Painting Monet - More Buried Treasure

I found more photographs while dumping out ancient files - these were dated 1996, so were taken long before I had either a digital camera or a computer. There are even shadows at the top right of this one, as I had taken it outdoors for good light.

I painted this for myself (copyright thing, etc. so I never marketed it), just to see if I could do it. It isn't the prettiest canvas I ever painted, but I will say it was the greatest challenge, the most difficult, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and achieved what I wanted to do.

Being always mindful of painting to make the stitching easy and relaxing, I wanted to anchor the lily pads as they float on the water, but yet give the water depth and show the reflection of the trees.
The lilies and their pads appear very colorful, but if you look at the close-up, you can see that there are actually very few colors, and those are painted simply for easy stitching.

The colors used are just "generic" enough that one could choose any of several ranges of the hues used. One would not have to stick absolutely to the color on the canvas.

The second detail shows the reflected trees with the lily pads floating on the surface of the water. This was the most difficult effect I've ever worked out. The trees had to be easy to stitch - but still kind of fuzzy like a reflection.

The water is smeared looking only because I was going to do it myself, and just wanted to cover the canvas. If it were a commercial canvas, I would have smoothed out the paint so it would look nicer in a shop. There was a second canvas - a pink one - that disappeared.

Monet painted these water lily pieces in several different colors - even green. This flower pot was inspired by one of the green paintings.

When I was first back in Austin, I still wasn't painting needlepoint canvases again yet, but started doing decorative accessories for Breed and Co. here and also the National Wildflower Research Center (Now Lady Bird's Research Center).

For Breed's I did a series of French Impressionist pots, including the saucers, which could be lids for enclosing a gift or candies or something of that nature. I used those little cheap bottles of acrylic paint - the Folk Art or Apple, made by Plaid Enterprises - great paint. It doesn't require a sealer, and I have pots that I painted many years ago that have been outside with plants in them - and they still look fresh.


These were really fun, and very fast to produce, as they were done almost totally with natural sponges, and just smeared onto the pot. The little lilies were put there quickly with a worn out paint brush - just brush strokes.

The next pot is from the painting of "Monet's Roses." It was extremely simple - done all with a wet sponge except for the little roses. Those are just dabbed on with an old soft brush.



















Then another water lilies design adapted to a terra cotta flower pot. These are just the simple clay pots you can get at your garden center. Incidentally, if you want to try this yourself, do NOT use the tube acrylics, as they dry with a plastic finish, and water will seep through the walls of the pot and cause blisters and paint peeling off. The bottled paint seems to breathe with the clay, so gives no trouble. Enough is enough for tonight. It's time for tea and a good movie.

This last pot, I'm ashamed to say, is a mystery, as I cannot remember who the painter was. I'm inclined to say it's from Cezanne, as his style with the outlined fruit says so. However, Van Gogh's style also shows in the blue pitcher and flowers. Oh well. The arrow is pointing to a place that is a white paint mark - not something shiny.

Oops! One more. This last one is one of my very favorites of the Van Gogh paintings - his "Flowering Almond Branch."

Drawing the Topiary Template - getting started

When this idea first popped into my head a number of years ago, I had no idea how I would make a conical 3-D tree in needlepoint, so went to a craft store and purchased three styrofoam cones - three different heights, as I had visualized a nice little forest of trees on the mantel or dining table. To save a lot of time here, I'll just say it didn't work.

The paper pattern models I made with them were way to skinny. Then - and again, skipping a lot of other failed experiments - I decided to just make a simple cone with poster board, using a compass and tape. To my surprise, a 90 degree angle worked best, and the proportions were wonderful for a needlepoint topiary tree!

I'm showing in this first picture the method one might use if one's compass is buried at the bottom of an unknown box in the garage - it's my trusty tape measure. I measured down from the corner 7 inches, and then, using the tape measure, just made intermittent dots, along which I cut the poster board. Neatness is not a great factor here..

Then I found the compass and it's extension arm, and did the same thing on a piece of white paper - but made more definite lines - neater, etc., and included two more concentric circles, as this willl aid in the pattern making to make any swags or other lines meet where they should when the cone is formed with the canvas. I cut the paper model very carefully and neatly along the bottom.

