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Project : Tiger Doorknob Hanger |
 Make this friendly tiger, lying in the grass, to hang on your bedroom
doorknob to GRRRReet everyone that enters!
Click here or on the photo for a larger version of the tiger Materials
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| Directions |
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Step 1
The outer border of the tiger doorknob pattern should print out approximately 6" wide by 8.75" high. If not, please adjust the scale of your printer software and print again. Tape the edges of the canvas with masking tape to prevent fraying. After you've printed the pattern, center the design under your piece of canvas and carefully trace the outlines of the tiger and border onto the canvas. Remember to use a very light touch with the marker. Color the canvas with the black marker wherever the tiger’s black stripes are located. This step is done so that you won’t be able to see the canvas through the black floss. |
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Step 2 - How To Strand Floss Pull the floss from the skein and cut it at a comfortable length, usually 12"-18" long. Now hold the floss near a cut end between your thumb and forefinger -- you will notice that the floss is really made up of 6 pieces of thread. You can pull one piece of thread out from the group, and this is called one strand of floss. If you pull out another piece and place it together with the first piece you pulled out, you now have 2 strands of floss. Pulling out another piece and placing it together with the previous 2 gives you 3 strands of floss. It is optional to separate the floss into strands when you are doing the Continental stitch and some of the other stitches. However, you will need to separate the floss into strands for the Satin stitches, the tiger’s whiskers and the outline of the eyes. |
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Step 3 The Tiger’s Tail You will be using the Diagonal Mosaic Stitch for the tiger’s tail. Use the black floss for the black stripes and the orange floss for the remaining stripes. Diagonal Mosaic Stitch
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The figure below shows how the second row of stitches fits next to the first row. Short stitches in the second row are placed next to long stitches in the first row and vice versa.
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| Step 4 The Tiger’s Face and Paws
There is no outlining in the tiger’s paws. Simply stitch the black stripes with the black floss and the remaining areas using the orange floss in the Continental Stitch. |
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Continental Stitch
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Remember to bring your needle up through the canvas in the odd numbered holes, and put your needle down through the canvas in the even numbered holes. |
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Let the blue line be the outline of the tiger’s paw. Cover the outline as you stitch with the floss. Follow the numbering as you stitch. This is just an example. Your first row of stitching may or may not have 4 complete stitches in it. After you have stitched the outline of the tiger’s face, stitch all of the areas in the face that are black using the black floss, except the end of the tiger’s nose. Also, do not stitch inside the tiger’s mouth -- these two areas will be stitched using the Satin Stitch. |
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The rest of the tiger’s face is stitched using the orange floss, the white floss and the light orange floss. The placement of the colors is not drawn on the diagram. Since every tiger is unique, use your own ideas of where to put the different colors. I stitched the inside of the ears with the white, white/light orange mixed together (3 strands of white and 3 strands of light orange) and the light orange floss. I also used this technique around the eyes, around the nose, the chin and the cheeks of the tiger. I stitched the rest of the face using the orange floss. You can use the picture at the top of the instructions as a guide, or make it up as you go along. No design choice is wrong -- experiment with the colors. |
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- The Tiger’s Mouth and End of Nose The tiger’s teeth, tongue and end of the nose are done in the Satin Stitch, using 6 strands of floss; for best coverage, strand the floss first. The end of the nose is stitched using the black floss, the tongue is stitched using the light peach floss and the teeth are stitched using the white floss. Satin Stitch
In the diagram on the left, the vertical Satin Stitch is shown. This stitch can be as short as the length from the numbers 1 to 2, or as long as you want. This example shows that the stitch comes up in hole 1 and down in hole 4. |
The example on the right shows how to complete a row of vertical Satin stitches.
Again this example shows the stitches covering 4 holes on the canvas, but
the stitches can really be as long or as short as you want them to be. |
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Stay as close to the outline of the design as possible, however, you will not be able to stitch the area exactly like it is drawn on the canvas. |
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Step 6 - The Borders The inner, circular border that goes around the doorknob is stitched using the white floss in a Continental Stitch. The outer, rectangular border is stitched using the Scotch Stitch, using two threads of the light orange perle cotton for the entire border except the four corner squares which are stitched using the black floss. Scotch Stitch
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Step 7 - The Grass
Place grass clumps randomly on your canvas, wherever you see a need to put them. An odd number of grass clumps will look better than an even number. This clump of grass has 5 blades of grass in it. You can change the number of blades of grass too. You can use the picture at the top of the instructions for ideas for placement. |
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Step 8 - The Tiger’s Whiskers
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Step 9 - The Outline of the Tiger’s Eyes I used two strands of the black floss and followed the figures below to stitch the outlines of the tiger’s eyes.
