Sunday, November 8, 2009

Golden Gate Chapter's Background Book on Sale


The Golden Gate Canvas Workers Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild is selling their famous book of background stitches for $25 (including shipping and taxes) this year.  To order, send a check made out to GGCW-ANG to Mary Pat Carney, 10 McKenzie Court, Hillsborough, CA 94010-6873.  You may email Mary Pat for further information at marypatc at aoldotcom.

By coincidence I had just pulled out my copy of A Background Stitch Reference Book to look for a background stitch.  My copy is a spiral bound booklet dated June 1997 with black and white hand drawn diagrams for 131 background stitches.  Perhaps a dozen of these are stitches I've never seen anywhere else or a unique variation of a common stitch.  Although these stitches were intended to be used in backgrounds, some of them are small scale enough that they have other uses.  The diagrams are very clear and each stitch has a brief comment such as "This is an excellent background stitch where some texture is required" or "On colored canvas, an interesting contrast develops by not using the cross stitches."  Note that most diagrams are not numbered (although the complex stitches are clearly numbered) so you will have to figure out where to start each stitch unit and how to proceed in most cases.  An experienced stitcher shouldn't have any trouble with this.  There are no stitched examples in my version of this classic book, just the diagrams.  

This book I consider a "must have" if you collect stitch dictionaries and are always looking for new ideas.  If you just need a basic stitch book or if you are a beginner, this isn't the right book.  You'd do better to invest in something along the lines of Jo I. Christensen's The Needlepoint Book.  

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Making Tassels



SFSunset asked for a quick tutorial on making tassels in the comments of the last blog entry since she noticed I made two for my just finished cameo ornament.

I found several good tutorials on the Internet but this one seems to be the clearest.
http://sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/386-how-to-make-a-tassel

Wool makes lovely tassels, so pull out some of your Paternayan and practice tassels in various sizes and colors, just for fun.  (Cotton floss makes very pretty tassels as well but I think it's a bit harder to handle for a beginner's tassel.)  Tassels are quite pretty as package decorations or draped on a handle of a cabinet so it pays to master this skill.

The trickiest part of making a tassel is figuring out how to tie off the top bit for the head of the tassel. My best advice is to follow the instructions here and pull the "wrap strand" tight at the neck of the tassel's head.  Then go around the neck 8-10 times.  Then plunge the needle into the middle of the tassel and out the bottom.  Clip it to length and it becomes part of the fringed bottom.

If you are worried about it coming loose, make sure the wrap strand has two long loose ends, one you wrap about the neck and the other you hold securely until the wrapping is finished.  Then plunge both loose ends into the middle of the tassel and tie them into a knot that the fringe end will hide once you clip the ends at the knot.  The knot itself will be hidden just under the wrap at the neck of the tassel and in the middle of the fringe.

Hope this helps!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow