Sparkling Tartan/Plaid for a Napkin Ring

First showing the napkin ring "finished" - but not yet professionally done. I simply steam pressed it and put it together with masking tape to see how it would look. ("Haste is the enemy of perfection.")

Also, my fine white napkins are packed in a box somewhere, so I had to resort to a paper towel - the ultimate tacky, so my mother would say.

This napkin ring began life as Alpine Meadows tartan, a gorgeous green one I chose a while back to illustrate adapting an actual tartan to needlepoint. It has relatively few colors and rather small setts, which makes it quite versatile for this use.

To repeat my "disclaimer" - I checked with the Scottish National Registry, and while it's illegal to sell "patterns" made from these tartans, it's O.K. to adapt them for one's own personal use. Anyway, setting up a pattern for use requres knowing for what it will be used - size and shape of project, canvas mesh size, many different factors. It makes a difference in the number of threads used for the width of each stripe.

The first "stitching" picture shows how it looks barely begun. You can see where I marked the stripes with colored Sharpie pens for guidance. The arrow is showing where I cheated and turned the canvas upside down to continue the red stripe instead of ending off and beginning again at the top. This is not good practice, but on this small piece, it did no harm.

The second photo shows the weft stripes started - and this is where it becomes very entertaining and hard to put down, as the pattern begins to emerge. On this fun piece, I chose to use Kreinik metallics for the gold, red, and white stripes, substituting the red for the pink on the original tartan. 032, of course, provides the sparkling touch of white!

Last - the napkin ring almost finished. There are instructions for drawing the basic size and shape for these things on my Freebies, etc. blog under "napkin rings" - as well as a bracelet. You could also do belts this way, maybe from your own family tartan, as it's the same width as a needlepoint belt - and what fun for the Holiday Season!!

PLAID! and Old Imari Photos

I have finally spent a few days going through boxes that have been in the garage for three years, since I moved out of my house, and have found buried treasure again in the form of photos I thought were lost - of some of my favorite canvases I painted almost 15 years ago.

I did find the companion to the round Imari I showed in a post recently. It was my favorite of the two plates I had bought, but it disappeared for a while.

This one has cranes (I don't remember the symbolism right now in Japanese art) and also the Phoenix, which is the symbol for the "Empress." I adapted these two designs from plates dated ca. 1820 - beautiful things.

ADDENDUM: I finally found my list of symbolism, made long ago when I was designing from Chinese and Japanese antique porcelains. The Crane is a symbol of longevity and literary achievment - I like that one!!


Next of importance!!! As I have continued to have much interest in plaid and how to set up and stitch these wonderful patterns in needlepoint, I finally took a few days to update, revise, and add more pictures and color to the book I did about six years ago. At that time, I had no computer, and no way to put much color into it. Also, I've learned more about the terminology, etc., which is an interesting bit of history.

Anyway, this is now on my web page, ELEGANT WHIMSIES, in the form of an "E-Booklet." This means that it is immediately delivered upon purchase, and you may download and print it out yourself.


This is a good thing, as it's a fraction of the cost of the book that has to be printed and cover and coil binding applied - and then mailed out. I did this as Chapter I, which is basically how to stitch plaid, beginning with simple gingham checks, and then creating your own original plaid patterns by simply manipulating the width and colors in the "stripes."

Chapter II is in the works now, and will be a little more advanced, giving instructions for adapting and setting up projects with actual existing plaids (called "tartan" in the U.K., where the word "plaid" means a blanket thrown over the shoulder in the Highland Scots dress). I'll finish this chapter after I'm done with some painting that is lagging far behind.

Tyler and Tartan

One doesn't have much to do with the other - but I'm attempting to explain my lack of enthusiasm and blogging the last two weeks or so. It seems that I'll be moving back to Tyler, after many years, and am delighted - but do dread the upheaval again.

I've packed up to move from one residence to another three times in the last few months, and am worn out, crabby, and just plain mean at times. I can't find anything, and it's maddening. However, as long as my computer works, and I have my coffee maker, paint brushes and plenty of canvas and something to stitch, I'll survive one more time. The Imari isn't the first one I did - I can't find a picture of it right now.

I started out in Tyler in 1969 when a woman brought me a gorgeous Imari saucer and asked me if I could put it onto needlepoint canvas for her. That was a long time ago, and I have continued to design from the antique porcelains whenever I run across something magnificent. This is from a plate my oldest son gave me in 1995. There were two of them, but I can't find a picture of the other one.

