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.