Week 3 ✂ Feather stitch (TAST)
by smallestforest
Week 3′s theme was the Feather stitch.
I started by painting the fabric with a thin wash of acrylics,
I was genuinely curious about this stitch…I don’t use it often, as I associate its open, sort of mesh-like appearance with crazy patchwork seam decoration.
I like dense stitches, and I wanted to see if I could get some solid meat out of this stitch…use it as a filling for shapes, and how well it would depict those shapes. Of course it worked fine…that’ll teach me to judge a stitch by the way it looks in stitch dictionaries—which are, of course, open and simple for instruction’s sake.
It’s quite a versatile stitch, when you work it close and play with its rays. I’ve actually managed to cram 9 different stitches into this sample…
the regular Feather stitch, followed by wide and dense Cretan stitch…
…Slanted Feather stitch, and 2-needle Feather stitch (I made this one up for myself, which is not to say it hasn’t been done before, I’ve just never seen it),
…long-and-short feather stitch…
I attempted (and bungled) a kind of French knot+Feather stitch…forget this one…not all experiments work!
…Spanish Knotted Feather stitch, and Ribbed-For-Her-Pleasure feather stitch… 
I was getting well and truly sick of the feather stitch at this point, hah!
Then, under the name, I worked Chained feather stitch,
and Türkmen stitch.
- – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂ – – – ✂
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)
Reblogged this on pinkfluffyworld and commented:
This is so pretty!, i’d never have thought to paint the background first.
I was THRILLED to see this post…. my mother is an EGA member and teacher and I have attempted my hand at embroidery. It’s a lost art – beautiful work!
Oh I had to pin this so I could come back and back. I love your colours and curiosity. I was nursing my baby a few weeks ago and inspecting a lovely piece of Panamanian embroidery given to me and it was almost more than I could fathom. You’re making it make sense and letting the stitch fly! Glad to have found your blog.
So cuuute! And it’s FEATHER written, ironically ^^
how beautiful!
[...] So, I pulled out the first chicken quilt, February’s ufo. I decided to paint the quilt before I progress. I used diluted acrylic paint. I am nervous that it will be difficult to stitch due to stiffness. Although I have painted my quilts before it’s been a while. I was reminded how nice it could look by The Smallest Forest. [...]
thats delightful. I love the colours
they look amazing! just love it
You do incredible work!
This is AMAZING!!! I still can’t believe how many different stitch I saw on your post. I’m from Serbia and in our traditional costumes we have so many different stitches, but I never see before those kind like from your pics. I do embroidery to but only simple one…
I really enjoyed reading your blog
That’s so pretty – I love embroidery but I’ve more experience with freehand machine embroidery, I’ll definitely give that a go! It’s lovely with the dye underneath, too xx
that’s so awesome.. i really admire your talent. really beautiful!
Thank you, starlight! It’s not really a talent, though, I think it’s within everyone’s reach to stitch a postcard sized piece of fabric, following instructions from a stitch book. Why not give it a try yourself? I am not special, I assure you!
Love! Gorgeous, you have inspired me to go and try a few new stitches rather than relying on my old favourites!
Do you know, this TAST thing I’ve joined has done that for me, too! I am familiar with, but forget to use most stitches when I work on my own projects. Inspired by TAST to use more of them, more often. Thank you for the visit!
lovely
Ta!
amazing,really
thank you…it’s a trick done with colors and light! *winks* simpler than it looks. Cheers for commenting!
Colorful ! Like rainbow. I also have a posting about the rainbow. Here is the link http://priajelita.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/shes-a-rainbow/ Please check it if you have time. Thank you
Fabulous, Lulu, love your blog, you’re a rainbow for sure! Terimah kasih for the visit and the comment.
Hi Nat. I love your book art
Thank you, happy that you’ve ventured beyond the freshly pressed post. Cheers for dropping by.
Your embroidery is beautiful! I’ve been doing embroidery and cross-stitch for over 20 years, but those aren’t some of the more advanced stitches I’ve had a chance to work with yet. Maybe someday I’ll be that well-versed.
Believe me, they look fancier than they are. They’re basically tall and skinny cross stitches, crowded together for the commute home at rush hour. Experiment! Venture! Sample! Dare! Thank you for the visit and comment!