The Alpine Meadows tartan is almost finished - and needs a bit of light blocking with a steam iron. I've really enjoyed working on this one! Incidentally, I just posted a tutorial on stitching gingham checks on a circular shape over on Freebies, etc.

The ladies in the U.K. are amazed at the terminology we use - I was told in a comment that all of this is "tartan" and they've not heard of the term "plaid." I had researched this in curiosity a while back - and it's true that they are all one and the same - woven fabric with a pattern created by stripes horizontal and vertical meeting at 90 degree angles are referred to as "TARTAN." Interesting!!

More Angels and Tartans

It's only an "almost" angel and one tartan - but I did manage a lot of sketching on new angels today. This is a very very rough drawing, but I'm beginning to almost be pleased. I decided to do this one for July - hence the water lily.

Larkspurs are the alternate July flower, and would be easier to stitch, just requiring a bunch of French Knots with overdyed thread or silk ribbon. However, I like the symbolism of the lotus - as the Chinese revere it for having its beginnings in the mud at the bottom of the pond and then growing up toward the light at the surface, and blooming beautifully finally.

I wish I could do that. I think sometimes I'm kind of stuck in murky waters still - or some days, just sitting at the bottom stirring up a lot of mud.

Anyway, that's what this little ink drawing is about. The dress looks a bit drab, but I plan to add color above the water line also. The rubies are on the neckline of her dress and in her hair.

I have "May" also sketched in pencil with the lily-of-the-valley and the emeralds - but not far enough along to show. The faces are drawn directly onto canvas, as they must be stitch painted to look right and be easy to stitch.
The Alpine Meadows tartan is progressing nicely, I think. I'm enjoying it as relaxation from drawing.

Usually I won't use just one thread line on any plaid, as it does't show up or stitch quite right - but in this case, the white line had to stay at one thread only, or the entire pattern would have been way too large, and I like the scale of this one.

Since each stripe is bordered by one line of white, I rather like the effect - it shows up well and adds some additional interest.

I'll stitch some more over the weekend, but tomorrow I have to make another move - back to my daughter's house and the "guest quarters." (the Granny suite) I won't be able to think clearly to draw more angels until about Monday when the house quiets down.

I have decided to be an almost elderly runaway, and run back to Tallahassee where I can sit and contemplate the pine trees and other delightful things in nature. Austin hasn't any, and I need the inspiration I always find in north Florida..

Alpine Meadows is Blooming!

This is the Anderson tartan - my family. I keep looking at it and wishing I could do something with it, but it's the only tartan registered that has 7 colors, and there are too many elements to enable me to make a small piece with it. I had originally wanted to make a little chair pad for the rocking chair I have that was my father's when he was a small child.

When I started counting it out, I realized it would make a small rug to put beneath the chair, and not a little pad for it. Oh well. Maybe I'll tackle it yet - on 18 mesh canvas, I could probably do a nice pillow for my oldest son, who was very close to my father.
A small disclaimer here: I am not doing any of these tartan patterns to sell, as they are officially registered in Scotland, (even the Bluebonnet tartan) and the rights do not belong to me for reproduction in any form. I would imagine this would be illegal, and if not, at least unethical.

However, just for personal use, there's no harm - I felt that I probably should have contacted somebody before showing them on my blog, but don't know where to go. Since I'm making no profit here, I suppose it's O.K. They are just so beautiful!! I'm using them to illustrate how to adapt a plaid to needlepoint, put the marks on canvas, and stitch it - and also how to set up a specific project, not just making little squares.

I found a really fun thing today you might want to check out. It is more entertaining than the JigZone puzzles I enjoy for taking breaks. Go to SCOTWEB and check it out - a site where you can make your own tartan!! You can actually choose colors, width of different stripes - all that. You will land on the home page - so click on "tartans" and then scroll down the page to see the spot for making your own.

The green photo is showing progress on the Alpine Meadows piece. At this point, it's hard to put it down, as I want to stitch one more vertical stripe, cross a few with weft stripes - and on and on. It's a fine activity for some kind of mindless and relaxing stitching, and it doesn't get boring.

However, I always enjoy having a little sparkly ornament or something also waiting for attention for a change.

I did draw angels yesterday, and got on such a roll with that, I didn't get anything painted - but will tomorrow. Lots and lots of angel. I wish I could paint faster!

The Bluebonnet Tartan/Plaid: Another adaptation!

