TAST 44 & Beyond TAST 44

 TAST 44 -  Twisted Chain stitch & Rope Stitch.

Both these stitches belong to the chain stitch family.  When twisted chain stitches are worked very closely, it becomes the rope stitch.

These stitches are worked from right to left.  The first and second rows are worked in white thin perl cotton thread .   A twisted chain stitch flower in white thin perl cotton and a dark green color stem in rope stitch using thicker perl cotton thread was stitched for this sampler  The vertical rope stitches in orange and green color are created using 6 strands of anchor embroidery floss.

Beyond TAST 44 - Herringbone Square and Laced Herringbone square

Herringbone square is a much familiar stitch to me as the Kutch Embroidery work of India is based on this stitch.  This stitch is the foundation stitch in kutch work on which interlacing is done. The link for my earlier post on Indian Kutch work is here

Laced Herringbone Square is a new stitch to me.  It was  fun to learn a new way of lacing the herringbone square.

There is a difference in the way lacing is done on this stitch and that of the Kutch work.

TAST 43 & BEYOND TAST 43

 TAST 43 - KNOTTED CRETAN

As the name suggests, the stitched is derived from Cretan Stitch. This stitch can be used wherever the cretan stitch isused.  This stitch is very easy to learn, once you know how to do the Cretan Stitch.  

While using a thicker thread, the knotted texture of this stitch is much visible, .  So, my samples are stitched with all the 6 strands of anchor embroidery floss.

BEYOND TAST 43 - RAISED CUP

This is a very interesting stitch which is a new one for me.  I initially struggled with this stitch and this struggle can be seen in my below sampler.

A foundation triangle is initially stitched, and then the needle and thread are passed through the bars of the triangle without picking the fabric.  This stitch looks better with a thicker thread.

For my samples, I have used all 6 strands of anchor embroidery floss.  Few raised cups are done with a single round around the triangle, more of these raised cups are done with two rounds and  only a couple of these cups are done with 3 rounds around the triangular foundation stitch. 

                                                         

TAST 42 & BEYOND TAST 42

 TAST 42 - HALF CHEVRON STITCH

As the name suggests, this stitch is a combination of half chevron stitch and half  Cretan Stitch.   This is an easy  stitch.

Rows of these stitches can be combined together to form various patterns.   

BEYOND TAST 42 - BEADED HEDEBO EDGE

This stitch creates a very beautiful scallops in between the beads.  This stitch was a bit difficult to learn initially.  The first row of my sampler  shows the initial struggle in my learning this beauty. 

This stitch looks quite good when using thicker threads.  The second row is worked with DMC Pearl Cotton 3 thread.  The third is worked with 6 strands anchor floss. 

                                        

TAST 41 & BEYOND TAST 41

 TAST 41 - Closed Herringbone Stitch / Double Back Stitch / Shadow Stitch

    As the name suggests, Closed Herringbone stitch is just a variation of Herringbone Stitch.  In the back side of the fabric, this stitch creates two back stitch lines.  Hence this is also called as Double Back Stitch.

    This stitch is predominantly used in traditional Indian shadow work named "Chikankari".  This is very popular in and around Lucknow.   In Chikankari, the closed herringbone stitch is worked on the wrong side of a thin , see through cotton transparent fabric, so in the right side of the fabric you would be seeing the double back stitch along with the shadow of the closed herringbone stitch in the backside.  

In the sampler below,  the first row is worked with the DMC perl cotton thread.

  The second row (blue waves) are worked with 3 strands of anchor embroidery floss.

   The  third row is worked in reverse manner where the closed herringbone is in the wrong side of fabric and the double back stitch is in the right side of the fabric.

  My earlier chikankari work with the double back stitch can be seen here

I do have a pretty chikankari salwar suit in pink color.  Double back stitch has been  worked in the black color thread in this suit.

                                                        

                                                      

BEYOND TAST 41 - Fancy Bobbin Edging

This stitch is derived from the buttonhole stitch.  The first step  is to work the buttonhole stitch followed by sliding the needle under the vertical line created by the buttonhole stitch. This creates a knot in the base of the stitch.

When I stitched with 2 or 3 strands anchor embroidery floss, it just looked exactly like the buttonhole stitch.  I could not make out the tiny knot created.  So, thicker threads are suitable for this stitch.   I dont think I would be using this stitch in my future projects.  I would be  using buttonhole stitch rather than this stitch. 

 

   

TAST 40 & BEYOND TAST 40

 TAST 40 - ALGERIAN EYE STITCH

Algerian Eye Stitch is a super easy stitch , as it just involves straight stitches. This is worked in aida cloth.  The variation in the arrangement of algerian eye stitches creates different geometrical patterns. 

BEYOND TAST 40 - EASTERN STITCH

        

                        This stitch is new to me.  Its a very simple stitch.  This stitch is worked on aida cloth.  Various geometrical patterns can be created by varying the placement of each EASTERN stitch