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Originally posted 2008-11-21 07:23:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

You probably haven’t heard of change ringing unless you read Dorothy Sayers, live in England, or go near a church which has a peal of bells and rings it this way.

If you do then you may have heard the bells ringing in what sounds like a patterned sequence — that’s change ringing. If you read Dorothy Sayers, one of the Peter Whimsy novels, The Nine Tailors has change ringing as its central theme.

In college, I had a friend who was a change ringer in Washington, DC at the National Cathedral, which has a wonderful peal of bells. It’s great to hear them.

In change ringing the bells, four to twelve, are rung in a particular sequence. Each time the bells are rung they are rung in a different sequence. This site http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~kvdoel/bells/bells.html has a little applet which allows you to set up some bells and then choose one of 13 peals. It plays the bells for you and writes out the sequence as each is rung. It’s totally cool. The National American Guild of Change Ringers has an outstanding site that gives some background information.

Now you know what Change Ringing is, but how do you adapt it to needlepoint?

I was intrigued by an article I read awhile ago, which used Change Ringing to knit socks. The colored inset is a peal sequence.

So why not do this in needlepoint? It would work best as a border, since the sequence will always be narrow. I picked an seven bell peal for the sample.

Begin by choosing your stitch. If you want it to be seven stitches wide, use Continental, 14, use Mosaic, bigger use Scotch, Rice, or any other square stitch. The model above uses Mosaic.

Next pick your thread colors. You will need seven colors and you should write down which color is assigned to each number.

For simplicity I used six shades of Silk & Ivory. I loved the look on the socks of the red running through the cool color background, so I picked, Red Hot for one number and cooler colors for the others.

To make my sequence I used the peal from near the beginning of The Nine Tailors, which I’m rereading. As peals go, it’s pretty simple.

I wrote the sequence out on graph paper, so I wouldn’t get lost. The sequence is:
246375
267453
275634
253746
235476
257364
276543
264735
243657
234567

Red was used for 3 and the other colors are shades of violet and blue violet. Notice there is no one and that 2 is always in the first position.

I think this makes for pretty cool needlepoint. You’ll see the results in the Twinchy Gallery at the end of the month.

The rest is here:
Adapting Change Ringing to Needlepoint

What Makes a Canvas Easy to Stitch?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-05-13 06:22:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

A couple of weeks ago I got a comment asking about the canvas in a kit. The colors were too close to be distinguished and the stitcher, a beginner, was frustrated.

This got me thinking about what should be present in a first needlepoint canvas.

1. Is the artwork clear? Many printed canvases (often in kits) are fuzzy a result, I think, of the inks used. If the colors aren’t clear, it’s not good for beginners.

2. Is it easy to distinguish one color from another? Many artists will “push” colors so the colors on the canvas can be easily distinguished, even though the colors of the threads are close. If there is a color key, use that to check. If there is not, look at the canvas itself.

3. Are there holes blocked with paint or flaws in the canvas? This is a sign of lower quality.

4. Are lines straight? Can you tell what color each intersection should be? Kits and computer-printed canvases are less accurate to one degree or another, than hand-painted canvases. The more exact the painting (called stitch painting) the easier it will be to stitch.

5. Look for canvases with solid areas of color and no lots of fine details. These are harder to stitch.

There is a trade-off (isn’t there always). A stitch painted hand painted canvas needlepoint will be more expensive.

However good needlepoint canvases exist at every price level and it’s worth it to be a smart needlpoint consumer.

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What Makes a Canvas Easy to Stitch?

New Threads – November 2002

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2002-11-13 08:33:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

dede’s Needleworks has come out with a couple of great new threads. Silkbee is a silk thread which comes on 65 yard spools. It is available in 44 colors. For tent stitch I used two strands on 18 mesh canvas. I found that I liked doubling the strands over in the needle better than using two strands because it seemed to control the thread better. It is really an outstanding thread for blackwork and pattern darning. The blackwork sample I did looked beautiful and I can’t wait to do more. Pattern darning covered lightly but beautifully. This would be an outstanding thread for doing pattern darning over painted canvas.