WOW! This is really exquisite, I’m going to check out your other stuff and TAST. Inspiration for doing more embroidery myself. Now just have to fit it in with taking more photos, learning to draw, writing, gardening – looks like housework just got bumped down the list one more place, sorry house. Congratulations for being Freshly Pressed
Thank you, Julie. Yes, it’s maddening isn’t it? Ars longa, vita brevis, and all that. I only have ten fingers, and I want to stick them into 30 pies, too. Sell house, live in Dick Blick?
Cheers for visiting!
lovely…. great work.
Thanks, Vitor, for dropping in to have a look.
I really like the effects of painting and then overlaying with the embroidery…though I’m not sure I’ll use it. I’m a costumer by trade, and clients never seem to want to invest what they must to have that kind of detail. Maybe for myself sometime. Keep up the good work.
Jenny Ketcham
Washington, DC
Some things you have to do for yourself, just because nobody else is going to do them for you.
Not everything has a price tag. Thank you for the visit and comment, Jenny.
Wonderful, creative way to use embroidery stitches.
Thanks, Lulu!
I used to sew all the time before kids, never as wonderfully as the stitches I see here though! Seeing this makes me want to drag out all my stored stuff and give it a go again. Thanks! and congrats on being FP
Oh heck, yes, give it a go again! The kids’ll grow up and leave eventually, you gotta reclaim your personal crafty space! Thank you for the visit and comment!
Brava!! Absolutely beautiful. I’ve been sitting around eating nutella all evening and really needed some inspiration. Thanks!
http://www.spokesandpetals.wordpress.com
Oooh, nutella! *drool* Thank you, happy you found this inspiring.
Excellent! Makes me want to run for my needles and floss.
Don’t run with scissors, though. ;D Go on then, I’ll race ya…
I wish i was crafty…
Oh, why not start now?
Looks amazing! I would love to try it… I will
Hurrah! That’s the spirit. Go for it, I’m not specially talented, just done it a long time, but practice and you’ll master it in a short time. Thank you for visiting, and commenting. Do show us your own work when it’s done!
wow! this is lovely!
Thanks, SidevieW!
beautiful!
Thanks, Danielle!
Love this and reminded me of summer when I started my granddaughters on an embroidery project doing stitches on a pillow case edging. They are waiting for me to come back to help them finish…perhaps we will experiment with your feather stitches?
Yay! Sounds like a lot of fun. Yes, experiment with all stitches! I still have the stitch dictionary my mum gave me when I was 10, it has proven invaluable, I treasure it. Thank you for visiting, and I wish you and the grandkids luck with the pillow case adventures!
Gorgeous! I knit and crochet but I have yet to try embroidery. This is inspiring.
It’s only a hop, skip, and jump from this to that! You’ll already have most of the things you need, I reckon. Happy to hear it inspired you! Thanks for the visit.
love this, thanks
Glad of it, time4t! Jolly good username. Thanks for visiting!
So beautiful. I haven’t seen your blog before – I will become a follower!
Thank you Beverly! Glad you’ve liked what I’ve come up with. See you around!
This is amazing and so beautiful! Congrats on being FP!
Thank you! It’s been a big couple of days, more visits and comments than I get in a month of Sundays. I feel Freshly Squeezed, now…like an orange at breakfast time.
Good of you to visit…
Reblogged this on Disparate Disciplines and commented:
These stitches would make a lovely decoration on some of the 1912 patterns. I can especially see them on the skirt patterns that don’t have the soutache & other decorative embellishment patterns included.
i’m here via freshly pressed! what an adorable blog!
Hello, freshly pressed busload of visitors! Welcome to my blog!
Thank you, madison, for dropping by!
beautiful work! and I love the image at the end where you say exactly which stitch was on what part of the piece. What a great way to tie things all together
wonderful wonderful wonderful!
oh thank you, you’re so generous with the praise I am quite intoxicated by now! I labelled the stitches because I’m a show-off little tart.
Thanks again!
That is beautiful! You’re very talented! I love embroidery.
Really cool stuff! Totally deserved to be Freshly Pressed! I’d love to have a pillow with my name feather stitched right on it!
