Running Stitch

While listening to the cricket this morning (England v India - third of seven in the One Day series...England nearly won, but it finished early due to bad light), I finished the Running Stitch sampler for the Beginner Embroidery class. I decided to use striped fabric, as the stripes can be used as a guide. I hope it will be less intimidating than a blank piece of cloth. All the stitched pieces will go together to make a fabric book. Most edges will be raw, but I did do a sort of rolled hem on the right edge, since you can use the running stitch for that.

I also did variations of the stitch, like Holbein and Straight Stitch. Of course, the students don't have to attempt all the variations, but they can see further potential for each stitch if I include them. White probably wasn't best for the laced/woven/whipped part of that variation of the stitch. It isn't as easy to see on the fabric. I have a bit of a colour wheel thing planned for the threads, but in tones that play well with the colour of the stripe. I have started with blue - not because it is my favourite; it is - but because it is nearest the stripe colour. I thought it would be easier to see what was going on with blue in a simple stitch rather than with a stitch that had more parts to it.

I don't know if the photo will enlarge, but I did stitches using from 1 to 6 strands of embroidery thread. For the variations, I got ideas from J. Marsha Michler's book The Magic of Crazy Quilting. Other ideas can be found on Sharon B's website where she has a Stitch Dictionary.