To be an "official tartan," a pattern has to be registered, and I was surprised to see that all 50 states in the U.S.A. have one!

This is the "Bluebonnet" tartan for Texas, and I think it's a beauty. Even though it has five colors plus the white lines, it's rather simple to set up on needlepoint canvas. However, due to the pattern elements being larger, it's not quite as versatile as the Alpine Meadows, but on larger canvas would make a stunning pillow or tote bag.

When I plotted it out on 18 mesh canvas, it was 6 1/4" from the edge of one light blue square to the other (meaning on both sides of the dark blue stripe) In plain words - stopping just before the red stripes. I had to stop where I did because I had picked up a little scrap of canvas that wasn't quite long enough to accomodate.

On this one, the white is a little bit wider than it was on the green one, so I was able to make it 2 threads wide. The green stripe, therefore, looks correct at 4 threads wide, and the blue ones are 7. Yellow and red are 2 each. This makes the white/red/white stripe larger in proportion to the blue ones than they are on the actual tartan, but I think it will work. I made the blue stripes only 7 threads wide, as 9 was entirely too much, and the pattern would have been huge, and also tiresome to stitch.

Incidentally, the formula for figuring the size of these for each different canvas mesh is simple: just multiply the inches (6.25 in this case) x the mesh (18) and then divide that answer by the mesh size you want to use - on 13 mesh, this measurement would come to 8.65" and on 10 mesh, 11.25". This is only the measurement, remember, from light blue stripe edge to the opposite side- so would be a lovely pillow on 10 mesh canvas if more stripes are included.

I liked the idea of adding another dark blue plus a bit of green to edge what I'm doing, (the arrow points) but, once again, I picked up a piece of already cut canvas, and it isn't quite big enough to do what I intended. It's wider than it is tall, so I couldn't make a square, and had to choose where to place the dominant pattern element (The dark blue stripe).

This was easy, as I just used the strip of canvas with the stripes marked in color (Sharpie drawing pens) and moved it up and down until I was happy with the arrangement.

To do this tartan (or any tartan), first determine what size the finished piece will be, and cut canvas to accomodate it. Mark the center at the top by folding it in half - in this case, mark in the GROOVE, as the center stripe, the green one, is four threads - an even number.

Then mark a line across the top with a black drawing pen, and proceed to mark the colored stripes with colored pens. Draw the vertical right edge AFTER you've marked all the stripes. I changed the colors a bit with my thread choices (DMC floss on this one), as the Texas bluebonnet actually has a lot of purple in it.

After all my life seeing fields and fields of bluebonnets (briefly in the early spring) and picking them in my back yard, I didn't realize this until I started mixing paint when I was painting decorative accessories for the gift shop at the Wildflower Research Center. LOTS of purple. I worked from a real flower sitting in a little vase of water on my table. Also, I changed the red stripe to "burgundy," as there are burgundy spots here and there in the bluebonnet that people aren't aware of until studying this flower up close.

I'm also thinking of the pretty Drummond's phlox that blooms at the same time, and is seen scattered in beds with the bluebonnets at the Wildflower Center. They are red, but have a bluish cast. (The red red is the Gaillardia and the Mexican Hat.)

Now that this is done, here is progress on the Alpine Meadows tartan! I'm really enjoying this one.

When asked why not paint plaid onto canvas, I say because I don't want to mix so many different colors. In a true plaid, wherever two stripes cross, another color is created. I counted 14 on this one, just being curious. (It has five colors)

A pattern resembling plaid can be painted - but not a true one, unless one stitch paints the little intersections, which would take forever and make the canvas very expensive at retail level.

Now - for next time, on with the Angels!! (reviving and revising old ones and creating new ones) I'm being prodded hard and often by a delightful and talented friend who has graciously offered to stitch a model or two for me. This induces designer paralysis in me, as I'm afraid she won't like what I do, and will be too polite to say so.

Possibilities of Plaid: A New Tartan

I usually create plaids by just fooling around with bands of color on scrap canvas - or by imitating plaids I see in magazines or on people at the supermarket.

This time I decided to see what I could do by dissecting a real, genuine, registered Tartan that's a little more complicated than my usual. I love green, so was truly "taken" by this one - called "Alpine Meadows."