The other thread from dede is call Tinore and is a metallic with a wire core, called a Couching thread. You can’t really stitch with this thread (I tried it) because the wire kinks and it is very hard to maintain an even tension. Since the end result isn’t much different from a non-wired metallic — use this where you want the staying power of wire. Use this thread four couching, for the bottom of something like Web stitch, for pattern couching (Or Nue) or for making a curved edge to a piece.

So how would you use it? I’m going to do some or nue ornaments with it, use it to outline some pop art daisies for a purse I’m making, add it to some Christmas tree ornaments. I was so impressed with how tight I could make curves when couching and how easy it was to bend the wire into shape and then couch that I’m ready to stitch up a storm. dede suggested that you could also make twists and braid and either couch it or make trims out of it. Tinore comes in 15 yard spools and is available in 2 colors.

Six Strand Sweets is a new line of overdyed cotton flosses in colors as yummy as their names Starting with DMC floss, the colors are dyed in small batches in a wonderful assortment of softly shaded single colors and variegated shades. There are currently about 100 colors with names like Spice Drops (a good medium green), Blue Raspberry (blue turquoise — like Icees), and Cotton Candy (pastel blue pink and cream). These threads work beautifully for tent stitch and geometric stitches. Many of the colors in this line are unique and I really liked the clarity and crispness of the color changes. The company puts together special offers of color assortments which change monthly.

I just got some skeins of two wonderful new cotton threads from a company called Ty-Di Threads in Pleasanton, CA. They are hand-dyed to match each other and come in a nubby version (sort of like Wool Crepe) and a smooth version (sort of like Spring II). They come in 20 yard skeins in 35 colors. The colors are almost solid, soft and rich. There are a few color families so you can do some shading.

I stitched with the nubby thread and was delighted with the results. For tent stitch it gave a great textured result where the nubbiness of the thread almost obscured the stitches. It was wonderful in cross and diagonal stitches, but a single strand was a bit thin for straight stitches on 18 mesh. A cool way to use this thread would be to make a layered stitch, like Rice Stitch, with one layer in one texture and the second layer in the other. It seemed a bit thick for blackwork on 18 mesh, but created a wonderful dense pattern when darned. Probably the coolest effect was to use this yarn to make French knots. They get a very interesting texture.

The rest is here:
New Threads – November 2002

New Threads – November 2002

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2002-11-13 08:33:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Read the rest here:
New Threads – November 2002

Adapting Needlepoint – Not so Big a Failure

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-06-15 05:52:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The good thing about having a Mom who is an artist is that making or adapting things to make your own pieces is not a problem.

It’s also a bad thing as I learned in high school.

At the time there was a stunningly lovely magazine, Horizon, I think, which had beautiful pictures of beautiful places in color. One picture struck me as being perfect to become needlepoint. I was a floral mosaic,in turquoise, dark line green, and hot pink. There were geometric elements and I could adapt it easily to a grid.

I proceeded to chart it on graph paper, bought my Persian Wool and started stitching.

Well you know how you color in the squares on the paper, but needlepoint id done over intersections?

I didn’t think of the intersections as what was inside the squares, but I thought of the intersections as the intersections where the lines of the grid crossed.

Therein was the problem. I started stitching, great guns, going happily along.

Then I stopped and put the stitching down for a few weeks.

When I picked it up, I started stitching in a different place. If I had just continued where I had been everything would have been fine, I could have figured out how I had translated the chart to the canvas.

But I didn’t. So I picked wrong.

By the times the areas met up, the lines didn’t. So the geometric part of the pattern doesn’t line up.

I still do stuff like this, but at least now I know the tendency and try to correct for it.

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Adapting Needlepoint – Not so Big a Failure

TNNA – Back Home

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-01-14 15:29:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’m back home from TNNA where I saw lots of cool stuff. I’m clearing my brain so I can write a good summary which should appear later this week.

In the meantime, I’m going to have a review of June McKnight’s new bargello book (Tuesday) and an article about Tink Boord-Dill’s great alphabet books (Wednesday). I’m also hoping I get me current project done so I can blog about it and how you can do a similar project (Thursday).

