This Stitchscape was purely inspired by the fabrics themselves. They were all picked up at the Ardingly Quilt Show in January and I think they must be my soul colours because they aren't all from the same stand but complement each other so well. I love blues and greens and turquoises, which then go beautifully with gold and yellow. It's a combination I often return to.
It has ended up as a sort of seaside, abstract beachy Stitchscape with elements of deep rockpools and tangled seaweed and bubbles and pebbles... I don't really know. I've named it Kynance Cove after the
National Trust protected beach in Cornwall which sort of has similar features - white sand, turquoise waters and dark rock stacks.
I do love all of the different textures within it though. The bottom fabric is a pale ammonite print and I've filled in all of the different sections of the ammonite with either a satin stitch in various colours, or just a few straight stitches grouped together for a bit of a textural difference.
Silk throwsters waste (loose fibres of silk thread) has been stitched down in areas as a kind of fluffy version of seaweed over the ammonites, and I've edge the fabric layer with long bugle beads which have been stitched upright thanks to gold seed beads anchoring the thread in place. I really love these, they are very touchy-feely.
The sandy fabric underneath was edged with a hand dyed (not by me) cotton scrim and then seed stitch put over to give it texture. Where there are flat areas of scrim I have also continued the seed stitch up into it to help blend the two layers together. The fabric does also have areas of metallic gold print which I have ignored completely and left blank so that the metallic shines through and matches the metallic of the dark blue layer above, and the gold of the beads.
I had a lot of fun with the bubbly layer, I've gone around some of the circles with stem stitch (using just a single strand as it appears doubled by the type of stitch), sort of matching the thread colours to that of the circle. And then added textured circles with cup stitch and a thicker thread. Some of the cup stitches are actually two colours blended together, can you tell? The cups are formed around a triangle of stitches and you basically slide your needle under one of the stitches, then slide through the loop of thread that's created as you pull so that it tightens around the triangle stitch. This will need several of these loops per original stitch, I think I was averaging about 7 loops per side but it does depend on how big your triangle shape is.
The seaweed print layer just has a single strand back stitch worked around the areas that look like a coral seaweed structure, with french knots worked over a stippled texture in the print. It's been edged with a metallic crochet yarn that I have, that just so happens to be the exact same colour!
I didn't want to do too much to the navy and gold fabric as I wanted the gold in the print to show so I have blanket stitched the edge, and then worked rows of running stitch in blue areas between the gold splodges. They kind of start and finish in random places, then fizzle out completely further up into the layer so that they don't get tangled up with the blanket stitches but it's just enough to lend texture to the layer.
The final layer (top layer) has single strand back stitch around a few of circles in the rows to match the shapes below, bullion knots across the top and my trademark little cross stitches in the calico above.
The full stitch run down for this hoop is; bullion knots, back stitch, blanket stitch, running stitch, couching, french knots, stem stitch, cup stitch, seed stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch and beading. What a lot of stitches!
A reminder that I have a tutorial on how to frame your pieces in the hoop if you are keeping them that way. They can be displayed on their own in the hoop (hung with a ribbon through the hoop screw or propped up in a plate stand), or you can get frames for them which you just wedge the whole embroidery hoop inside - my favourite maker of these frames is
Barton Studios UK, linked for you here.
The main thing to do is to round off your calico/backing fabric, about a couple of inches if you can from the hoop (don't worry about the fabric layers just yet). Then securely knot a long, strong thread to the calico about a centimetre from the edge. Work running stitch all of the way around, then pull it tightly so the fabric gathers up into the middle. Knot securely, and run your thread (if you've enough, or just get another piece) underneath the gathers to about a centimetre from the hoop. Work running stitch again, but this time folding over your fabric layers one at a time so that they sit flat on top of each other, making your running stitches go through both them and the calico and go all of the way round. Pull it again, this time it won't pull so impressively but may tighten it slightly, and knot off.
Trim your fabric layers between the two stitch lines for a nice and neat finish, and go back and stitch any trimmings that got missed, or any bobbly areas of fabric.
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