The first thing to do is to determine how many colors it has, which is best accomplished by counting the solild-color elements. On this one, there are five. (not counting the white lines). The bright green seems the most predominant, but I was surprised upon further study, to see that actually, the main color is the low intensity green that isn't as noticeable as the dark and bright greens - low intensity does fade into the background in any situation!

Next, on scrap canvas, I played with determining the number of canvas threads that each element would occupy. This part isn't easy. One must remember that true plaid is a woven fabric, and even coarse muslin has about 120 threads per inch. I'm using 18 threads to the inch count canvas, so don't have the flexibility of choosing widths of stripes.

I never like using just one line of a color - in this case, white, - but if I had used two threads, the whole thing would be enormous, and not nearly as pretty. The top markings show the warp stripes set up (gotta love those Sharpie drawing pens in color) with a white line between each stripe. The next one shows the pink/green/gold element drawn without the white lines.

I determined that for the main greens, four threads looked much better than five, although the proportion of these on the real tartan is greater next to the very narrow stripes. Artistic license is necessary here - just trying to achieve the "look." The arrows on the right are pointing to my fun and games where I decided that I could make a bracelet and then a napkin ring.

I'll use the metallics, of course on these, and make them rather festive. This is one of those things, as I told someone yesterday, if it looks good, I'll take pictures. If not, I'll never mention it again.

Actually, I was quite surprised that the "setts" were right for this project, as this is a very busy tartan. The first thing to do, of course, is to stitch the warp stripes. It's a bit boring at first, but knowing it will be more exciting when the warp stripes are begun - I could do enough to get ready for the fun part.

The white line does a strange thing when crossing the warp and weft - but it's an interesting pattern, so I won't worry about it.

The arrow is pointing to where I could have stopped the warp stripes, leaving the center of the piece blank - for putting in a large initial or a monogram.

The motif as you see it here, including the dark green bands, is 2" square. The plaid could be extended across the top, and down the sides, leaving a center square blank of 2 3/4". The whole square I have set up on 18 mesh canvas is 6 1/2".

I've played with this tartan a lot, and found it would make a lovely checkbook cover, and even a little scissors fob or key ring - the square outlined by the dark green bands, and turned to make a diamond shape. Lots of things to do. Also, One could use larger mesh canvas and make a wonderful small pillow or pillow inset. I used to love stitching plaid footstool covers on 10 mesh canvas in wool. Gorgeous decorative accessories.

There will be more on this - I hope it gives you an idea of how you might adapt a tartan plaid of your own (I'm using U.S.A. terminology here). Once you know how to "dissect" them for adaptation to needlepoint, you'll look at them with a different eye -whether in books or on the internet.

This is the Millenium ribbon progressing toward finish!

The Millenium Ribbon: It's Looking like Plaid!

This is now beginning to be quite entertaining, as it's beginning to actually look like tartan. At this point I always want to stitch a little bit farther for a few more minutes to see what will happen next. As the weft threads travel horizontally across the vertical bands of stitcihing, it takes on a new life.

I've never had any desire to paint plaid onto canvas, as it's impossible to do a true one that way, unless it's a very simple thing with very very few colors (such as gingham checks) - everywhere two colors cross each other, a new color is created. I would say "theoretically," as a needlepoint plaid is on coarse fabric - the mono canvas.


In this example, it's 18 stitches to the inch, so where two colors cross, it shows little dots, which are easily discernible, but nevertheless interesting. A pattern that resembles a plaid can be painted - but not a true, woven one. I suppose it could be done, but what a lot of time and trouble!!!

If you look at this example, you can see where the green crosses the yellow, a "yellow green" would be formed. Where green crosses white, a lighter green shows. On a woven fabric plaid with warp and weft, the thread count is normally so high that it does register visually as another color.


This is the principle upon which the Impressionist painter Georges Seurat based his Pointillism paintings - as the eye automatically assimilates the areas of tiny dots of pure color into the color the artist intended. My goodness, that must have been slow. La Grande Jatte is enormous!! (his most famous work)

Now that this "Millenium Ribbon" tartan is taking shape, I'm wanting to work on it more, and start setting up yet another of the ribbons. I could make these narrower by decreasing the counts - as beginning with the tiniest elements - the lines. Those could be reduced to one thread only, but would not have nearly the impact they do as two lines. On this pattern, they would show up, as the white, yellow, and green are light and bright agains the blue. This is a consideration! Back to the drawing board for a while.

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!!

Plaid/Tartan: A New Idea for a Project!

As I say often, some of my best ideas originate when looking at the beautiful blogs of the textile artists - art quilters especially.

