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Isolated Stitches in Embroidery – Beyond TAST

A new challenge for Beyond TAST came out this week: exploring isolated stitches. Seeing how they can be used, made into patterns, or created from other stitches that usually form lines and fillings. For example, chain stitch is a line and filling stitch, with lazy daisy (aka detached chain), being the isolated version of the same stitch.

I grabbed a few of my embroidery books that I thought might help me come up with some ideas. Stitches: New Approaches by Jan Beaney, The Batsford Encyclopedia of Embroidery Stitches by Anne Butler, and The Stitches of Creative Embroidery (later edition) by Jaqueline Enthoven.

Three vintage embroidery books.

I picked out a few different types of stitches to play with. If I didn’t restrict myself then I’d end up with eight zillion samplers!

I chose open chain, eyelets, wheat ear stitch, lock stitch, threaded running, and maidenhair stitches as my main stitches. Others I may include if I have time are dot stitch, fancy hem stitch, knotted cable chain, bokhara couching, double herringbone, backstitched herringbone, detached chain and chevron stitch.  I wanted to include some stitches that are already isolated, and some that are single sections of a repeating stitch (like maidenhair stitch).

After doing a bit of research, I usually start by scribbling whatever ideas I can come up with in my sketch book.

Thoughts so far:

  • I might give eyelets their own page as I’ve never experimented with them before.
  • Try the different stitches in different motif and flower styles, e.g. four spoke cross, six spokes, eight spokes, twelve spokes, circles and ovals.
  • Use stitches as texture by overlapping.
  • Move bits of the stitches around to different places.
  • Lengthen parts of the stitches. E.g. detached chain becomes long tail chain.
  • Isolated stitches used as a filling. Dot stitch is a typical isolated stitch used as a  filling stitch, what happens if other stitches are used this way?

And that is where I’m at so far! Now I just need to grab some fabric, pick out some threads and get stitching. I have a feeling this is going to take a while.

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Posted in Embroidery