Last night I finished the July stitch for Tony Minieri's Stitch of the Month Project. Glittering Kimono's instructions are at the link below, in case you want to look at the July stitch which I just finished or the August stitch which I started last night.
August goes on the right sleeve and continues below the cuff. In the photo above that's the cuff on the top of the photo. There's also a small section that is under the obi swirl (I think the scarf-like piece around the kimono itself is the obi). Compensation is certainly something you have to practice on this piece!
I found myself mentally figuring out whether I should continue the pattern on either side of the sleeve or just try to get as much of the pattern in a tiny space as possible. I don't think there is a right answer to this problem. You have to judge what you think looks nice and also how strange it will look to have the same stitch in two or more different spots on the same design if the pattern doesn't continue as if the thing that breaks it up isn't there. In this case we have a narrow cuff between the rows of the first step of the August stitch. It would be obvious if the pattern was off in the smaller section so I counted as best I could through the already stitched cuff and kept up the pattern. The small triangle I didn't bother counting out to. I just did as much of the entire pattern as I could in the space.
By the way, see how the line for the cuff was drawn in the wrong place? That's why there is a second line below/to the right of the cuff the August stitch surrounds. Once I started stitching the two cuffs, I realized the two weren't perfectly in line I moved the right cuff up. The outlines will be covered by my stitching eventually. Outlined canvas is usually pretty forgiving but occasionally you have to adjust the lines. As long as you don't mess with the background (and I have to be careful with that as this is congress cloth and any ripping out will show), it'll be ok. Stitching hides lots of mistakes!
August's stitch is very pretty so far. I think it would make a lovely background on the right piece without Step Two, and considered not doing the second step on this piece, or perhaps just putting beads in the open spots, but when you look at the other stitches on this piece, I think I have to follow Tony's directions to the letter. A light coverage stitch in a sea of heavier ones won't look right.
To do the second step for August's stitch, I will turn the canvas back upright again. It is just easier to lay stitches on the vertical so if you have a horizontal stitch, turn the canvas on its side and stitch your brains out.
By the way, I am using a strand of Sparkle Braid instead of the Fyrewerks that Tony used as I am stitching this on congress cloth instead of 18 count.
Before I forget, last Monday's Gone Stitching Internet radio program has an interview with Tony Minieri himself. Renee of Gone Stitching gets him talking about how he got into needlepoint and teaching in the first place. Here is the Gone Stitching website. Click on Blog Radio to get to the page full of programs. You can listen to any interview via iTunes or click on the download link if you use another audio program like Media Player. Your computer should automatically start playing the show.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
2 comments:
Since I haven't gotten this far, I appreciate the tips!
My pleasure. Working complex stitches like these that need a lot of compensation isn't easy!
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