Allison Aller was showing some crazy quilt blocks she's finished, and one had a "Millenium Ribbon" on it, which was a gift from a friend. As it is tartan, I had to ask for more information, and was told that her friend (link to this is on the blog) purchased it in Scotland in 1999.

Allie graciously sent me a close-up picture of it. I spent some time on the internet looking for "millenium" ribbons, but this is the only one I found - and it came from a store in Insch, Aberdeen. It's stated on that web page that it has been registered, as tartans must, to be "official."

Anyway, as always, I had to go cruising to find other tartan ribbons, as I didn't know they existed - and found buried treasure!! I found the Royal Stewart tartan in ribbon form, and also the "dress tartan," which substitutes a white background for the red - but is otherwise the same.

Incidentally, I discovered that the spelling for this tartan is STEWART, and not STUART, as I had always thought. The reason is that Mary Queen of Scots, who was raised in France, spelled her name as "Stuart," as there is no W in the French language.

When Queen Elizabeth adopted it as her official tartan, the English version of the name was used. Very interesting trivia. I'm showing the Buchanan tartan here just because I like it - and have always wanted to do something with it.

The Anderson tartan is my own, but it has seven colors, and is so complicated that I've never used it - it would be rug sized to include all the elements in needlepoint. I've already started playing around a bit on canvas with the Millenium tartan/plaid, and will do a few others as well. I'll show from beginning to end how to do this.

I've already discovered that in order to get in all the elements in their proper proportions, the ribbon will be 2 1/2" wide - so to my surprise, that's perfect for a picture frame or for a pillow to frame a monogram or initial!! I'm using the term "tartan" here because that is correct - although in this country only we use the word "plaid." This is explained in a previous post I did after some research into terminology. Just do a "search" at the top right (type in "plaid.")

Stay tuned for a How-To as it goes along. I never would have figured out doing these strips on my own, as the individual setts make it confusing.

Beads and Plaid! AHA! (and coral reefs)

The big "AHA!" is because I found the piece I started long ago for an evening bag - a pretty jazzy one! ( I was looking for something else, and stumbled upon it ). The swatch with this plaid is on my Freebies blog - and only shows it worked with silk threads.

This one was begun after I discovered the joy of the "beaded solid" effect due to a happy accident. It's stitched with DMC floss - and colored, sparkly beads from Sundance in the colors of the plaid.

This is adapted from an upholstery fabric I saw in a magazine - so easy to work with one.

The warp was stitched with the cotton first, and then the weft was begun with the beads. This was several years ago, so I have no idea in which layer in the "sparkly stuff" bin they might be found. I do remember that the two gold stripes were worked with YLI Ribbon Floss in the Honey/Copper blend - one of my favorites. It has a bit of sparkle on its own.

BTW: If you click on "beads with needlepoint" - the label - I have 68 posts about using beads on this blog - enjoy and learn! I find it rather addictive.

Here, I'm showing the "tools" of starting the new project. My mentor and instructor in this thing suggested that I use a compass (had the audacity to ask if I owned one), as it would be useful in drawing a series of concentric circles to trace onto canvas to start the shaded water on the droplet. She graphed two sides and sent them to me - the graph looks like a water drop with a toothache, but it worked beautifully to make two different drawings.

Next, of course, I checked the supply of DMC floss to choose just the right colors for water in a coral reef. Have you ever really thought about the shades of blues and greens of the ocean? Beautiful!! Creating or being aware of art really opens the eyes to the beauty around us. As Emily Dikinson said, "To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else."

Finally, I settled on a choice of color for the fat droplet - I made two of these, and just elongated the sides of one of them to give me more room.

On the other, I made three vertical lines (dots on the weft) to insert clear beads later that will resemble bubbles. I'll use the smooth ones rather than the hexagonal, as I don't want glitter here - just bubbles.

I think at this point I may be practicing creative avoidance, as I'm terrified of beginning the surface enhancement (after stitching the backgrounds, of course) - the seaweed/branch coral /sea shells/starfish, etc. etc. - and sea fans made with Memory Thread and Satin Floss. Maybe even a tiny, colorful fish or two stitched on the surface with waste canvas. Oh My!!

Beads with Needlepoint (and a Plaid Egg)

I was working on the plaid egg last night, and was thinking that if I hadn't been stitching this to illustrate setting up and using a plaid pattern on an actual project, I would have incorporated beads into it. (my favorite thing).

