Posted by dravon in Pipeline Update | Comments Off on Decorative Stitch Cataloging Begins
Decorative Stitch Cataloging Begins
While at work today, I did my best to sit in on a class taught by Jane Connor. The class was part one of two and was entitled “Stitch Exploration.” You should see what this woman can do with regular decorative stitches! Most folks I’ve seen, including myself, use lines of decorative stitches and then stack them up to make them look like fabric fill. Or use a decorative stitch instead of a straight stitch for stitch-in-the-ditch.
Not Jane. She’s got “The Eye” … you know, the Artist’s Eye. I’ve had other friends who’ve had this Eye for holiday decorations. I swear they could literally go outside, pick up some sticks, leaves and pine cones then come inside and toss them around and it would be gorgeous. I do that and it looks like a hurricane blew through. Jane’s one of those folks, but her Eye is focused on decorative elements within stitching. She combines stitches, stacks stitches, and uses individual elements to create something entirely new. I’m so looking forward to trying her mock-crochet machine stitched edging! I’ll totally share that one here.
Today’s first class was all about getting to know what your machine can do – length, width, density, programming options, elongation, etc. Inspired by this class, I’m starting my own Stitch Catalog. Since my machine has literally hundreds of stitches, I figure that if I do 2 or 3 a day, I might get done this year…
My stitch out “pages” are on muslin using a crisp, heavy tear away stabilizer. I’m using a rayon thread that is getting low on the spool and have embroidery bobbin thread in the bobbin. You can see by my stitch-outs here that I’m starting with the default setting, and recording the information. If there was density or other options, I’d include them. So far, the 3 stitches I did today don’t have anything but length and width. The second thing I did was smoosh the length down as far as it would go, and stitch out a single pattern. Next I’d stretch it out as far as it would go, then return it to default. Next again it’s time for the width to be minimized and maximized. When I encounter other options, I’ll be min/maxing those as well.
As I’m stitching these out, I’m trying to pay attention to how the stitch is formed. See the line on the page? My foot’s central guide follows that line, so I know at a glance where that stitch will start and end in relation to the center of the foot/center needle position. I’m also looking at the stitch to see what could be done with them. For example, I’m looking at that double cross stitch which has been elongated to maximum and I’m wondering “how would this look if I then threaded a ribbon through the stitches?” Or wondering what that undulating stitch might look like it was mirrored and stitched side-by-side. The opening created might be an excellent frame for a smaller motif!
In short, I’m cataloging what I have available to me and giving my imagination permission to run wild. I’m particularly curious how many of these decorative stitch re-combinations I can use on the historical clothing and have it look really cool.
I would love to know how others have been creatively using their machine’s decorative stitches!
Until we meet again, Happy Sewing!
– Dravon
