The subject of stitch, as it applies to embellishment, is fairly simple for me. There are many embroidery and decorative stitches, but really I have only a few basic stitches that I use, everything else is just variations on these few approaches. The problem I find with a lot of the decorative stitch out there is that it lies too loose on the cloth and is less integrated into the surface. Even in an art cloth I like the stitching to hold the cloth, being more functional.
Obviously there is the running stitch, which I like to call the walking stitch because I often do it one stitch at a time. This is basically a quilting stitch, but I occasionally use it to decorate.
The Back Stitch is the basic family of stitch I work with for embellishment. Basically because it provides coverage and it hugs the cloth. And I love how you sort of step back in the process. I am assuming everyone is familiar with a back stitch, just a running stitch and a step back to fill in the space. This is a common way to cover a line in a design and is more secure than a running stitch because it hold the cloth and is not easily pulled out.
I like to use a variation I call The Wrapped Back Stitch, adding a second step and color to give it a look of magic.
The Split Back Stitch This is the stitch I use the most, both for lines and filler, doing one row close to another to get a tapestry effect.
If you really have a fine line to stitch, try splitting one single thread of floss. I call this splitting hairs. you can get quite a fine line using this refined method.
The wrap stitch is a variation on a satin stitch, I see it as a back stitch ib a way too, the way I do it, Just very close together in a row.
The thread bead
You will see me do variations on these simple stitches as I work on my pieces through this workshop. My philosophy is that it is not always the stitch but how you use it and how far you take it that makes the difference.