You can see the penciled lines that are partial concentric circles out flat on the pattern, but then are just lines that go straight around the cone when it's put together. (with a little bit of tape)




In the next photo, I just lightly sketched some ornaments to demonstrate the reason for doing this on a curve drawn when the pattern is out flat - the swag appears as it should, and also meets at the same place on the back (the arrows show) When drawing it onto canvas, this will assure you that the pattern meets.

To do this, I had placed the paper cone over the poster board cone for the stiffness, which allowed me to draw the ornaments, etc. with ease. The paper will later be un-taped and flattened for use as the pattern when drawing it onto the canvas.

The sketched ornaments and swags are just for demonstration - too messy to be a real pattern, but it gets the idea across, I believe.
With the paper cone opened out flat again, you can clearly see how the process works. The arrows point to where I left an overlap to make the drawing easier where the swags and concentric circles meet. That space will not be left on the canvas drawing.

I have decided to do the rest of this tutorial and show actual patterns on the Freebies, etc. blog, and then show the stitching and decorating and whatever will be done here on this one. You can let your imagination to wild on these, using the stitches and techniques you've learned, and getting into your own stash of wonderful threads!

I have so many of these things now whirling around in my head - I can see holiday/festive mantles or table tops - or dining tables set with centerpieces of little trees of varying heights and different colors - they needn't just be for Christmas!! Ideas for enhancements and surface embellishments are almost unlimited!!

A Tree for All Seasons: Conical Topiaries!

I was digging into boxes again today, and reached the bottom of one I hadn't seen in a few years - and found more "stuff." I had forgotten about this - dated 1998 - and thought it might be entertaining to do them again, as I have learned so much about stitches, and found so many wonderful novelty threads I wasn't aware of when I originally did them in 1996.

The little corner closeup is another design of the same thing. These went to the cash/carry market in Phoenix in 1997, and I sold quite a few of them. There was a shop in Marietta, Georgia who ordered lots and lots over a period of time, but I never got to see any of them stitched - I had no computer back then.

I'll finish this later, as I must go eat something and make some tea and try to get my brain wires going again - they get kind of short circuited when I have neglected to eat.!!

Angels with Personality: a Preview

This is what they look like before painting - an entire day's work, and only two small canvases. (the figure is 7" high) It's the initial idea, then the drawing on paper - and then the hard part, which on things this small take a lot of stitch drawing to make it work. One could just smear the paint onto the canvas without regard, but then the poor stitcher would have to struggle with where to put the stitches. (There is a lot of this going on these days)

The first one is "July" of what I've called the "birthday guardians" - but it may not get past July and December (which has found another home). Trying to make the flowers stitchable, and coordinating the colors of jewels, flowers, and dress, hasn't come easily.

When I was a child, my mother explained to me that I have my own guardian angel that not only watches over me, but tries, usually in vain, to keep me out of mischief. I felt this entity sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear when I was about to make a good or naughty decision. (She's still there in those little twinges when I might be about to make a not-so-good decision.)

In Psalms 91:11, it says "He hath sent His angel to watch over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I feel this is my personal angel, and as such, needs to share a bit of personality with me in order to be comfortable as we travel this road together. This is what led to the next one, which actually suits me better than Miss July!.

She had to have earrings, of course, and flowers on her dress and in her hair. Now to go spend the day painting these ladies (angels in the Bible were men - but I am giving myself the liberty of turning them into pretty girls.)

There are actually not a lot of angels on the needlepoint market - and these are very Christmas oriented, from what I've seen. They are either ornaments to hang on the tree, or stockings to hold gifts - or tree toppers. My thought is that our guardians are with us all year, and also, it's a waste to do something pretty that then resides in a box in the closet for 11 months.

I thought it might be fun to have one sitting on my work table - with an easel on the back for standing. Mine will be beside St. Clare (Patron of embroiderers/needlework) when I get her finished - I lost my original pattern, so have to re-do her.