A number of years ago - probably six or eight, I was fooling around with plaid again, and one day was bored with the heart I was working on, and decided to see what would happen if I used beads on the weft (as it is on the "dips" of the canvas weave) instead of thread.


















What a surprise when the result had a spectacular resemblance to a surface beaded "solid." I had previously only used beads in tiny spaces - such as little round things or "jewels" on patterns, as they clumped up and were uneven on the surface. As I like to use beads as part of the needlepoint itself, this wasn't acceptable, and wasn't really very pleasant to work.

I was so excited that I never finished the little heart - but moved on to the next thing: Another heart in "gingham" in two colors and white. (didn't finish it either, but it's a great illustration.) By working beads into the fabric of the needlepoint this way, they become part of it, and the surface is smooth and uninterrupted, as beads placed on the warp "bumps" will stand up and wobble.

Of course more fun experiments happened - and one of my favorites was the hat inset I worked for Vikki Pinson (who is a fine milliner, as well as a world class finisher) with leopard spots. I used the Sundance black hex beads for glitter, and then just used the different pattern on the background - widely spaced - with beads that gleam softly rather than sparkle.

Incidentally, one uses size 14 beads (When using Sundance) on 18 mesh canvas, and size 11 on 13 mesh.

I have since made giraffe and zebra print napkin rings and bracelets with this technique - and also, several years ago, cuff bracelets with "lace" and flowers, with matching earrings. Lots of Possibilities here!!

"The World is so full of a Number of Things, I'm sure we should all be as Happy as Kings." (Robert Louis Stevenson, "A Child's Garden of Verses.")

ADDENDUM:There are napkin ring and bracelet patterns on Freebies, and my BEAD book is now in E-Book form on my web page, Elegant Whimsies, divided into two chapters.

The Truth about Gingham (via Needlepoint)

I saw this pretty fabric as a patch on a quilt somewhere on the internet, and thought it was interesting that it has one more element added to what we normally think of as "gingham checks," as it has yellow added to what we usually see as just one color plus white. (which makes a lighter shade of the color where it crosses the white) I decided to adapt it to needlepoint to show what an easy thing it is!

People have asked what is the difference between "gingham" and "plaid." Gingham originally came from a Malaysian/French word meaning "stripes." Later, it came to mean a cloth made of cotton that has been dyed before weaving instead of being printed with color patterns afterward or dyed after it's taken off the loom whether or not it has stripes

.

"Plaid" is derived from a Gaelic word meaning "sheep skin," which is logical, as the early fabrics in the region where the plaid was first found (Scottish Highlands) were wool. The word "tartan" is applied to numerous textile patterns consisting of stripes of varying widths and colors, crossed at right angles against a solid background - each forming a distinctive design. It is these patterns that have been adopted by individual Highland families as their own - and now, even different countries and states in the U.S.A. have their own tartans.

In this era, "plaid" is the name applied to the tartan patterns, so gingham is actually a woven plaid - a very simple form. The Rob Roy family tartan is a "giant" gingham check, as it is composed of two colors only, red and black, in large stripes of equal widths. In my mind, the term "gingham checks" means those pretty fabrics we used to wear ourselves as children - and I delighted in sewing dresses for my daughters with "baby gingham." The fabric was, again, just one color plus white, with a lighter shade of the color where it crossed white in the weave.

Anyway, on Freebies in a little while, I'll do a post on setting up this simple plaid, as it's a foundation for doing more elaborate plaids (tartans, to be correct), and you can see how very easy it is to do. Remember that there is more to creating plaids than just "setting them up." When using them for individual projects, the size and scale must be considered - one wouldn't want to make a large pillow border with tiny little checks!! Also, you can see how easy it is to just widen or make narrower a stripe, add another color or two, and create your own original pattern!!

ADDENDUM: I do have a book on this, available on my web page, Elegant Whimsies - and very soon to be an e-book you can download for yourself.

Plaid in Bittersweet!

I have had this ready for about two weeks, but had other things to do that I was very slow finishing. I have started some tutorials on the other blog (Freebies, Etc.) about creating plaid patterns, and also planning projects with it, as I'm working on putting my PLAID book into e-book form on my web page.

This is a very very simple plaid, in only orange and red - with elements of white to cool it down. My great grandmother, who lived in Missouri, used to send us a big box of bittersweet from her bushes around her house when I was a child - I loved it! Also, this might be called "pimiento."

