Monday, February 12, 2018

Feather stitch challenged



The next block for the Sweet Land of Liberty SAL at Humble Quilts  requires some embroidery.  I do pretty well with embroidery until I come to the feather stitch.  I was having a lot of trouble with my thread (above) and forgetting to alternate the stitch from side to side.




Even after getting out this fabulous book by Carole Samples.  It actually has every stitch ever invented, well, I think it has every stitch.  It's amazing!

So I found the feather stitch page with all it's variations (I think it actually takes up more than one page) and began practicing in my mind.  I wished I had someone to walk me through it.

I know it's not a difficult stitch but for some reason it doesn't compute from paper to cloth for me.  I'm pretty agile in stitchery,  I've sewed clothes since I was 12 years old. I've learned  tatting, crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint, crewel embroidery, I've even tried Romanian Point Lace but for some reason this feather stitch has me baffled.  Oh, and I know how to knit I'm just not very good, the whole dropped, twisted, and split stitches thing. . .

I can't do decoupage either.  I'm a klutz!!! 




Anyway, I persevered and was able to follow a blue washable ink line to make things turn out, at least it was acceptable to me.

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And VOILA, the eagle block is done.




Robin

8 comments:

Janet O. said...

It looks great on your eagle, Robin!
I first learned that stitch from Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin at a Village Dry Goods retreat. She uses it a LOT on her wool applique designs. It took me many tries to finally catch on. And now when I try to do it again after a long time, I have to pull out diagrams to refresh my memory. I feel your pain, but it looks like you finally got it to work! :)

Karen said...

The various stitches in those embroidery book can be mind boggling. I am not good at any of them. I look at the book while doing the feather stitch.

Ann said...

Delightful block. The flag, the eagle, and the stitching.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

It came out beautifully! It's funny that we all are comfortable with different aspects of stitching. The feather stitch is easy for me because it was one of the first ones I learned. Romanian Point Lace - I don't think I would even dare try it!

moosecraft said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
moosecraft said...

You did a great job on your feather stitch! Beautiful block!

Raewyn said...

Feather stitch often has me stumped too - yours turned out great! Lovely block.

Susan said...

Your feather stitch looks fine. It just takes practice to figure out the most comfortable direction for you. I often sew it upside down. =) It's my favorite stitch, and I do a LOT of it, but it doesn't look the same from one time to the next. Carole's book is my favorite, too! There are always Mary Corbet's videos at Needle'nThread!

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