Project : Under The Sea . . .

This is a two part fishing project. The directions for making the turtle magnet and the Fish #1 magnet are included in this segment, and next time the other two fish will be featured. Make one or make them all, create a tropical paradise!

Materials
1 piece of 14 count white canvas cut to 8" x 8" size
2 pairs of 8" stretcher bars
masking tape

Turtle
DMC floss (1 skein each) :
#988 green
#987 dark green
#801 brown
1 3-mm movable eye

Fish
DMC floss (1 skein each) :
#553 purple
#597 light turquoise
#677 light gold
#729 medium gold
#3809 medium turquoise
blanc white
1 5-mm movable eye

8" x 8" piece of white felt
2 pieces each 1" long of 1/2 " wide strip magnet
glue

#18 tapestry needle
black fine point permanent marker
small scissors

Directions

Step 1
If your computer is a PC, click here to print a pattern to trace.
If your computer is a Mac, click here to print a pattern to trace.

The fish in the pattern should print out approximately 4.25" wide by 2.375" 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 turtle and the fish onto the canvas. Remember to use a very light touch with the marker.

Step 2 How To Strand Floss
Pull the floss from the skein and cut it at a comfortable length, usually 12" to 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; 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. However, you will need to separate the floss into strands for the Satin stitches. These choices are presented in Steps 4 and 5.

Step 3 The Stitches
You will be using two different stitches with this design, the Continental stitch and the Satin stitch.

Continental Stitch
The first type of stitch is called the Continental stitch. This stitch lies diagonally on the canvas.

An example of one complete Continental stitch is shown at right. The hole that you go up in is number 1; the hole that you go down in is number 2. See how you went diagonally from 1 to 2, or you went to the hole above 1 and then moved over to the right one hole to hole 2.

In the figure below, let the blue line be your turtle 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.

Remember to go up in the hole marked 1 and down in the hole marked 2. Go up in the hole marked 3 and go down in the hole marked 4. The hole for 1 and 4 is the same hole, so the thread will share that hole. If you have trouble, place your needle in the hole above the hole you came up in and then move over to the right one hole, and put your needle down in that hole.

Most of the time you will be doing the Continental stitch in rows, as at right.

Let the blue line be the outline of the fish. Cover the outline as you stitch with the floss. Go up in hole 1 and down in hole 2. When you are ready to start the second row, continue stitching diagonally, as shown, by going up in hole 9 and down in hole 10, up in hole 11 and down in hole 12. You may turn your canvas upside down when stitching this row, which may be easier for you. This is just an example; your first row of stitching may or may not have 4 complete stitches in it.

Satin Stitch
The second type of stitch we will be using in this design is the Satin stitch, and we will be completing the stitch horizontally on the fish and vertically on the turtle.

In the above diagram, both the vertical and horizontal Satin Stitch are shown. This stitch can be as short as the length from the numbers 1 to 2, or as long as you want. These two examples show that the stitch comes up in hole 1 and down in hole 4.

The examples below show how to complete a row of Satin stitches, whether they are vertical or horizontal. Again these examples show 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.

For example, when you are stitching the satin stitch for the fish’s fin, you need to follow the outline of the fin to determine how long of a stitch to make. The diagram at the right shows you how to do this.

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.

Step 4 The Turtle
The diagram below shows you which colors to use to stitch the turtle and where to put them. The outline of the turtle is dark green, and the outline of the top of the shell (including all of the lines inside the shell) is brown. The inside of the shell is dark green, and the bottom of the shell is also dark green. The rest of the turtle is green.

First stitch the entire turtle using the Continental stitch. Do not do anything for the eyes at this time, just stitch over them with the green floss. You may use the floss as you pull it off of the skein, or if you prefer, you may separate the floss into six strands as shown in Step 2. Once you are done stitching the whole turtle, take three strands (this time you must strand the floss) of the dark green floss and stitch vertical Satin stitches over the Continental stitches that make up the bottom of the shell. Without the Continental stitches under the Satin stitches, you would be able to see the white of the canvas, which is undesirable.

Step 5 The Fish
The diagram below shows you which colors to use to stitch the fish and where to put them. The nose of the fish is light gold. Do not do anything for the eyes, just stitch over them with the light gold floss. The next area of the fish is light turquoise, followed by the medium gold, the white and finally medium turquoise. The fish’s fin and tail are purple.

First stitch the entire fish using the Continental stitch. You may use the floss as you pull it off of the skein, or if you prefer, you may separate the floss into six strands as shown in Step 2. Once you are done stitching the whole fish, take three strands (this time you must strand the floss) of the purple floss and stitch horizontal Satin stitches over the Continental stitches that make up the tail and fin of the fish. Without the Continental stitches under the Satin stitches, you would be able to see the white of the canvas, which is undesirable.

Step 6
Put glue on the back of your turtle and fish, and 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 of the fish and turtle. Let dry. When the glue is dry, carefully cut the fish and turtle out of the canvas. 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.

Step 7
Glue the movable eyes onto the front of the fish and turtle approximately where they are marked on the diagram. The 3-mm size is for the turtle and the 5-mm size is for the fish. Let dry.

Step 8
Glue a magnet to the back of the fish and turtle. Let dry. Once they are dry you may put them on any metal surface to start your tropical paradise. The next ANG Kids project (to be posted in September, 1999) will be the directions for Fish #2 and Fish #3.