Golden Cluster Stitchscape

 Adding to my list of Stitchscapes which haven't had their stories told is this little 12cm abstract hoop which I finished in August 2021. (It seems August was the last productive month I had really before my end of year slump!) I basically wanted to experiment more with the smooth purl coiled wire that I had been playing with in some of my previous Stitchscapes where I was using them to create curves and loops on the surface of the fabric. 

My thought was that I could also use them to create little sticks and hold them on with a bead on the end - much like you would with a stack of seed beads, or a bugle bead and sequin arrangement. You can layer up whatever you like in this way as long as the thread doesn't pass back through the top bead/sequin which is then used as an anchor to stop it all falling off.  

These fabrics worked so well together, it is another example of stash stacking where they were already pretty much in a happy bundle together and I've just come along and cut them into strips so that everyone can appreciate their beauty. I had a comment on Instagram yesterday saying how lovely my fabric collection is and, really, stash collecting is as much a hobby as using the fabrics in a project! You can have endless hours of fun putting together endless combinations of fabrics and, for Stitchscapes, you need very little of it so even a fat quarter or little strip of fabric goes a long way and my stash never seems to get any smaller regardless of how many Stitchscapes I make. 

I wasn't trying to create a landscape scene or specific image here - sometimes you just need to play and relax and let your mind and needle wander which is exactly what happened. 

The top layer, which doesn't show up very well in these photos, is a creamy/white fabric with a printed slub effect to make it look like a raw linen and I've just gone over the 'slubs' with long straight stitches, working randomly in each direction so that the long stitches cross over and under each other to help attach them down (as opposed to working all of the horizontal lines and then having all vertical lines over the top of that - it looks much nicer when they are woven in this way and less likely to catch on something). I've edged this with matching bullion knots and popped some little cross stitch kisses on the calico at the top. 

Underneath that is a lovely crackle metallic print fabric which I've just enhanced really by using a single strand of metallic gold thread and worked back stitches over all of the lines. Metallic thread is such a pain to work with isn't it? But so totally worth the effort once you've finished! You just have to be aware that as soon as you bend the thread through the eye of the needle you've essentially broken the metallic parts of the thread so from there it's all going to unravel and split into the different elements that make up the thread (usually a flat piece of metallic and some nylon, fluffy threads which wrap round to try and hold it all together). Shorter lengths work best to stitch with as it'll pass through the fabric layers less and hopefully hold itself together as a workable strand for a little bit longer. 

The blue layer is a really lovely batik fabric with these swirls of teardrop shapes which have an almost floral look to them on the larger piece of fabric. They look like water droplets splashing back up from a water fountain, don't you think? I've gone over each one with satin stitch and I've actually used two different colours of thread to alternate the shapes but you can't see that so obviously in these photos, maybe a little bit in the below image if you squint? You'll just have to trust me that there are two different shades happening! To clean up the raw edge of this layer I've taken some of the strands of embroidery floss and just couched them fairly loosely down over the top so that they puff up a little bit. 

In my workshops my students love this technique because it can look like rows of bullion knots but it's a lot easier and quicker to achieve! (Bullion knots are marmite stitches to be sure.)

I've repeated the thread couching technique on the below layer as well with the golden and blue swirls, but this time I've couched a full six strands of the metallic thread and used a contrast blue thread so that it stands out. You could couch threads or yarns or ribbons onto the top of every layer if you wanted to and it would look different every time depending on whether you mixed colours, mixed threads, wrapped threads first, plaited them, twisted them as you went - there are just so many options for couching. 

Of course, the stand out layer is definitely the bottom one. The swirls on the fabric have been enhanced with some fairly chunky whipped back stitch in blue colours matching those underneath, and then the gold swirls have been gone around with more back stitch in a single strand of metallic gold thread. They also look a bit puddle-like I suppose - it's like a water fountain in the sunshine with the gold and blue!

The clusters themselves are snippets of golden smooth purl, and I've actually used three different colours here, although you can only tell from looking at a side angle, which I've roughly cut to a similarish length. These have all been individually stitched on as if they are long beads so the needle and thread comes up through the fabric where you want the piece to be, through the wire coil, through a golden seed bead and then back down through the wire and fabric (you only go through the bead once so that it is anchored at the top). I found that you do have to be fairly careful when coming back down through as, if you pull the thread too hard, the wire will bend because it's so flexible so you have to use the right tension that the strip stays standing tall (although this bending idea is definitely something to play with!). 

But honestly, this piece is so much fun because there is so much movement to these clusters. I've taken this hoop to a couple of talks at embroidery and textile groups now and always encourage the listeners to have a fondle of this piece because it is so pleasing to run your fingers through. It would be interesting to use this technique again with longer or shorter lengths to see what difference it makes - these ones are roughly about a centimetre long so half centimetre or even two centimetres (let's not go too wild) would be an interesting thing to play around with. 

So, the stitch run down for this piece is fairly short and simple; straight stitch, bullion knots, french knots, satin stitch, back stitch, whip stitch, couching and beading. Nice and easy but with a lot of impact!!