like you. Luckily there will be a new stitch to try soon!

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

I agree that there are some Tast stitches you like and some you like less, well I've not tried the bullion vandyke stitch yet but I'm not sure I like the look of it to start with [which is nothing to do with your stitching by the way]. I do like the look of the beaded vandyke though.

Stitching Lady said...

Don't complain, Carin, your stitches look funny, like the creeping little animals which come up our walls sometimes and which are so fast that I cannot catch them. NO seriously now, they are ok - your stitches.. They couldn't be better.

Stitching Lady said...

Funny little creatures - like the ones which are speeding up the walls in southern countries.

Queeniepatch said...

it is so nice to hear you say these things. Let's look forward to tomorrow's new stitches!

Queeniepatch said...

I will give these stitches a rest and maybe one day I will come back to them and everything will fall into place. Who knows?

Queeniepatch said...

Yes, you and Linda, who suggested the free form embroidery, can see something in them, and now that you have pointed it out, the stitches do look like creepy-crawlies.

Anonymous said...

Some stitches don't look right no matter how hard you try, this must be one of them, I am sure that you can find some good use for it!

Queeniepatch said...

I think you are right; they don't look right, but they might do in the future. I'll just let them rest for the time being.

crazyQstitcher said...

Well done Queenie for perseverance and a better set of stitches. I could use my own as a freeform embroidery but only as bulk - not to be seen LOL

I have checked again, Sharon's photos with the nicely aligned bullion vanDyke but even though I used Aida, I could Not get them that way.
My patience status improved though.