02.17.08
Posted in Classes, Free Patterns, Stitching Genres, Threads at 6:07 pm by deRomilly
2001-2008 by G. Romilly Mueller (Goodfellow) all rights reserved
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English Method
In the English method, which I teach below, you complete each stitch individually. The only difference from the Danish method in looks is on the back of the piece. The English method uses more thread, but creates a more durable backing to the fabric. In addition, there is some evidence that it may preserve your fabric by placing a more even tension on the threads than the Danish method. This method of stitching a cross stitch uses more floss than the Danish method.
Each cross is stitched in its entirety before you move on to the next stitch. Using this method makes the colors stand out very strongly. However, this can result in the colored piece looking “stripey”. But you might want stripey. See Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 was stitched horizontally, in the usual manner, and Figure 6 was stitched in the basic direction of the petals, making the stripes follow the petal lines.
Directions
Work from the top of the petals downward in the English method as described below. You’ll notice that the wider the petals become, the thinner the stripes become. You could also work in the English method vertically on the center petal, and horizontally on the outer petals to accentuate the stripes and make them part of your design. Remember to experiment.
Working on Evenweave:
When working on an evenweave fabric like Jobelen or linen, cross stitch is generally worked over two threads of the fabric. Look closely at your fabric, and you will see that threads alternate going over and under another (Figure 7).
This is a trait of an evenweave. When stitching cross stitch on an evenweave fabric, begin at a juncture where a vertical thread will be to the right of your needle. In other words, bring your needle from the back of the fabric to the front at point A, as shown in Figure 7. The stitch comes up at A, down at B, up at C, down at D. The next stitch would begin by coming up at C, which becomes your next “A”.
On the second row, work right to left, still making crosses from the bottom left to upper right, and then from the bottom right to upper left. This will ensure that all of your stitches cross the same way. See Figure 8.
Continue to work row by row, one color at a time.
Filling the Design
If you want the defined color changes of the English method, but don’t want the striped effect, you can achieve that, too. This takes a bit more planning than either of the other options. In addition, it requires breaking the habit of stitching straight across or up and down a design.
You want to achieve the same effect as in pointellism paintings. Rather than stripes of color, you want to create spots of color, which are more easily combined by the viewer’s eye. Alternatively, you can arrange the colors so that they create a more even gradation of color. In the example in Figure 9, I grouped the colored stitches so that the pinks were all in the middle of the petals, surrounded by the more subtle colors in the floss.
Grouped colors
The effect in Figure 9 was relatively easy. I threaded my needle with a strand that had little, if any, pink in it. Then I stitched in the English method, around the outline of the petals. In some places I stitched only one stitch at the outside, in others I stitched a bit into the petal itself, for a staggered effect.
Then I threaded the needle with the leftover, pink parts of the floss and filled in the petal centers.
Mottled colors
In Figure 10, I worked for a more mottled effect.
To fill the design in this way, you must constantly be aware of where the edges of the motif are located. Because you are not stitching in a traditional methodical manner, it is sometimes easy to get lost.
Start stitching near the top of the design. Work in the English method, but jump around a bit as the thread changes colors instead of stitching rows. For example, you might work 4 or 5 stitches in the area marked with the letter A in Figure 11, then jump over to the area marked with the letter B, work 4 or 5 stitches there, and then move to another area.
Doing this for the entire motif will give you the more mottled, but not striped, image shown in Figure 10.
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09.26.07
Posted in Classes, Dance at 3:30 pm by deRomilly
If you’ve been wondering what I’ve been up to, wonder no longer! I’ve been up to art. And dance and advertising… all rolled into one.
I’ve had the opportunity to begin teaching bellydance at my local community center. So I did a brush drawing of myself for publicity purposes:
And then I did a Flyer (flier? Fly-er? hmmm and *I’m* the writer!).
The whole thing happened so quickly that none of the publicity got put up before the first session. Because of website issues, potential students missed me as well. In fact, there weren’t enough students for a class… So for session 2 I’m hoping to nip that in the bud. I’m now listed with the statewide “find a teacher” website, and I’ll be putting up posters at the local community college in the next week.
The community center programs brochure is located here (pdf format, 7 megs). It’s kind of hard to find from the main web page, and it’s easy to get sidetracked by program information listed that’s WAAAY out of date, so that’s a direct link.
If you’re near Fuquay-Varina, NC and at all interested in wearing pretty coin scarves on your hips and shimmying like there’s no tomorrow, come see me!
P.S. I’m also stitching sequinned appliques for our new dance troupe like it’s going out of style… more on that later.
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08.07.07
Posted in Classes at 9:26 am by deRomilly
I’m so used to shrinking photos down for the web - and taking dance photos, that I forget that people might want more detail in my photos of my needlework. The colored pencil works fine in a smaller format… 
But needlework, not so much! Try this one for a bit more detail (just note, it’s over a meg in size so will open slowly):
And just because I mentioned them, I’ll try to post some of my colored pencil work tomorrow, since I don’t have digital copies at my day job.
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07.26.07
Posted in Classes at 2:03 pm by deRomilly
This is the project after all the low-relief (and a few french knots) have been added. Not looking much like a beach right now, is it?! I know from my colored pencil work that the beginning layers you put in often don’t look anything like the final work — people become orange and hot pink before they look like a real person! If there wasn’t a point behind this, I’d be tempted to turn it into a shooting star of some sort. But I think it will look much better as it progresses… So, I’m off to add more, which is the focus of week three of the class.
Adding more… that’s something that’s hard for me, whether I’m writing, drawing, or stitching.
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07.24.07
Posted in Classes at 10:22 am by deRomilly
I finally dug my camera out from under the pile of papers beside my computer and took photos of my progress with the Sumptuous Surfaces assignment. Yay! Click the thumbnails to see bigger pictures.
The design process started with a mind map that began with “Peace”. Since the supply list had encouraged not just monotone, but neutrals I had chosen whites and ecrus for my color palette. Not something I usually work in, unless I’m doing dresden work. 
But hey, is challenge, yes? I’m going to need to expand what I have further into the beiges as well, I think.
I ended up playing with thumbnails on the theme of “sea changes”. The first set of thumbnails I still like, but I think they’re going to require full stumpwork, and possibly a slightly larger color range to realize properly, and I just don’t have time to fiddle with it right now.
So I moved on.
The second set of thumbnails is decidedly abstract, something I don’t normally play with. So this ups the challenge for me. I liked my last one, with it’s slightly curving lines and stars. No, I have no idea where the stars came from, unless it’s starfish. The thumnails are messy – just a way to get an idea on paper so I can remember it later, and maybe get an idea of how it may work. They are only about one by two inches.
The final design sketch is a lot less messy, and has a lot fewer lines on it. This is just the outline of the main areas, with no hint of the stitching, but a LOT of notes!
And I’ve had a chance to play a bit with the beginning of stitching this little monster. I used the Portuguese stem stitch to mark out the diagonal lines in the sand, and am using pulled work to add a little texture to the negaive space, letting it follow the same refinement the center line will follow: from rough texture at the bottom moving up through the buffing that sand and sea does to the smooth and even top right corner. The upper corner is pulled with small pulled cross stitches over three threads with silk floss. Just below that is an area of pulled cretan stitch, in a silk twist that’s the equivalent of #8 perle cotton. I’ll finish the bottom area, rougher, with pulled cretan stitch in a silk ribbon of similar color. And I may actually then lace the pulled stitches so that there is more ribbon on the top as well… I’ll have to see how that actually works in the white.
So, that’s the project so far. I should actually be caught up by Wednesday!
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