Needlepoint Design and Inspiration: Shading (more)

More photographs fell out of an old file folder - and these I was glad to find. The Virgin of the Guadalupe dates back about 12 years to when I was doing Saints - (starting with St. Clare for needleworkers, and going through St. Monica for mothers and St. Catherine for young girls).

Guadalupe has always been well loved in Texas, and this one was very popular in my needlepoint line when I was still wholesaling. I was looking at her this morning, and realized that I like the position of her body and placement of the roses at her feet - and think it would be a good model for my planned "birthday angels" with the appropriate flowers. She would need a different hair do and dress colors, of course- and some wings.

Originally, I had intended for the roses to be done in silk ribbon embroidery, but that long ago, I had a difficult time convincing anyone to do it. Oh well. This might work on the angel guardian for June!

Next is a chair seat I painted for a woman a long time ago when I frist started designing painted canvas again. She was a "traditional type" needlepointer, and it was delightful having an appreciative audience for my efforts at painting shading that could be stitched easily.

As I remember, she brought me a magazine picture with the maple leaves, and also a picture of the toad that she wanted included. I first made a white drawingi paper pattern of the chair seat itself, and then freehand drew the design to fill it well. (can't do this any more).

As it was to be a chair seat, it had to be stitched in Persian wool, so I checked on the colors and ranges within each so I could mix paint accordingly.

The same was true on the toad. I always had to make sure also that there were as many shades of a color within the range as I needed to paint.
This is the kind of painting I used to love doing, but would never reproduce it - too tedious the second time.

You can look at the toad up close and see that, even though he is shaded to look rather realistic, one can actually see the divisions in the shades of the main color. He would be easy to stitch! I don't think designers consider this enough these days - which leads to confusion. (and "goop," to use GayAnn's term.)

The next photo was for the same lady - it was a stamp from the National Wildlife Federation.
My great challenge here was to make the frog's skin appear to be shiny, and also produce the effect of the leg dangling down below the surface of the water- I had to really check my available thread colors for this.
We opted to use DMC floss, as in silk there weren't enough shades or colors to do it. This is where sometimes people run awry - using whatever they find that matches the color of an area. This also leads to an unattractive stitched canvas, as it adds too much unneeded texture to the piece.

I'm almost finished cleaning out the files, and have found a few things that might be worth reproducing - but, as I've said, I'm now old and lazy and no longer capable of the kind of drawing and painting I did in past years. I'm enjoying the little bright simple things lately, and using more metallic threads and beads and PVV and other such lovely fun things!

I didn't find the three canvases I painted from Monet's waterlilies - the most difficult thing I ever painted, and the greatest challenge - but I was pleased with the result. I painted them for myself, of course, as they are under ownership and copyright - but I never got around to stitching them. I do, however, plan to do a few from the Matisse JAZZ series - I love those, and they are flat and simple! One could even do a few decorative stitches on them.

Setting Up the Plaid (Millenium Ribbon)

In the very beginning of setting up a plaid on needlepoint canvas from an already existing one, the colors, of course, have to be counted and considered.

On a tartan with more than about three colors, it isn't quite as easy as it seems - it's common to miss one. The case here was that I didn't notice at first that there is a green stripe on the vertical set up, and a yellow on the horizontal. Irregular plaid!

This scan is very pale, so it's not easy to see - but it's just my doodling with the stripes to ascertain the widths of each relevant to the others. I do this on leftover scrap canvas with my drawing pen. The smallest elements - the ones that look like single lines - translate best when stitched as two threads on needlepoint canvas, so one must start there. Then, but just playing a bit, and comparing visual percentages of the widths, one can finally come up with a reasonable facsimile.

In the olden days (a few years ago) before I found colored Sharpie drawing pens, this set up would have been rather confusing to stitch. The colors, of course, aren't true - but they certainly help.

I drew the top and right side margins, (arrow on the left) and then changed my mind, as I wanted to include what was on the ribbon at top and bottom - the yellow and blue lines. The coloring in of the spaces gives me all the guidance I need for the stitching.

