Patchwork With DMC: Showing New Threads!!

DMC has some new threads, and also one that won't be available until mid June, when they show it at market (TNNA). Meanwhile, they sent me a picture of a patchwork thing they want to use to show what can be done in needlepoint with their threads.

I had no idea they had so many different things - lots are new to me, but some are just new period! This is a picture of the 5" square design on canvas - I got lucky the first time when I plotted it out, and it came to exactly 5" square!

Next is the brand new one that was developed for paper crafting, but the ladies in marketing and product development are both needlepointers, and are sure it can be used - one has already done an awesome canvas involving black wrought iron that is quite dimensional with the Memory Thread couched over the stitching. This is a bit beyond my skills, but I'll give it a try. It is a soft, thread wrapped wire, so it's packaged on little clear plastic spindles to keep it neat. Pretty colors, and there will be more.



Nothing, of course, turns out as we see it in our heads - so I was prepared for some errors in judgment and ripping out. What I thought was being extremely clever with the Variations pearl cotton - the overdyed thread on the big X, didn't work at all, as I failed to consider that although I work Nobuko horizontally, trying to work it in the opposite direction on the other side of the X caused it to have a vertical orientation. Had to rip it out.

I was told to use the Lumiers, or "Light Effects" (new to me) as blending filament with the purple Satin Floss in this square, but I hated to lose the beautiful variegation in the metallic - so changed it to Smyrna cross, and then Mosaic for the purple parts. Rather effective, it is! I love this stuff - as it's plied like floss, I was able to use 4-ply to make the stitches.


Another change I made was in the threads included in the package for greens - both were entirely too low intensity to look right with the other brighter colors. They turned to mud. I did use pearl cotton for the dark green, but used good old reliable floss in T-stitch for the light green. (It's good to have a big stash) The turquoise square is simply basketweave, as it will be embellished with couched Memory thread in the same color.

Notice how shiny and pretty the light pink is - Satin Floss!! This is a new thread to replace the old Rayon floss that was so difficult to work with. It's been discontinued. The Satin Floss is slippery, as it is rayon - but I use it as I do the floss with a slip knot against the eye of the needle, and have no trouble at all with it.
On the close-up of the orange elements - notice that it is the same thread - Satin Floss, but in basketweave it is darker and duller because of the light being broken up on the surface. The center square is stitched in T-stitch, so has the longer stitches to reflect light, so appears much lighter and brighter. This is always a consideration when choosing threads - the stitch itself makes a difference.

The orange X's and the center square will be embellished with burnt orange Memory Thread to give them more definition. More on this in a few days - I have a deadline here, and have to do more stitching than blogging.