Izzat so you know it’s your pillow, that you want to put your name on it? ;D Feeling Freshly Squeezed at this point, more comments tonight than I get in a year. BOH!
Haha! It must be a good/tiring feeling!
Rock on! I loved this – you are truly gifted and this post is exquisite – thank you for sharing your talents. I feel so humbled to see such beautiful work showcased, awed by artisans such as yourself. I also have a friend that is a fabulous embroiderer and I shall share this with her – she’ll love it! Keep up the great work
Hey Tammy, aw shucks thanks! It’s so funny to hear these words from you, that is EXACTLY the way I feel when I see other people’s work…awed and amazed and inspired but also a little bit daunted, y’know? Maybe everybody feels this way? Funny to think that may be possible. I’m a newbie next to the work of many others. Thank you for the enthusiastic response and for taking the time to visit and comment!
My mom used to do these before marriage. And she was brilliant at these.
Next time I get back home, Imma encouraging her to START AGAIN, she better!
LOL or you could ask her to give you her stuff, and take it up yourself! *wink* There’s a Man-broiderers group on the internet, somewhere, I know. Thank you for visiting and commenting!
I dont even know stitching and this looks insane. Really beautiful. I honestly didn’t even know this type of thing was possible.
Lovely graphics; visually very pleasing – bold but not brazen, rather a feast for one’s eyes. Your craftsmanship is amazing and the photography really tells the story effectively. Your narrative was icing on the cake. You’ve left me all aflutter! Thanks.
oh wow … beautiful
I can not do it. I can only cross stitch.
Greetings from Germany
Ani
Lovely embriodery work. Nice photos too. I don’t have the patience for embroidery!
This is so lovely….
This really is beautiful work, the stitching is so neat, fantastic colour choices and textures created and I really like the painted background to add depth. Top drawer! Thanks
Very pretty, congrats on being freshly pressed too!
That’s amazing. Reminds me of my embroidery days just a couple of years back (I feel so old, suddenly)… Don’t know what fail you’re on about, the naked eye couldn’t tell the difference!
Absolutely beautiful 
Those look complicated! I’m still at the basic cross stitch level…which is a whole different beast! Well done!
THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL!
TRULY BEAUTIFUL!!!! mari
How beautiful! Love your work and craftsmanship!
What a feast for the eyes! Thanks for sharing! Love the macro images of the compound stitches!
i may actually use this in a future project, if not, it’s still most loverly!!
Absolutely love your creative spirit. You have turned an ordinary stitch into art. Thank you for sharing this.
Beautiful work. I really like how you painted the fabric before stitching; it really adds depth and character. Thanks for sharing!
Reblogged this on Faultyfairy's Weblog and commented:
Stitching blog, Wow. Thats a great idea. What shall 2012 hold for Me?
Wow! Your work is beautiful. I can pretty much only embroider a chain stitch so I now have something to aspire to! Thanks for sharing and for being Freshly Pressed!
IN LOVE!
Beautiful.
I can’t sew or stitch I just make pretty pictures, so this just really hit a wow in my opinion
I love your work. You take the feather stitch WAAAYYY out of the ordinary
Gorgeous! It never occurred to me to paint underneath the stitching to show dimension. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, painting the fabric is totally a great way to tart your embroidery up, for sure! LOL It’s like working on a printed or dyed fabric, but you have more control. Thanks for visiting!
WOW that is very creative! I like it!
Thank you! I’m glad you do. Cheers for visiting!
Just when you think you deserve to be ‘freshly pressed’, you see a post as creative as yours and realize your place on the totem pole. lol!! great post and great craft!
Hi – what did you paint on? Type of paints?
white cotton (old bed sheet) using acrylic paints.
LOVE the image where all the stitches are labelled…must print that out…gorgeous work
Thank you! I was trying to explore the stitch family in all its variations.
Sweet! Congratulations on making it to the wordpress front page…that’s how I found you. Love your blog.
Thank you! I figured as much when a huge horde of visitors appeared out of nowhere! It’s always unnerving/exhilarating to get noticed by FP. Like finding your house listed as a tourist destination overnight.
Very beautiful work. Thanks for sharing such talent. Connie
Thanks for visiting, Connie.