This piece came out to be 2 1/2" high. I would love to have had it narrower, as a ribbon, but I'm thinking of other uses for a band this wide. Anyway, it's a new format to play with , so at present it doesn't matter.

Beginning the stitching - as always, the warp is stitched FIRST in skipped basketweave, as that is the strength of the mono canvas, as well as the way the plaid is woven on a loom. I like to stitch about this far, and then do a bit across the weft to see the plaid begin to emerge.

I'm showing the section of the actual ribbon that you can see here with stitches on it so far. You might notice that the green has changed in this last photo. What I had already stitched didn't show up, as the green was too dark, and too close in value to the blue. I switched to one that I had discarded in the beginning as too bright - but it works fine here!!

It's at this point that I get really anxious to see how it will look with just a little bit more, or one more stripe worked - so it never gets boring. The only boring part might be in the beginning when setting up the initial verticals - but that doesn't last long! I'm already figuring out how to maybe make this narrower and do a set of Tartan napkin rings. Or put it on a small diamond shaped ornament with some glitzy stuff in it for a key ring. Lots of possibilities here!!

Paint Your Own Canvas: a commercial

I'm very pleased to announce that I finally got out of my creative avoidance mode that I've been in for over a year, and finished what I'll call "Chapter I" of the revision of this book.

I was astonished, as really going over it page by page, that it was rather behind, and had quite a few typos in it - as I wrote it a couple of years before I got a computer or a digital camera. Materials have been expanded, but technique is the same.

I thought that by offering the book as an E-Book, it would be easier for everyone, including me - and much less expensive. I was able to put a lot more color into it that I couldn't do if having to take it to a printer.

The decision to cut it into two chapters came when I realized it was getting way too long to comfortably download - so this one deals with detailed descriptions and pictures of the "tools" and materials used in hand painting canvases - and how to use and care for them. Also included are pros and cons of oils vs. acrylics for painting, as well as some of my favorite color mixtures.

Also, there are pictures of some of my canvases illustrating interesting design sources I like to use. I'll start on Chapter II tomorrow, and hope to have it finished before the weekend is over. This will deal with the actual process from drawing a pattern to getting it onto canvas and painting it.

The E-book is available on my web page Elegant Whimsies under "E-Booklets" (or something to that effect).

Outlining the Cross and Choosing Threads

I decided to go ahead and start stitching on the first of the new Talavera mini-crosses - I might even finish one or two, as they're small and bright, so I'm not likely to get bored or distracted.

Anyway, my dilemma with these things has been that they are so lively in color and pattern, they can't take a lot of glitz, sparkle, and beads, but definitely need something to jazz them up for use as ornaments. I very rarely paint anything of mine that I'm going to stitch, as it not only takes time, but I enjoy the process of seeing the piece come alive by adding color. (painting with a needle and thread).

Incidentally, I have some tutorials going on at Freebies, Etc. (the other blog) on the canvas preparation process - beginning with the pens, so don't miss it if you want to try it on your own.

On one of them I am explaining why I used a light blue drawing pen for the fret at the top, which I have now covered with Kreinik 032 metallic white - so nothing of the line shows through. You can see it coming alive with the blue background started around it.

On the Talavera ceramics, as on the Japanese Imari porcelains, most of the design motifs are outlined in dark navy - so I used the Kreinik navy #018HL, as it has just the right amount of sparkle. Speaking of outlining, a friend wrote me this morning to say she had seen someone on a blog advise against outlining, "as it is continental stitch." I'm afraid I was ROTFLOL at this, as my first and immediate thought was those gorgeous designs of Mindy's I was working on - all three of them have lots and lots of outlining on them. The beautiful flowers, especially, as well as the leaves on the Asian design.

Outlining is not continental stitch, as that stitch travels horizontally in a straight line. Outlining is simply tent stitch, and there is no reason not to outline on a canvas where the design requires it. As I said, the majority of the antique Oriental porcelains I have designed from for almost 40 years, have the pattern motifs outlined. (Another reason for outlining is to confine an area of pattern that's to be worked in a textured stitch, as this prevents ragged, unsightly edges against the background.)

