Each night this week, I've been working a little on Geoffrey, beginning with his houndstooth vest, or waistcoat. This part of his wardrobe is a scaled-down version of his friend Neville's vest (right), worked in mosaic stitches with DMC #5 perle cotton. Because Geoffrey is one-quarter the size of Neville, his houndstooth pattern was reduced to tent stitches.Like the edging for Neville's vest, Geoffrey's was worked in DMC #5 perle cotton--#415--in diagonal oblong cross stitches over two threads, but the body was stitched in basketweave. Because there are a lot of stops and starts in stitching around the darker areas, I approached this as if I were stitching around letters in a canvas with a name--a stocking cuff, for instance--or with a saying. When I reach an area with darker areas, I simply skip over them to the next lighter thread to be stitched--it makes for a smoother basketweave surface this way. Four plies of DMC floss #415 were used for the background, giving a lighter-weight appearance to Geoffrey's vest while maintaining the look of a "hard" finish.
I need to go back now to fill in the houndstooth pattern itself--stay tuned!
4 comments:
The houndstooth vest looks like cross stitches, not tent stitches, or am I nuts?
I'm always amazed at the textures you bring out on canvas, with thread.
Edy--The background for the vest on the left (Geoffrey's) was worked in tent stitches. The vest on the right (Neville's) was worked in mosaic stitches--both the gray and the black.
This is a general note, not specifically tied to this interesting piece. I am so glad I found your blog a year or so ago. Although I don't always write something with every entry, I am always looking and I have now come to use your blog as my "needlepoint resource." If I'm doing another piece and want to get ideas for stitches or threads, I search your blog. You always hit just the right note on interesting but not overdone. Thank you and Happy New Year!
Post a Comment