Something unusual happened when I was working out the next part of the stitch along design – it went somewhere unexpected!
Usually I have a clear idea of where a design is going to go, and usually I don’t deviate from that. But this time, what I thought might work wasn’t working. So I started playing around with stitches and shapes, and this is what happened.
I knew I wanted to get my color inspiration thread into the mix at this point. There are some stitches that really work well with overdyed threads – very little of the thread on the back, and color changes on top of the canvas. Waffle stitches are a great example of this, as well as herringbone squares.
Herringbone squares are stitches that are fairly common, but sometimes difficult to stitch because the stitching is from the inside out. It’s hard to know where to start, because the lines on the diagram are covering up the starting point.
These squares also are expanding, so it’s confusing to see where to bring the needle up and down. Hopefully I can help with that!
A herringbone square begins with a cross stitch usually, either over 2 canvas threads or 4. All of the subsequent stitches will have end points in the same stitching channels as the beginning cross stitch, with the stitches expanding around the center.
This diagram illustrates this: the first stitch is a cross stitch, shown in red, with the next stitches around that cross stitch. The thread carries on the back are only crossing 2 canvas threads, in parallel lines, with most of the thread on top of the canvas.
In the instructions for this part, I show everything step by step, where to start each herringbone square, and how they fit together with the center motif. You can find the instructions here: Stitch Along Part 6
I also did something I seldom do when working with overdyed threads – I did a little manipulation of the threads so the color changes would match on all four sides. I started with about 36″ length, separated out 2 strands, then threaded the needle and began stitching. I started with 2 new strands from the length on each side, taking care that the same color started each side. I didn’t discard the leftovers from the length; I’ll use them somewhere else. But I was very pleased with the result!
I hope you enjoy stitching this part. I hope to get the next part posted earlier next week, before I leave to teach at our pilot retreat. It’s already designed, I just need to stitch it and write the instructions. Have a great stitching week!