Now back to the subject: My intent on this little canvas is to use Kreinik metallics, blending filament included for a very subtle sparkle, and cotton and Satin floss. I used a red drawing pen to mark where the flower petals will be stitched in red so I won't have to figure it out as I go. Looks much nicer than black ink would have, and is less likely to show through the thread, as I'm not painting it.


I also started, a few days ago, when I was a bit bored, one of my "jeweled" napkin rings. This is an example of how a painted canvas really comes to life with threads. I'm using one of my favorite combinations here - the Petite Very Velvet with Kreinik 002V metallic braid and the addition of glittering beads. (haven't gotten to those yet.)



The edge stitch (so it'll roll over neatly in the finishing) is long-armed cross stitch. Very easy to do, and sooooo effective here. This thing, once the beads are placed on the diamonds and emeralds, looks like an elegant bracelet - but this one is only the length of a napkin ring (5 1/2") Notice that the jewels are also outlined - had to do it here!

Outline Dilemma and a New Talavera Cross

This little cross gave me problems in painting, due to the fact that the background is a very dark navy, and typically, on the ceramics, the outline of the pattern elements is also navy. On this one, it is actually grey, which I don't like, so it took me a while to figure out what to do, as the leaf veins, etc. are dark navy on the actual ceramic piece.

I solved the problem by just painting the outline in kind of medium blue, which shows up well - not really too pretty on the canvas, but my thought, when the light came on finally, is to stitch the outlines in what I love using on these - the Kreinik 018HL dark, bright navy metallic braid. Then the background can be worked in basketweave with simply silk or cotton floss.


I used a green Sharpie ultra fine point pen on the leaf to make sure I didn't paint out the light green outline that's on the real ceramic piece, just inside the dark veins. This makes it so much easier - an option I didn't have many years ago, when all we had to draw with was black.
This pen isn't suitable for trying to paint a canvas, as it's a drawing pen, the point is tiny, and the ink stays right on top of the canvas, and looks like a child with crayons playing. Easier to just paint with acrylics if you want the color solid - or, as I do, don't paint it at all if you're doing it just for yourself.

I would leave just the outlines, as I don't need to spend the time. The arrow pointing to the little square at the bottom is just to demonstrate that it is on the center, so the diaper pattern will be nicely centered when completed.

I took pictures of the design adaptation process for this one as I went along, and will do it maybe on Freebies, etc. in a few days when I can get to it. These things you can do for yourself if you know how!!

A New Celtic Cross

I gave myself a day off today from "real" work, and drew and painted this encircled Welsh cross. I've done this one before, several years ago, when I became fascinated with Celtic knotwork and crosses during painting canvases for St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin.

This one was in a book someone loaned me, but I returned the book, and now can't find anything about the history of it. All I know is that it is a stone carved cross on the typical pedestal somewhere in Wales, and I had written "Ennlaun Cross" on the canvas at the bottom.

Anyway, I love fooling around with the counted elements of knotwork, etc. and the geometric symmetry - and also figuring out color schemes for them. For some reason this one went smoothly, and I didn't make but a few errors in the counting - unusual. My concentration was O.K. today, I suppose.

I'm also pleased with the colors I mixed - which, again, is unusual. The gold outline was done with my new Sakura Pen-touch paint pen, which I'm really enjoying, as it's so much faster than the little bottle of paint and a brush that I normally use. The gold isn't as pretty, but for an ornament to be stitched, it's O.K.

A word about this pen: It isn't good, unfortunately, for the actual drawing, as I paint out mistakes with acrylic paint, and the ink repels acrylic. Also, I have no idea how it would behave on a larger piece - such as a pillow or something for a church kneeler, as subsequent dry cleaning could make it lift to the surface. I would have to test it before using it. I don't like to risk disaster!!

As long as I'm showing off, I might as well do the other two - did them earlier in the weekend. I'm suffering from PPD (post project depression) after finishing work for a magazine deadline - so had to play a bit. I had drawn these two also several years ago, but never really finished choosing colors for them.

The second photo is the "Pen Arthur" cross - but, again, I have lost the source and the history. I had written "St. David's" on the original canvas I drew, so it probably is in the churchyard of St. David's in Wales.


