Designing from Scratch - Stage 2 - Deciding what stitches I want to use for my mobile phone sleeve

Morning. Yesterday I was outside actually embroidering the phone case (I'm a bit behind on blogging about this project) and now all my muscles hurt, I really need to find a way to support my body whilst embroidering, so today, I'm catching up on the project blogging as I can do this from bed.

This post is about me making my Chain Stitch Samples to work out what sort of stitches I might want to use to create the Paisley motifs on the phone sleeve.

6 inch square stitch sampler

But I'm jumping ahead of myself.  Stage 1 of the Project is HERE. In summary, I am creating an embroidered smart phone sleeve using the ScanNCut for as much as I can, from scratch. Stage 1 explains that I'm going with the theme of Paisley and using Chain Stitch family for the design, because this is what the twice a month embroidery group (that I go to once every two months) were doing at the time. Obviously they've now moved on to other projects, me, I'm still making snail like but actual progress on mine.

I got as far as choosing the basic paisley motif last time from a free file I found on the net.

Step 1 - Where to start to find out what Chain Stitches can look like and instructions for creating them?

I have a couple of 'go to' technique books, which I use as I am doing stitch samples and also the project itself:

• some are how to make embroidery stitches in a traditional way that most would recognise
  -Melinda Cross DMC Book of Embroidery ISBN 1-85585-273-X
  
  -The Mary Thomas Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches is also a brilliant resource, but I've lost mine!
  
• others are about experimenting with the basic traditional stitch - how to change the scale of the thread or the stitch itself, how to make parts of the stitch longer or shorter, or closer together or further away, or how far apart they are spaced or piled on top of each other, and using different threads from fine to thick, smooth to fluffy, flexible to stiff, and constrasting or toning colours - all these elements can make a single stitch look very very different. Often when you experiment you change a stitch so much that it turns into a totally different traditional stitch which gives you a much deeper understanding of how stitches differ and how they may have been developed over time by past embroiderers.
  - Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn Stitch Magic published by Batsford ISBN 0-7134-8196-X
  
  - Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn Stitches: New Approaches published by Batsford ISBN 0-7134-8887-5
  
  - The Constance Howard book Book of Stitches again by Batsford. (Oh! I lent this to the embroidery group leader, she gave it back to me last time I went and now I can't find it. I have a horrible feeling I left it in the Library where we met, I shall have to find out if I did and search for it. Gah!)

Obviously there are many other books available, those are just the ones I own.

In addition there is the awesome resource of the Internet. It really is astonishing the sheer volume of incredibly good blog and website tutorials and videos as well as images on flickr, pinterest, instagram etc. People really are wonderful about sharing their work!

Step 2 - work out the overall 'look' you think you want your project to have
Paisley traditionally was printed in two dimensions onto fine cottons and woollens, but I rather like texture, and I know I need quite tightly made stitches so they don't pull and catch when the phone sleeve is in my handbag.

This image from pinterest particularly spoke to me, I love the clarity of stitch that gives clearly defined shapes without actually using outlines, just a clever use of what is stitched and what is not. (I have a theme in my work of 'holes' whether actual holes, or the impression of holes through negative and positive space, so that always talks to me).

Mariana Lison HERE

I like the way the embroidery is so varied and the stitches used complement the paisley shapes.

I also was struck by the flowing way your eye is drawn around the different motifs in this image. I'm also attracted by the bright sunshiney colours.

RedCollieArt on Etsy HERE

I love the way the french knots and little cross star stitches follow the lines of the main motifs and fill in the spaces between them to make it all cohesive.

However the killer question is - are there enough variations in Chain Stitch to allow me to make the sort of 'marks' I may want to achieve with the stitches to make a resolved piece that I feel content with? Which is where the next stage comes in - trying out stitches myself, making samples.

You don't have to make samples, some people just dive on in, but I like getting used to stitching particular stitches and trying them out in a sample first. Then handling and looking at them for a while until the ideas for the design implementation coalesce in my head. Also, it was the way I was taught to do it on the City & Guilds Creative Embroidery Course and as I don't feel terribly confident about my abilities to actually do any of this stuff again (my disability of having very little energy and motor control makes it quite daunting) so having a framework makes it less scary for me.

So, I've got a few images saved on pinterest of overall impressions I like of hand embroidered paisley, I've got technique books, I need to dig out some cloth and some thread next.



Step 3 - Gather some fabric and some threads to use for stitch samples
 
I have a ginormous stash of textiles supplies, but having moved house 6 months ago and still not quite got organised, for samples, it's all about what I can get to rather than picking a specific fabric and set of threads.

I managed to find some bright greenish-yellow linen that was an offcut from a screen printing project (with bits of burgundy screen print ink on it) many many years ago, and I decided to use Complementary Colours of Reds and Greens as I managed to find those boxes of thinner/six strand cottons in the chaos of my craft stash aka the workroom/third bedroom.

An Aside - The last project I stitched was in spring 2013 before I got this unwell
This is the first time I've done any creative embroidery (ie not using a chart or preprinted fabric with instructions) since I got unwell. That's 5 years. This is what I did, I went to an afternoon at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester with an old school friend, can't believe we've known each other for 39 years! yikes! Anyway, we were tasked with embroidering a shopping bag. I used some vintage 1970s fabric and cut holes in the bag (there's always holes in my work!) and used stab stitch in cotton perle thread, after having used whipstitch with sewing thread to invisibly hold the pieces together, using a dog design loosely based on some Basic Grey scrapbooking paper I have in my stash.

Basic Grey scrapbooking paper inspired Dog applique on yellow shopping back .2013

 I've been looking at it and touching it for 5 years wondering how I ever managed to do it, and wondering if I'll ever be able to do anything like that again. This project is me finding out if I can!

