ANG STITCH OF THE MONTH

40th ANNIVERSARY HEART

As you are probably aware, ANG celebrates its 40th anniversary at the 2012 Seminar in Philadelphia. As part of the year long celebration, Beth Robertson and Suzanne Howren were asked to design and coordinate the 2012 Stitch of the Month project. Beth and Suzanne thought it would be fun to ask ANG teachers from past seminars to help them with the project. They also asked the families of several teachers, who made a huge impact on the needlework industry and ANG, but who are no longer with us. The teachers participating in the project are:

Beth Robertson and Tony Minieri, with input from Barbara Richardson, created the design outline, a heart shape with 11 areas and a background. The teachers were asked to share one or two of their favorite stitches or stitch patterns. They were also asked why they like the stitch, how they use it, and what threads they like to use for it.

Suzanne and Beth selected the stitches from Chottie Alderson, Jean Hilton, and Jean Taggart. They chose stitches they felt best represented the teachers’ work and also fit well into the overall design.

A variety of red threads were selected for the project to celebrate the 40th Anniversary, which is symbolized by the ruby.

So now that you have the background on how this design was created, let's get started with the first step - a materials list and then drawing the design onto your canvas.

MATERIALS LIST

If you would like to change to different colors, please see here. If you would like to change threads, please see here. You can note your substitutions on the Thread Usage Chart and in the blanks in the instructions.

PREPARE THE CANVAS

Print out the line drawing of the canvas.

Find the center valley at the top, bottom, and sides of the un-mounted canvas and lightly mark them only in the margins with a #4H pencil or fine permanent maker (in other words, do not make a large plus sign through the entire canvas). Make sure the top and bottom marks are in the same valley. Make sure the right and left side marks are also in the same valley. Center the red lines in the drawing in these valleys so you can see them. Trace the outline of the heart and the lines that create the 11 areas. Use a hard (#4) lead pencil or a fine permanent black marker.

Notes: Use care when tracing the design. Although the lines will eventually be covered, there are a lot of fairly open stitches included and canvas will show through the stitching. You do not want any stray drawing lines to show up in your finished design. Also, after the two hearts were drawn, I found it easier to line a ruler up along the straight lines to draw the dividing lines.

Mount the canvas on stretcher bars.

Refer to the line drawing. Each area is marked with a number. The instructions will follow this numbering sequence.

When working the various areas, you should stitch into the pencil line. This will provide a “groove” for laying the couching threads in the last step of the project.

Portions of this Website presenting information on this project may be printed or electronically reproduced by individual stitchers for their personal use and by ANG Chapters for use in their newsletters and Chapter activities. ANG Chapter republication of these pages should give credit to Stitch of the Month and ANG, Inc.

January

AREA 1: T-Stitch

By Kaye Neufeld

Threads Used:

Directions:

Use 1 strand of Panache PN 16 (My Thread ___________) for the entire area.

Begin with an away waste knot that you will weave in after the area is complete.

Note that Panache is a rayon thread that snags easily. It is best to cover the completed area with tissue paper or plastic wrap to avoid any snags when working other areas.

Plan to not end a thread in the middle of a row, but always at the edge and then weave the threads in when you are finished. If you start with your first stitch over a vertical thread, all your stitches will be over vertical threads. It makes it easy to see if you have missed a stitch.

Comments on Stitch

The T-stitch is one of my favorite stitches. A variation of the tent stitch, you will find it in stitching books usually stitched from right to left but it is my preference to stitch it from left to right. Even though I am right handed it is more comfortable for me to stitch it that way. I prefer the way the back of the canvas looks when it is stitched from left to right. It seems to me that the front has a lacier look and perhaps smoother as well. When stitching from left to right you come up in lower left and go down at upper right.

Several years ago a friend of mine stitched a monogram with a geometric border as the cover for a wedding book for her niece. When she finished the monogram and the border the piece didn't look finished. She then used this stitch in #12 pearl cotton, in ecru thread on eggshell 18-mesh canvas. It gave just enough texture to the canvas to give the piece a light airy finished appearance.

The weight of this stitch depends upon the diameter of the thread that you use. The smaller the diameter of the thread the flatter this area will appear. It will recede. Grandeur, Subtlety, Rainbow Linen, #8 and #12 Pearl Cotton, Backgrounds, Kreinik cord or #4 braid are but a few of the threads to consider. You could even take this stitch a step further and create a Double T by using Kreinik cord or a similar thread to stitch the unstitched canvas threads in the same manner. This step would be stitched from right to left coming up lower right and going down in upper left. This would be a stitch to consider as a background to a central motif in a geometric piece that needed a little something more.

Designer Biographical Information

Kaye Neufeld is an ANG Master Teacher from Perryton, TX. She has taught for ANG seminars and ANG and EGA chapters. She wrote a column for Embroidery Canada for several years. She is also a former shop owner and has won awards for her needlework.

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Last updated Saturday, January 7th, 2012