The last photo is the cross at Maen Achwyfan in Wales. It is a magnificent stone carving on a tall base, dated at around 1,000 A.D., and shows Viking influence.

If I ever decide to stitch them, choosing threads will be fun - as I have to make a decision whether or not to spice them up with sparkly/shiny stuff for ornaments, or a bit more subdued for frameables. For right now, I'm going to put them away and prepare to do some responsible work tomorrow.

Mexican Tiles in Needlepoint

Returning to one of my favorite sources for needlepoint design - the Tiles of Mexico, including the beautiful Spanish Talavera, which are manufactured in Puebla. (Uriarte)

Going through my rolls of painted canvases hidden away in boxes and on closet shelves (painting models for a number of years), I found this one that I had actually intended to stitch. I usually do just one square, as they are pretty enough alone - quick to do, and make great little pillow insets or purse patches. (at 5" square) This one I could see as a long, rectangular inset, and rather interesting.

I have loved Mexican pottery since I was a child - but oddly, when I was living in Mexico City long ago, I was apparently interested in other things, and didn't even realize that gorgeous Spanish Uriarte Talavera was in Puebla close by - just over the mountains. I went there often, and never even saw the ceramics.

These tiles I'm showing were in a book on old tiles from San Miguel de Allende (another of my haunts, but I was doing papier mache' back then, and the Jeanne Valentine factory was there)

Anyway, these lovely works of art can stand on their own as a single piece for needlepoint, or in arrangements of multiples. Four is great for a pillow, and the look; as with Patchwork patterns, is different according to how they are put together.




















I had to make copies of color scans of the original canvases, as those are long gone, and then cut them up - soooo they don't quite fit, as you can see. You get the idea.

The second design is one of my very favorites, and I have stitched the single square for myself - but have no idea where it is. May have to do this one again for myself, but as the full four-square pillow that is 10 1/2" square. I have made the tiles all 5" square, but like the effect of leaving two threads between them to give the effect of grout.

I prefer the arrangment of the dark elements in the center, but changing them is certainly an interesting effect.












The last photo (the paper squares don't fit) is really pretty as just a single tile - but also interesting in this format. I tried putting the bright flowers in the center, but somehow it didn't look quite right.

I'm preparing a "tutorial" right now (Drawing on Canvas 202) that I hope to have finished by this evening on drawing a tile on canvas - I've chosen to use the first illustration, as it's simple to do, and will lay the foundation for your doing your own. Also remember that the same technique applies to putting together patchwork squares to form different effects!

If it isn't up tonight, do see it tomorrow (Friday) on Freebies, etc.

ADDENDUM: Due to an internet problem, I only finished putting the "how to draw your own" instructions for the Mexican tile (illustrated at the top) on Freebies, etc. It's ready now!!

Church Pew Markers: the rest of the story

I finally sat down today and drew the missing pew marker onto canvas - the one that replaces one that was left on an airplane. It occurred to me that some of you might like to see the process, as it's a lovely idea for a church, and one could do it easily with a bit of "know-how." I've shown this piece before, but not the process of the canvas preparation.

It finally occurred to me why I've dragged my feet so about re-doing it. Monday was the anniversary of the loss of my little granddaughter, Madeline, and I couldn't look at it without the overwhelming sadness.

Several years ago, when I began painting them, I wanted her to be proud some day of the work her Granny did for her church (Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin) - so explained the white ones and the red ones: White for weddings, confirmations, etc., and red ones for Memorial Services. I told her that one day the white ones would be used at her wedding. She looked me square in the eye (at age 9 or 10) and said, "Granny, I'm not going to get married. I'm going to be an archaeologist and go dig at Jackson Hole." LOL. I would have been right beside her.

Anyway, I had to make a tracing of this finished one, as I had discarded the pattern - it wasn't easy, as trying to get the curves right from an already stitched piece was difficult - and also the counted elements. What you are seeing is the new canvas being drawn by placing the tracing under it.