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TNNA – Back Home

Ornament Idea – Flags

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2006-12-15 07:36:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Earlier this week I was at Needlepoint, Inc in San Francisco (http://www.needlepointinc.com). They had their shop decorated for Christmas with a charming tree with nothing but needlepoint ornaments on it. My favorites were needlepoint flags. There are painted canvases of flags of many different countries. But what really struck me was the finishing. They were finished as rectangles about 1/2″ thick, with fabric for the sides and back, and cording around the sides. The weren’t stuffed, but probably finished over blocks of foam. The fabrics were glitzy, but didn’t overwhelm the graphic simplicity of the flags.

I was delighted.

I’ve tried to make needlepoint flags before, because they are so fun on a tree as ornaments, and I’ve always been very disappointed with the results. They were just too thin and insubstantial to look good. A fabric or paper flag on a little pole will drape, but being needlepoint, these didn’t. But they weren’t enough to show up and making them bigger didn’t really appeal to me.

This is a fantastic way to make flag ornaments. I can’t wait to make a bunch for next Christmas. I probably would have bought a bunch of canvases then and there if it weren’t for the fact that my DD was waiting down in the car and we wanted to beat the traffic.

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Ornament Idea – Flags

Adding Your Signature to Needlepoint

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2010-06-17 07:50:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Jane recently asked me for ideas for “signing” her needlepoint, as she has not found a good way to do this.

It’s a problem many stitchers face, myself included. I can think of four ways to approach this. The last two approaches are taken from the art world. The pictures throughout are not taken from needlepoint pieces, but from other kinds of art.

Example of quilt label to be sewn to the back of the quilt

Design your own label to put inside or behind the piece

One it to make it as unobtrusive as possible. The best way to do that is to write the information on a piece of cloth and sew it to the BACK of the needlepoint. This would be on the inside of the pillow or behind the needlepoint and the back of the picture. People wouldn’t see it, but the information would be preserved.

If you do want it on the face of the needlepoint, there are two other ideas. The first is also unobtrusive. Use a thread a shade or two darker than your background thread. Make your initials and the year in Tent Stitch. Tent Stitch around it in the background color to make a box and put your background stitch around this little box. It won’t show very much.

Another thing is to do something like the red “chops” or seals you see on Chinese paintings. Once again use your initials and the date, but this time stitch them in red. You might want to play around a bit to find a good-looking design). once stitched, enclose the chop in a thin red border. This does not need to go in the lower right corner as a signature would, but can go wherever it would make sense in the design.

Whistler’s butterfly signature

A final way is to develop some kind of symbol and use that as your signature. My favorite painter, Whistler, used a butterfly for most of his career, even for letters. It took many forms, can be found anywhere in the piece and often is almost invisible. A stylized element like this can be a great way to sign your work.

However you chose to do it, signing your work allows others to know whose hard work went into the piece.

Link:
Adding Your Signature to Needlepoint

Blackwork as Background

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2006-04-25 06:44:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I decided that the Leaf Mask really needed a background and chose one of my favorite Blackwork patterns in white Elegance which matches the color of the canvas.

The pattern is simple to do but results in a complex pattern. (The picture shows the chart).

The result, since it’s stitched in white, is a richley textured background which highliights the difference between the open and “filled” places. Because it’s Blackwork it is less heavy than the stitching on the focal point. Because it’s white, the pattern doesn’t overshador the other stitching.

In fact it is better than I had hoped and shows why Blackwork can be perfect for backgrounds.

To make this kind of background you need to do two things.

1. Pick a Blackwork pattern which is an overall pattern, on the small side.

2. Pick a thread which is close to the color of the canvas, a solid, and about the thickness of a canvas hole (#8 pearl is perfect for 18 mesh).

Then go with it.

You will be delighted with the results.

tags: blackwork,holblein stitch,needlepoint background,blackwork background,needlepoint stitch,blackwork pattern,blackwork fill pattern

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Blackwork as Background

Twinchy Heart Outlines

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-02-03 05:54:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This is the finished heart from Sunday. I also worked on the sampler during the SuperBowl and will give you an update after a couple of hearts are done.

My plan is to pick one overdyed thread, like Sunset in the Twinchy above, and use it as the basis for each heart. Over the weekend I pulled a bunch of lime green thread as well as son bright pink and magenta ones I dyed myself.

Now for the heart outlines. They are all displayed full size.