So, onwards to making some stitch samples!

Step 4 - Stitch Samples - Actually learning some different chain stitches and sewing them out to learn how they behave on the straight and on curves and how the traditional stitch can be manipulated
My Initial Stitch Samples:

So I started unambitiously with basic traditional chain stitch in a perle cotton. Choosing to use Greens. I love sewing with this, but it is quite floppy so you do have to have decent tension control. Which obviously after 5 years of no sewing, wasn't great...

Basic Chain in green perle cotton threads 2x3" sample block

I did some straight lines and and a small square and triangle and an S shape, then I followed the outlines in different colours and also stitched another layer of the same stitch on top of the first layer to see what it looked like on the shapes. Then I went back to the straight lines and tried to alter the length of the stitch to very long and very short in alternating lines. Ta da! a two by 3 inch block of basic chain stitch. Ok so all the other stitches I sample will also be approximately that size too to make it easy for me to keep the samples a sensible size. Honestly? not my best ever work, but a reasonable fist considering I've not done any sewing for a very long time. And anyway, success in embroidery or any handcraft involves actually doing it, the more you do the better you get.

Next I looked in the books and decided to try Double Chain, again with straight lines and curves, but this time in thinner threads including six stranded cotton and some thin plyed threads (which were on sample cards from a thread manufacturer in a range of natural fibres, a couple of metres max of each one so once it's gone it's gone). This time in reds and pinks and burgundies.

Double Chain 2x3" sample block

Again I stitched a standard traditional stitch then started playing with the size of the stitch, how far apart the sides are, and how long the stitches. And on the curved areas again stitched new lines on top of initial lines of chain stitch.

Then I looked at the books again and decided to try different varients of lazy daisy or detached chain. In the same reds and pinks as the double chain.

Lazy Daisy Variations 2x3" stitch block

I stitched a form of seeding with individual stitches (which I rather like and will use a lot in future I think) and with blocks of 3 stitches next to each other, actual daisy flowers, some single layer, some with several layers of stitch and some borders using blocks of three stitches and also a long armed daisy crossstitch mashup with several layers.

Then I had a minor disaster which I didn't like at all, trying to do a form of Zig Zag Chain. So I cut it away from the main sample cloth but kept it so I know what not to do next time!

ZigZag chain that didn't work very well. One inch block

You can see clearly on this cut off bit of fabric, that I did tack white sewing thread across the whole thing, to give me two inch squares. I find this helps me be a bit disciplined about trying out different stitches within a specific area, but I don't always do this.

Then (several weeks later) it was time for the Embroidery Group, so I went back to green and started trying to do some zig zag lines and bordering them with edging type chain stitches such a Rosette Chain and Twisted Chain and also lacing and whipping the traditional chain with a contrasting thread.  I don't feel this was entirely successful, but gives some lovely texture so that may be useful going forwards. To be fair I did about one inch during the group's two hours, but carried on in the following weeks.

ZigZag lines of plain chain bordered with rosette/twisted chain, with the plain chain whipped and overstitched. 2x3" block

 I stupidly didn't make a note of the stitches I used and now I can't find and replicate the one on the far left that I'd quite like to use. Bah!

Next, I decided to start mixing the greens and reds and perle and six strand threads, and did a section of Twisted Chain variations. Astonishingly this can be a good solid background of individual stitches piled on top of each other so the fabric is totally covered, can make a very fine and delicate line, but also a thick rope like edging, which can be smooth or textured depending on how you place the stitches. I think I'm in love! This stitch is so versatile!

Twisted Chain variations 2x3"block

Finally, I had one sample block space left, so I decided to try Broad Chain in an admittedly nasty selection of pink, peach and burgundy (I have no defence for this colour choice, nor for carrying on with it! poor taste indeed! but it's a sample so it doesn't matter, it's the idea of the stitches and how they go together that matter to me. My samples are NOT a thing of beauty, they're working documents in a way.) piling rows of Broad Chain on top of each other, with the stitch sufficiently wide that the stitches underneath show through. Then I started a geometric pattern of individual broad chain stitches that I've not finished and probably won't as it feels a little too mid century modern for what I'm going to do with the Paisley phone case, but I can imagine I'll use it in the future for something more appropriate as it's fun to stitch and also I do like the effect, it suggests reptile scales to me.

Broad Chain variations block 2x3"

 As you can see, I also drew lines in pen/pencil. Again because it's a sample, it doesn't matter how tatty it looks, these are pieces of worked embroidery that I keep, get out and handle, twist and poke at to find out how I did the stitch, they're not for sticking on the wall as pretty things.

And that was that! I'd tried out SIX types of Chain Stitch, got myself back into stitching (it took a few months) and had explored those six types in a range of variations that gave me a feel for what might and might not work on a phone case (nothing too loose that can catch) with a paisley motif.

The full sample with the six types of chain stitch worked samples. approx 6"square

I used to sew at one square inch an hour more or less for a single layer of stitch before I was unwell. I now stitch far slower than that, this 6 inch square sample represents hours and hours over months and months! On a personal level, as a landmark of achievement of being able to sit up in bed and do a few stitches at a time, it's enormous and I'm tremendously thrilled with the progress I've made in stabilising my symptoms so I can try doing such things. Is it beautifully worked? No. Does it exist? Yes, and THAT'S what matters to me.

Finally, you'll be pleased to hear, I used my ScanNCut and the Scanning Mat to scan all these (I've managed to disconnect the scanner from my printer and can't get it back). So I'm on track with using the SNC as much as I can in the project.

After doing these samples, I turned my attention to what fabric and threads I wanted to use for the phone sleeve and turning the basic paisley inspiration into a set of motifs that fit the 'footprint' of the phone to make the sleeve (in due course). Which will be where this set of posts on this project will go next.