Sunday Sampler of Tips from Margaret Bendig

Our class with talented Margaret Bendig was this past few days. The piece we did was Journey and the color combinations the ladies chose were gorgeous. Just take a look!

 This charted design has lots of woven stitches and waffle stitches , a few of Margaret's favorite stitches. 

Here are a few of the tips we learned from Margaret on basic techniques.

1. When stitching Continental or Tent Stitch  or Satin Stitch:
     - Always come up through the canvas hole in the odd numbers and go down in the even ones.
     - When stitching from:
         Left to Right- follow this chart

        Right to left - follow this chart     

        Top to bottom- follow this chart

        Bottom to top -follow this chart

    I know by now you are saying- boring. But next time you stitch and wonder
why you are not getting the coverage  when stitching satin stitch, 
refer to these diagrams. Or take a doodle cloth and stitch some satin stitch with these diagrams. These are basic techniques that will make a big difference in your projects.

  2. Before you finishing your stitching for the day, thread up six or so needles .
 Then, the next day when you have 10 or so minutes to stitch you are ready to work. This is  a great way to get a project moving when your time is limited to stitch. Instead of spending time getting your thread out and threading your needles, you spend the time stitching to complete your project.

  3.  Anchoring your threads to start or end a stitch
       
       Away Waste knot
        When stitching continental  or tent , use an away waste knot and stitch over the thread tail, then clip off the knot.

                T stitch 
          When using a larger stitches over more than tow threads, such as a  waffle or woven, the "T" stitch works well to anchor the thread. 

           
           L Stitch
          
          When you are using a satin stitch that is only more than two threads, the "L" stitch works well.

                                    
                 Back stitch
                  
                This works to anchor threads when you are using narrow stitches over two threads,  like Smyrna crosses, Mosaic or Van Dyke stitch used in borders. 

         Remember when ending a thread, to make sure that your work will cover the anchoring stitch. If you can carefully separate a few stitches  and work a Back stitch, this is a good way to end a thread. Sometimes you will have no choice but to run a thread under the back of your finished work but be careful not to disturb the stitches on the front of your work.

Last year we did Margaret's Southwest Kimono which is stitched in turquoise, terra cotta and copper . Mine is not quite finished but here is this pattern done in blue by another class student which is just beautiful. She like me, is partial to the color blue.

  
 Have a wonderful Sunday!