Thursday, January 28, 2010

TUTORIAL :Feather stitch

Feather stitch is a very easy stitch, It is mostly used for foliage and stems.
This stitch is worked from top to bottom and alternatively between right and left. An easy and a beautiful stitch by itself -can be embellished by adding beads, knots, sequins, and other stitches too.
1. Knot your thread and bring the needle out at A.

2. Now take the needle in down at B and come up at C keeping the working thread under the needle to form a "V".

Now imagine another set of parallel lines to work your next stitch
3.Now bring down the needle at D and again form a "V" at E

4. Now move on to the other side and form a "V" by bringing the needle down at F and up at G

this way you can work the required length

We can incorporate beads and daisy stitch to enhance the look as shown

Double feather stitch is working 2 stitches on easy side


This stitch can be used in ribbon embroidery too

try to use the woven stitch and feather stitch in a design with ribbons. gives amazing results

happy stitching

Sunday, January 24, 2010

KAMAL KADAI AND MIRROR WORK

hi
We are all students and teachers at some point of time in our life as we all constantly learn and teach to many knowingly or unknowingly.My student life in needle work started at home under the able tutelage of my mother and my little knowledge of tailoring comes from elder sister. Of late her interests are in embroidery. She has embroidered a few kameez.I loved the color combination and the stitches incorporated.
Let me share it with you all:-) (surprise to her!!!!!!!!!!).Is there a better way to wish her on her wedding anniversary,(which happens to be this week) than a VIRTUAL wish!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY INDU



CLOSEUP OF MIRROR WORK

KAMALKADAI WORK

CLOSE UP OF KAMAL KADAI WORK

MIRROR WORK

Sunday, January 17, 2010

WOVEN STITCH

Time for the next stitch:-). I have tried to incorporate the same stitch with both thread and satin ribbon.Lets explore a woven rose :
I thought of this stitch as it is a little similar to the algerian stitch which we have already seen.

1. Mark a circle and divide it into five parts spaced equally.

2.Make 5 straight stitches from the numbered points to the center as shown. This step is similar to the one which is shown in Algerian stitch.
3.Bring the needle out at any point in between the foundation at the centre.
4.Now we have to start weaving the thread around the spokes alternating, that is if you take the needle above one spoke , you must take it under the next one.Ignore the frayed edges:-)

5. So alternating go above and below the spokes as shown
6. This is how it looks when finished

Now the same procedure can be followed to make a similar flower with ribbons.These flowers are best done with silk ribbons, but i did not find one here, so settled down to do it with satin ribbons which is easily available in the market. It is suggested that we use a chenille needle but i could find only a tapestry needle, managed with it:-(
Here the foundations spokes can be laid with a matching thread and the weaving to be done with the ribbon following the same procedure.
Twist the ribbon to get a good twirl





These are the ribbons and the needle that i have used


If you do not know how knot with ribbon, this is the first step
1.Take a small length of ribbon,insert it through the needle eye, pull a small length trough
2.Insert the needle again into the small length and pull

3.Pull back to form a knot near the needle eye.

4.There may be many methods to do this but i found this one very easy.
My daughter tried this and this is her sample
Try both of these in your wearables, looks very pretty

happy stitching

Monday, January 11, 2010







Its already a week or so since i posted my first post, time for the next one.........Time flies:-)
well, this ia a kalamkari patch which i have attached to a Kurti, i think it its looking good but i did not have a matching motif to be sewn for the sleeves. hmmmm
then sat down to do a similar motif in aari work because i dont know kalamakri:-(
I think the result turned out to be good as well. what do u think????????????

Now coming to a stitch this week, i think i will be posting it in a day or two. Do come by and have a look.



This is a picture of the Algerian stitch that i had posted last week. you can use it in this way too!!!!
Any guesses as to where i would be using these patches????????????
Keep guessing and have fun too

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

hello everybody

As i had said earlier, in this post i will be giving a tutorial for a stitch and the stitch is Algerian stitch .I hope you find this useful. Though it looks very simple you can incorporate this stitch in your designs very beautifully.

Algerian eye stitch is also called as a Star stitch, mostly used in counted thread embroidery,but i use it in free style too.

Place your piece of fabric in a embroidery hoop,and the fabric should be taut. Mark the numbers as shown in figure1. In this diagram the stitches are numbered and not the needle entries.Always come up at the numbered spot and go down at the center as shown in figure 2.
This will create an eye at the center.
Now it is up to to your imagination to try and incorporate this simple yet beautiful stitch:-)