That gorgeous gold tassel is something our wonderful finisher-without-equal Vikki Pinson here in Austin added - and she also put probably BB's in each end to weight them so that they would hang properly over the end of the pews.

The shepherd's crook hangs to the outside, and the cross is on the inside. The cross was stitched in simple basketweave in Kreinik metallic gold - so it wouldn't snag on anything, or be damaged by little children playing with it during services.

The third picture has arrows pointing to a framework of two stitches wide - worked just in a satin stitch - for emphasis and to separate the mosaic stitch background from the basketweave around the crook. It's difficult to see in the picture because of the color, but it's a stepping stone frame.

You can see a fragment of the cross here - it's upside down so that it will hang properly on the inside of the pew. I had suggested this sort of project to St. David's, as I love doing Celtic knotwork and leeks - but I forgot that their pews are rounded at the top, not flat as at Good Shepherd.

I'm showing the backside of this one to illustrate that each one is a "memorial" gift to the church from someone. The canvas is put together with the threads, and is purchased by whomever wants to stitch it and leave it as a memorial. (Vikki embroiders the message on the backs with her machine.) By doing it this way, it defrays the cost of the project from the church.

Anyway, I thought this might inspire some of you who have expressed an interest in doing needlepoint for your churches.

Basketweave Background for Shaped Ornaments

I can't possibly stitch an ornament to demonstrate this, as time is a factor - so am just showing it with a shaped outline, as the process can be easily demonstrated this way.

I'm using two outline forms that I used to use for teaching beginners - back when we taught basketweave as the basic for fine stitching. People had to learn to stitch outlines within a design, and also odd shapes, as they needed to learn the concept of the outline stitch and having all the "tent stitches" going the same way on the canvas.

Another way I use outlines also is to enclose an irregular shape within a design on a painted canvas when it is to be stitched with textured stitches and adjacent to another area, to eliminate ragged and unattractive edges. It makes the stitching sooo much easier! Also - on any ornament, as on my circles with bargello. Leaves no doubt as to where to begin and end "fancy" stitches.
The second pictures is horribly blurry, but I had already started stitching the background before I unloaded it from the camera - but you can see where I marked three threads out wherever I could when the stitches were on the straight vertical or horizontal. After that, it's a matter of "connecting the dots" to draw the outline for the background.

As I've said, a really competent finisher doesn't need more than about two extra rows. Many designers don't add this, and I've seen stitchers and shop owners perplexed when part of the design was lost in the finishing - so I've made a point for many years of drawing the outline around the piece myself. I like the three rows, as with the light padding in the finishing, it leaves a slight bit of color around the design - kind of like a mat liner when framing a picture.

The next picture illustrates how to find where to start this basketweave background.

If you've learned properly, you will already know that one stitches UP on the weft (horizontals) and DOWN on the warp (the little bumps). This is vital to a really nice stitched surface - and also is a great way to understand where to start and stop.


The piece of paper is at a 45 degree angle, so that one can see whether the first row of stitches is warp or weft. In this case, you can clearly see (click to enlarge the picture) that the row just under the paper is WARP, so the first stitches on the curve will be on the weft where the arrow is pointing.


















On the next picture, the stitching is begun, and the arrow at the top shows the weft threads where I'll start again after going down the right side. The lower arrow points to where the next thread will begin the stitches, as it's not a straight line from that curve up to where I stopped the stitching. This way, stitching up the weft will happen with no breaks - and again, the surface will be smooth.

This second shape is a bit more complicated - and will illustrate some common mistakes people make in stitching odd areas, like the "V" at the top. This one is at the "dot" stage, and then the dots will be connected for the background outline. The arrows point to mistakes I made, which I will dot out with white acrylic - or just make the adjustment with my needle and thread when I get there.


This is a choice we make when stitching - and is part of the art. We need to be able to judge whether a stitch is right to make the curve look pretty, or should not be done.

This is also a plus for the well painted canvas, that there seem to be too few of these days. The choices of where to place a stitch shouldn't be difficult. On the last picture, the arrows point to where the next threads will be started.

More about stitching in the next post - this is enough of my "pontificating" for one day.