Sunday 6 November 2016

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 1: Anundsjö Stitch

TAST, which stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, is an excellent online stitch course by Sharon Boggon of Pintangle. The instructions are clear and there are many examples of how to use the stitches in projects. I am happy to have learned the 140 stitches in this course and have made several stitch samplers as well as numerous other projects, inspired by Sharon's stitches, for example these two cards:
Cardigan in Magic Chain Stitch and dress in Woven Picot Stitch


However, I am hungry for more stitches, and plan to work my way through the books in my needlework library, learning stitches, many that will be new to me.

My intentions are

  • to write a few words about the stitch, its history or my impressions of it.
  • to illustrate the instructions in a photograph or drawing.
  • to make a stitch sampler using a nice piece of Aida given by a friend Down Under. 
  • to set myself homework of using the stitch in a small sample project.
  • to build up a reference chart, similar to the one I made for the TAST stitches.


So here is the start of my private
Sunday Stitch School

Lesson 1: Anundsjö Stitch
(To make a gentle start I'll begin with a stitch I have already talked a bit about in a previous blog post.)

This is a traditional stitch from the northern province of Ångermanland in Sweden. Brita-Kajsa Karlsdotter is said to have created this stitch in her old age, maybe by mistake, (failing eyesight?). She was born in 1816, had 11 children and died at the age of 99. She had little time for embroidery until she became a widow. Her mother had earned a living embroidering bonnets, and Brita-Kajsa tried to recall how her mother had stitched, but she also created her own way of stitching.
Here is a link to her interesting story, unfortunately only in Swedish.

Updated infomation about the name
English: Swedish Split Stitch/ Detached Split Stitch
French: Point Fendu Scandinave

For Anundsjö Stitch two threads are used on the needle and the long stitch is split and fastened with a short stitch. This creates a slightly sprawling and charmingly untidy look.
Anundsjö Stitch if often found in local folk craft of Ångermanland and is traditionally worked in red or pink thread on white linen or cotton.

It seems to be a very forgiving stitch and perfect for me to begin with.




It starts like a split stitch, dividing two threads.
The anchoring stitch goes into the fabric outside the split stitch.
Then you add another stitch, either as a detached one or following a line.



On my Aida sampler it looks like this:

The books I have referred to are:

Homework:
To stitch a small design in Karin Holmberg's 'Stitched In Scandinavia'.


32 comments:

yarngoddess@hotmail.com said...

Cool, looking forward to watching this go forward. The dress is beautiful!

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you.
That dress was fun to make! It is always nice to try to take a basic stitch further. I hope to learn a lot from this self-made Stitch School.

margaret said...

this is going to be both fun and informative to follow. EWow 99 and born in 1816 she certainly lived far longer than most in those days.
Loving how you have used the stitches for cards too

Julie Fukuda said...

Well, I guess you can't have too many stitches. Do you find stitches you have done before under a different name?

Shami Immanuel said...

The stitch looks different. Good luck in learning new stitches.

Stitching Lady said...

Interesting stitch. I will go to try it too, if you allow please! I will be your student - for one or the other srirch!

crazyQstitcher said...

I remember the lovely cardigan and dress from the earlier TAST and it's good to re-view them.
Seeing the Anundsjö stitch on Aida made me think of leaping porpoise. Seeing it used for the emblem made me think of cornflowers. My fingers now itch to stitch to see if it would work.

Janie said...

Great stitching on the cards.
I think your Sunday Stitch School is a fun idea.
Those two books look like they are for serious embroidery aficionados, very exciting.

Anonymous said...

You have set yourself a lot of work to do, I will look forward to your stitch ideas. The two cards are brilliant the dress made from picots is stunning. I haven't seen the stitches used like this before

Annet said...

Fun to see this stitch, it's on my to-do list since you first wrote about it. I already found the English instructions in The Stitches of Creative Embroidery by Jacqueline Enthoven, it's called detached split stitch. Maybe I join you in your Sunday stitch school and finally give it a try! I'm looking forward to see the design in this stitch.

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

Interesting stitch, I'm looking forward to learning more.

Queeniepatch said...

I hope I can keep it up! Yes, Brita-Kajsa Karlsdotter was a hardworking and strong woman, but always humble, helpful and deeply religious.

Queeniepatch said...

Yes, there are lots of stitches with multiple names. Also each language might have its own name for the same stitch. This will be part of the fun of this course.

Queeniepatch said...

The stitch IS different, but easy to stitch. I will have fun learning new ones.

Queeniepatch said...

Ha, ha! Yes, if you want to join in, that would be fun. No need to attend every lesson, take your pick!

Queeniepatch said...

Anundsjö stitch does not look too good on Aida - I would say it is a wild stitch, and Aida is perfect for RESTRICTING stitches.
I think you are right, Aundsjö would be good for cornflowers.

Queeniepatch said...

The books are Swedish and differ from Stitch ABCs and other dictionaries in that they are quite 'chatty' and there are often only one picture for the instructions, not the 1,2,3,4 step photo you might find in other books.
The cards were fun to make, and fun to see again in the box of TAST cards.

Queeniepatch said...

You are right, sometimes I wonder if I am going to carry this through. The school will not be open EVERY Sunday, so I have given me the leeway of taking weeks off!
It was fun to challenge the Woven Picot stitch and make the folds of the dress so wide. This card must not be touched or the threads will open, there are only three strands of thread in the warp for each fold.

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you for the information. I will have to check out JE's book.
The design was fun to make. Homework will be published later.

chitra said...

that's a lovely new[?] stitch. for me at least. this is interesting venture you have started. Best wishes! i would also like to try your stitches.
Chitra

carorose said...

I have the Karin Holmberg book and read about this stitch there. I followed your link and got Mr Google to translate for me, which was interesting. But it is a great story. I often think I have created a new stitch when I make a mistake but it always turns out that someone else thought of it before me. Thanks for the tutorial.

mattia said...

Bonjour, je suis également intéressée pour apprendre de
nouveaux points le lundi
bonne idée, je vais suivre
Merci beaucoup

Queeniepatch said...

I am sure we can all make new stitches by combing existing stitches or twisting and turning them. Let's be creative!

Queeniepatch said...

The stitch is not well known, in spite of being 'invented' over 100 years ago. I, too, hope the venture will work out well!

Queeniepatch said...

I am sure we can all invent new stitches! Let's be creative!
Mr Google makes the most amusing translations, but I agree. It is an interesting story about Brita-Kajsa Karlsdotter.

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you. You will have to follow in English, I'm afraid. Hope that is OK.

mattia said...

Yes thank you, the patterns are well clear to understand,
Mattia

Susan said...

Very interesting stitch that I don't recall ever seeing. Thanks for sharing it.

trentemont mattia said...

I find a french name for this stitch in french translation book
of Mary Thomas :

- Point fendu scandinave
Voilà

Queeniepatch said...

You're welcome! Give it a try!

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you for sharing this information. I'll update the lesson.

Renee said...

Your cards are amazing! I particularly love the dress you created. Have fun with your new stitches! I've enjoyed seeing the ones you have shared so far. (Once again, I have fallen behind in my blog reading. Catching up here has been delightful!)