Anyway, it's an example of how a simple plaid can be set up for a specific project. This was for a pad on a little footstool my aunt had in her house - hence the curved sides and top. I've been researching Scottish tartans, also, from a very old book I found among her things on this subject - very in depth and fascinating! I say "very old," because it was first published two years before I was born. That classifies it as OLD, but not yet antique. The copy I found was an edition published when I was in college - so it's still "old."

I stitched the Donaldson plaid several years ago for a tote bag, but now can't find it - it was in my favorite blues and greens. One interesting thing I learned is that there can be different color schemes for the individual tartans of different clans, but basically the Sett pattern, which is the area of design that is repeated to construct the Tartan, remains the same within a clan. That is, the pattern is distinctive for that family - but there are hunting plaids in different colors, etc., and now there are even plaids for U.S.A. states, and for Canada and other places.

I even found a Texas Bluebonnet tartan - which captures the kind of purplish blue and bit of magenta and white in these flowers - I want to do something with it, of course! Later.

By the way, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (one of my favorites besides Emily Dickensen and Ogden Nash) said "the principle that keeps one in everlasting ignorance, is contempt prior to investigation." I know some of my methods are different from what people are being taught now - such as using numbers for some reason to create plaid, or starting in the center and doing horizontals first. ( not a good practice, as it distorts the canvas)

Please feel free, with anything of mine, to try both methods and see which you enjoy, and which is easiest and most effective for you. I strive for simplicity via common sense - and most of my things are just that. If it's tedious and complicated, needlework doesn't fulfill it's purpose. A creative hobby should be pleasurable and relaxing.

Plaid without Paint (for Needlepoint)

For someone who didn't want to paint canvases any more, I'm certainly doing a lot of it. (the fish is my latest madness in the Mexican Talavera line)

Lest anyone think I've gone to join my ancestors, lost interest in pontificating and enlightening via my blogs, lost my mind, or just been too lazy to do any new posts, I 've actually been busier than usual. I've been re-writing two of my books that I did several years ago that I think need refreshing - and also put into E-Book form for sale on the web page (Elegant Whimsies).

The PLAID is one of my favorite "special effects with simple materials," and I've been doing it for personal projects since about 1973, when I first started playing around with developing "fabrics" on needlepoint canvas without having to paint.

Having studied Textiles extensively in college, the weaves are of special interest to me - and the plaid is a very very simple one, as it's an even weave pattern, so is perfectly compatible with the even weave of needlepoint canvas. I won't go into the history of it, as that's in the book - but the earliest examples of it were found in Scotland, and were simple woven grasses which varied in color.

My method is one I call "plaid without paint" - as it needn't be painted onto canvas first. Actually, painting it would be terribly time consuming, as one has to consider that where two colors cross, a second color is created.

The photo shows some simple pieces I stitched freehand with very little pre-planning except to choose colors and make marks on the canvas for size and scale of stripes.

This plaid stitching is very addictive, and I've found myself watching people out shopping and studying the clothing of those wearing plaid - figuring out how I would adapt the pattern to needlepoint. I also find that my eye goes straight to plaid on upholstery in decorating magazines.

There is a brief tutorial on my Freebies blog from about a year ago (link to plaid is on the side bar) when I was demonstrating gingham checks, which is the simplest of all plaids. Basically, as the warp of a fabric is the strength, the VERTICAL stripes should always be worked first - on the warp "bumps." Simple basketweave, skipping the weft threads is used, and this way the canvas doesn't get pulled out of shape. The weft - horizontal stripes - are then worked when the vertifcals are in place.

This is the order in which a fabric is woven - so it only makes sense to work it this way. Also, experience will show you it doesn't distort and warp the canvas. I don't use a frame, and have never had a plaid piece, no matter how large or small, pull out of shape.

The Julia pillow isn't "woven" plaid - but rather the effect of gingham checks made with cotton floss in double leviathan stitches. I just wanted to show one of the many uses of this wonderful thing called plaid.

Also showing some other fun projects. I've especailly enjoyed an old book I found in my grandmother's house of Scottish tartans - mine is the Anderson plaid, which had to be worked for a large chair seat, as it's a rare one with seven colors in it (wouldn't you know it would have to be complicated). I loved the Donaldson plaid, as it's blue and green on white - so stitched it even though I don't know anyone by that name. Also, belts and dog collars are great stitched in plaid!!! All kinds of wonderful things!!