Wow, it looks stunning. What an incredible talent you have. I adore the colours in your stiching. Beautiful blog. Torie
Thank you, Torie! I am a featherweight in the talented embroidery department, I assure you, but I am working on it!
WOW! This is just beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. Look forward to seeing more of your work.
Thank you for dropping in to have a look
This is a beautiful stitch – I love the way it looks!
Thanks Rae, and yes, it’s a good stitch…now that I know it better, I really appreciate it.
This is beautiful! I used to do a lot of embroidery and appreciate all the work in this. Very creative.
Thank you for visiting, Mary Lou!
I really liked this post!
I love spending some time doing manual activities like stitching… It relaxes me and I feel happy when I see the results (at least some of the, haha).
Same here, “when I see at least some of the results”!
How do I learn how to do this??
Come to the TAST website, beginners welcome! http://www.pintangle.com/community-challenges/2011/12/1/take-a-stitch-tuesday-2012-challenge-information-page.html
These are lovely! The painted base adds that extra ‘oomph’!
Yes, sneaky thing, that base of paint! (Good of you to not call it cheating…he he)
SO pretty. I love how the colours work so well together too.
Thank you so much! Cheers for dropping in to have a look.
Fabby! I’ve faved your blog. Very nice embroidery.
I love doing hand embroidery.
Thank you! I hope I can keep it up to your satisfaction! Cheers for visiting.
Beautiful! I didn’t even know those sort of stitches were possible! Love the final product!
Oh heavens, there are thousands of stitches, most of them incredible. It’s like having thousands of different and specialised paintbrushes to hand when painting.
Thank you for the visit!
it is beautiful …
Thank you, Jayati!
Absolutely delightful.
I am thrilled that you’ve enjoyed it! Thank you for visiting!
beautiful.
Thank you for the visit!
wow très joli. j’aime beaucoup!
Merci beaucoup!
Wow, this is really beautiful – I love it! I never really liked embroidery, thinking it all a bit old and maidenly – but this puts a whole new slant to the craft… Thank you for the enlightenment
Thank you! Embroidery is enjoying a comeback in the hands of young crafters, these days…I never thought something I learned 31 years ago would eventually come full circle and be cool again.
I’m glad I stuck with it. Thank you for the visit!
This brings back grade school memories! We were taught how to do this one in our Home Economics class but now I totally forgot how to do it. Very nice colors by the way.
Yes, I remember those Home Economics classes…we probably even went to the same school. I recognize the Pinay cultural heritage
Only we would call our Professors “Sir Bong”…’di ba? Thanks for visiting!
so beautiful. very nice work.
Many thanks, it’s simpler than it looks, you might give it a try! Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Wow that is gorgeous! It is so interesting how you have played with the stitches and made such a nice design at the same time.
Oh thanks Rhonda, I was doing my best to make a sampler that didn’t look like homemade underpants.
Thank you for the visit and comment!
[...] Week 3 ✂ Feather stitch (TAST) (smallestforest.net)
This is so pretty! What a great idea and you are a talented needlework artist.
Thank you, Maria! I love what I do, that might be the trick. ;D
agree agree agree.
i stumbled upon this (mindfully exploring the world of wordpress) and my faerie self is so delighted. your creativity is obviously cultivated since a long long time, childhood. beautiful and watercolory expressions here.
Thank you! I think you’re right, at least where embroidery is concerned…I started at 7. And I still don’t know what I’m going to be when I grow up.
I came here from CRAFT magazine’s post and just want to say: thank you. I must learn to embroider – this is so beautiful!
Thanks, Megan! It’s a really relaxing activity…I wish you all the best!
[...] feather stitch embroidery design from Nat at Smallest Forest is a gorgeous piece created using only one family of stitches. Click [...]
Gorgeous!
Thank you!
Well it certainly ticked all the boxes! What a virtuoso display of stitches and lettering!
hi
it is extrraaaaaordinarily beatufiul…A wise experimentation of feather stitch with various lengths.
this is so lovely! it all looks so colourful and i love the final effect. am going to follow your blog regularly now.
this is so beautiful! i love the way you’ve used a combination of brush strokes and embroidery. am going to follow your blog regularly
Absolutely fantastic!
