I Had An Accident…

Blackwork Bow Tie

…and designed something with blackwork in it!  It happened like this…

I’m participating in Sharron Boggon’s (AKA Mistress of Pin Tangle, Stitchin’ Fingers and some pretty amazing stitching) Take a Stitch Tuesday, the challenge for 2012.  During the 13th week there was a break to give busy stitchers a chance to catch up.  After all, if you get frustrated and so behind the challenge might just become another UFO!

For those who were up to date there were two bonus challenge offered.  One of them was to create some “Bling,” some eye candy to inspire others using from 3 to 6 of the stitches from the challenge list to date.  For some reason “Bling” hit me.  And when I think of Bling I think “Black Tie.”  And, with my interest in Blackwork, my mind obviously jumped to Blackwork Bow Tie.  Here is what I quickly stitched up (based upon a sketch in my Studio Journal.)

The details are as follows:

Design Size:  5.5 inches by 3 inches

Materials:

• Irish linen, 32 count, 11 ½ inches by 8 ½ inches
• Weeks Dye Works
  • #1298 Gunmetal
  • #2103 Pea Coat
• DMC Stranded Floss
  • 310
  • 318
• Rainbow Gallery Fyre Werks
  • FT35
• DMC Antique Effects
  • E415
• Kreinik #12 Braid

And the stitches I used are:

• Chain Stitch and Buttonhole Stitch per Mary Corbet’s Tutorial (find the directions in her Stitch Play section.  If you cannot access the link from this page copy this URL into your browser:  http://www.needlenthread.com/2012/03/stitch-play-combining-chain-stitch-buttonhole-stitch.html )
• Fly Stitch—I like Sharron Boggon’s tutorial on this stitch .  (http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/fly.html )
• Herringbone—I really like the instructions for the herringbone stitch at Henry Art Gallery .   (http://dig.henryart.org/embroidery-stitches/stitch_pages/herringbone.htm )  The image shows clearly threads and holes.  I stitched mine so there were 4 threads between needle insertion.
• Herringbone Ladder—The pattern I used to stitch mine can be found at the Arts and Design website.  (http://www.artsanddesigns.com/cgi-bin/makeGlossary.pl?category=embroidery&section=H scroll through the “H” section to find it.)
• Running Stitch—As the running stitch aspects of this design are blackwork and you don’t want a huge mess in the back to show through on the white fabric, I used and recommend a “double running” stitch (AKA Holbein Stitch).  The absolute best instructions for doing this can be found at this URL:  http://www.elizabethancostume.net/blackwork/runningstitch/index.html  This is another good resource and includes a video of how to do the double running stitch:  http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/double-running-stitch.html
• Couching Stitch—The Stitch School blog has a nice pictorial instruction on couching.  Use this URL:  http://stitchschool.blogspot.com/2006/12/couching.html

So, do you like this pattern?  Would you like the pattern?  For free?  Sign up to follow this blog and leave a comment saying you want the pattern and I’ll email you the pattern!