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| Step 10
- Finishing
Put glue on the BACK of your stitching of the tiger and both borders. Use your finger to spread the glue around evenly and not too thickly. Be sure to have the glue reach all the way to the edges of your stitching. Place your piece of felt on the glued side. Let dry. When the glue is dry, carefully cut out the canvas around the inner and outer borders of your stitching. Try not to cut the stitched threads at the edges. If you do happen to cut the thread, put a little glue on that thread using your finger, pressing it down, and let dry. The glue will hold the thread in place. Now you can hang your tiger on your doorknob. |
The figure
on the right shows one Diagonal Mosaic Stitch. This stitch
is really made up of 2 diagonal stitches placed next to each other, one
short stitch followed by one long stitch. Follow the numbering on the
chart to complete the stitch. Bring your needle up through the canvas in
the odd numbered holes and take your needle down through the canvas in the
even numbered holes.
The figure
on the left shows an example of one row of Diagonal Mosaic Stitches
-- your rows may or may not have this many stitches in them. The row is
stitched diagonally. Bring your needle up through the canvas in the odd
numbered holes and put your needle down through the canvas in the even
numbered holes. Each short stitch is followed by a long stitch. If you do
not have enough room in your design on the canvas to complete a long
stitch, then complete as much of the stitch as possible -- this is called
compensation. Keep track of your pattern of short stitches followed by long
stitches when you are compensating so that you do not stray from the stitch
pattern.
Start the tiger’s face by
outlining the face with the dark orange floss using the Continental Stitch.
Stitch over every line on the tiger’s face with the dark orange floss
except the eyes and inside the mouth. The figure on the left illustrates the
lines you will be stitching for the tiger’s face outline.
An example of one complete Continental stitch is shown on the right.
Bring your needle up through the canvas in the hole numbered 1 and take
your needle down through the canvas in the hole numbered 2.
In the figure on the left, let the blue line be your tiger’s face outline.
You will follow the outline as best you can with your stitching on the
canvas, but it will not look exactly like the curve drawn on the canvas.
This is what needlepoint does to curved lines.
Most of the time you will be doing the Continental stitch in rows, as shown on
the right.
Next, complete the tiger’s eyes as shown using the green and black
floss. Let the blue line represent the outline of the tiger’s eye.
Stitch the 5 green stitches with the green floss and the middle black
stitch with the black floss.
You will only need to use the vertical Satin Stitch for the
areas mentioned above.
For example, when you are stitching the Satin Stitch for the tiger’s
nose, you need to follow the outline of the nose to determine how long a
stitch to make. The diagram on the left shows you how to do this.
The figure on the left shows one complete Scotch Stitch. This stitch is really 5
diagonal stitches placed in a square pattern. Bring your needle up through
the canvas in the odd numbered holes and go down through the canvas in the
even numbered holes. Follow the chart on the left to complete one Scotch
Stitch.
The figure on the right shows how to place a second Scotch Stitch next to a
previous Scotch Stitch and another one below a Scotch Stitch. I found it
easiest to start in the upper right corner, just as the green lines show,
and then travel left to complete the top row, and down to complete the
right side of the border. Continue in this manner to complete the bottom
and left rows of the border. Remember to use the black floss for the four
corner squares and the light orange perle cotton for the rest of the border
stitches. There are a total of 28 Scotch Stitches across each of the top
and bottom of the outside border, and 42 Scotch Stitches down each side of
the same border.
The grass is completed using straight stitches placed randomly using the
green floss. An example of this type of stitch is shown on the left.
I used two strands of the black floss and randomly placed three whiskers on
each side of the tigers face, using straight stitches, as shown on the right. You
may make your whiskers as long as you’d like, and put as many as
you’d like on the tiger’s face. An odd number of whiskers on
each side of his nose will look better than an even number of whiskers.