WOW! Beautiful stitching and such a unique idea for sampling!
This is amazing. I really love it.
Now that’s what I call experimenting……….
Inspirational, thank you so much for sharing your creativeness.
Cy
Oh this is looking so good! well done and keep it up!
Wonderfully creative! Congrats for being featured on the TAST site!
G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.!
I linked to this in my blog about feather stitch so people can see how it’s done!
very inspiring. you have done a wonderful job of this stitch.thanks for sharing.
Wow!!! It is so beautiful!!!! I love it!!
WOW! Incredible! Love it! Makes me think I need to try being more creative rather than just doing stitch samplers…
Beautiful!! Love the colors too…
Marvelous! Thanks for sharing your stitching variations as well as the painted fabric!
Oh, hey, you’re totally welcome! Thank you!
This is absolut fantastic … you showed me what is possible with that stitch…
I’m glad to hear it, Petra. Thank you!
Nat, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you never fail to amaze me with your creations.
Huuu! Tama na yan, di naman rocket science yung ginagawa ko, he-llo! Time is what I have plenty of, I think. Peanuts lang ‘to, you should see what others do.
Haha! It might as well be rocket science to me, since the only “fancy” stitches I can do with a modicum of confidence are running, back, chain, and stem. Actually, medyo sablay pa nga sa stem kasi I always confuse it with outline stitch. I can kindasortamaybe do French knots. Does that count? LOL!
The outline stitches help me cope with writer’s block and the attendant stress that comes with it, though, so it’s all good. Buti na lang walang ibang nakakakita ng mga tahi ko, kasi parang gawa ng bata. Haha!
who it’s gorgeous, I love it !
Thanks!
When I first saw this my brain went SEAHORSE before I saw that it was a word … something about the curves in the letters I think. As always beautiful.
I WISH I had more time to create.
Hey, good idea, feather stitch would definitely make a good stitch for seahorses. Esp. methinks “ribbed for her pleasure” feather stitch. ;D
Beautiful.
Thank you, Maggi
You made me speachless
, genious ideas about doing feather stitch!
*laughs* Thanks, Brigitte…it’s actually a simple idea, fun to do! Give it a try!
fabulous stitching !
Thanks, Chris!
Beautiful! I love the flowing letters. And so many pretty variations you had there
Many thanks, m’dear! I am having so much fun matching typography to the type of stitch…makes the normally dull job of stitching a sampler much more interesting and rewarding!
Terrific how I love your sampler !
Thank you! It was a lot of fun to make.
WoW! this is great! What a fun piece of needlework!
Thanks, MM, I sure had fun doing it!
What beautiful examples and truly imaginative. Love what you’ve done and hope you don’t mind if I swipe a few ideas. I’ve never tried painting the background and need to give it a try. Great job!
Ah, Sue, I didn’t invent painting on fabric before stitching, please, do whatever you like, we crafters have got to stop being so scared of taking a good idea and putting it to our own use! It’s all part of the evolution of craft and art. Thank you and I’m thrilled it’s fired your imagination!
I like so much your letters and your embroidery
Severine A
Merci, Severine! I am so happy that you like.
Gaw! You are taking the TAST and making lovelies with them! I want to add more paint to my stitching, so it is wonderful to see your process. Can you tell us what the ground fabric is that you painted on?
Thanks, Olisa, I’ve always wanted to do a little book of stitches…
the fabric’s just white cotton bedsheets—I scored 4 or 5 Queen sized sheets in the rubbish skip of a local hotel. Nothing special.
beautiful!
Thanks, Jamee!
Oh, wow, this is amazing
Many thanks!
[...] This site http://smallestforest.net/2012/01/20/httpwp-mepeep9-gv-2/ [...]
Wonderfully whimsical.
I’m so glad you like it!
You’ve inspired me to try for more variation than I had thought possible!
Thanks, Faith! Heck, I’VE inspired me to try for more variation!
Within the limitations of a font, anyway.
Oh I was totally amazed by the way you have used feather stitch and the way you experimented it with paintings. I just love the long n short feather stitch.
Thank you, Lakshmi, I’m glad you like it!