As you can see if you go to the In The Stitch Zone tab at the top of this page, we’re back!
The first session last week worked very well and it was lovely to see so many people returning after so long. The room is airy despite having no external windows and we were able to spread out quite well while we caught up and experimented with some Rhodes Stitch hearts and butterflies.
This week I’ve been playing with samples for our Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch workshop. It’s been a new stitch to me this year and I’ve utilised it in a number of different pieces and with a variety of different threads. I decided to try working it in a circle for the first two samples and use perle, which seems to have been the most successful type of thread and I find gives the best definition of the lovely braid effect.
First a very heavy vintage green perle. The braid was good, but I struggled to join the ends of the wreath and I really wasn’t happy with the messy join at the bottom.
It was giving me serious Christmas vibes at this point so I wondered what would happen if I added straight stitches around the inside and outside to make it look like fir branches.
Much more successful than I hoped and even better, it disguised the horrible join! Next tiny gold beads…
…and a bow.
The second wreath used a variegated lighter weight perle (8) that reminded me of autumn wheat fields.
The join isn’t quite as bad on this one but it’s still lumpy and I really need to think of a better way to manage it. As the braid starts with a vertical straight stitch, and continually needs a chain put into the working end to fill out the pattern, it’s quite tricky to join up.
At this point it suddenly occurred to me that if you extended the initial stitch, short sections might make rather effective bull rushes. I put the wreath aside and this happened:
So yes, they do! Back to the wreath.
The harvest colours made me think about wrapping it in poppies. I used split stitch for the stems and then another new stitch to me – Raised Cup Stitch – for the poppy heads with French knot middles.
I had been thinking about something along the line of Rosette or Oyster stitch for the flowers but I much prefer this more raised effect. The flowers are created by literally tying knots around a base formed from three stitches in a triangle as you can see on the right. They are very forgiving if you can’t quite see where to put the knots which suits me perfectly!
I may add some little stalks of wheat in among the poppies too but just a few so I don’t lose the braided effect of the wreath.
Under A Topaz Sky 
It looks like corn as well as bullrushes anyway. Cup stitch is nice and fiddle, just how you like things 😄
Ooh, yes, that’s another possibility, especially in a heavily twisted thread to bring out the pattern.
That’s worked beautifully, and the bullrushes were sheer inspiration!
It’s lovely when inspiration not only strikes, but also works!
The sight is beautiful and it smells of Hungarian field (I know, it’s a disturbance of the image, but still …: -) …
Looks good and not difficult once you showed us how to do it, think it will be added to my repertoire. Gives a nice, firm line that can go where you want it to quite easily.
It’s both beautiful and useful and there aren’t many stitches that give such a weighty and neat line.