Week 2′s stitch—buttonhole (aka blanket, which I chose because it’s a shorter word, and incorporates the letter ‘K’)—went very quickly for me, thanks to lessons learned from Week 1′s awkward Fly stitch.
For one thing, I like this landscape format of the page much better than the portrait format; it allows the typography to expand and fill more of the page, without a lot of space at the top and bottom.
Also, I messied-up the ‘page’ before stitching—using watered-down acrylic paints and ordinary wax crayons—and doing so took away that “faced with a blank page” nervousness: confronted by a pristine white surface, my creativity tends to go into an overly-cautious, formal mode. I concentrate so heavily on every little mark I make on such a clean sheet, that I usually don’t have any fun.
And this time I made sure to have fun. Used the hot colours that I love, kept designs abstract, used different threads, made random marks…on the whole, I didn’t take this week’s sample too seriously, and am much happier with the results.
It helped that this is one of my favorite stitches. The use of buttonhole can impart a rustic, almost naive look to hand embroidery. Something to do, perhaps, with its associations with woolen blankets, homemade velveteen rabbits and bedroom slippers, and kids’ summer camp leatherwork projects.
Personally, I love using this stitch for its enclosed or bordered field of thick stripes.
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This small embroidery sample is for the Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 Challenge. The idea was to combine my love of embroidery with my love of typography.
Related articles
- Because I am a greedy, unrealistic, and starry-eyed stitchin’ project hog… (smallestforest.net)
- Week 1 ✂ Fly stitch (TAST) (smallestforest.net)
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Interesting – but I liked the fly a lot. You could have stitched a blanket of blanket stitches … :O) and when she shouts out Ladder Stitch? right, you do a ladder. LOL You’ve taken the fun approach and I love it.
Diane
LOL
Makes great letters — thank for showing us!
Gail
Really interesting.
What a wonderful idea! That’s so cute!
Thank you. Tyjecyka! Pleased as punch, myself.
Interesting and what a great use of the stitch. Your letters are great!
FlowerLady
Thank you, flowerlady! Font inspired by the typefaces of Ray Larabie and Typodermic.
Super, Bright and Colourful
Variegated thread in gumdrop colors FTW!
I love this stitch!!!
So do I! Buttonhole will always be a fave of mine. Thanks for visiting, Paula.
This is wonderful! Kathy
Thank you, Kathy!
I love your use of color and the stitch!
Thanks! I love this particular hot-color mix in DMC’s variegated thread line…