Compare this shot to yesterday's without enlarging and you may not see much difference but close up there is quite a change. To the left is the Before shot of the geisha's ears when I stitched split pavilion there.
Scale is really important in stitching painted canvases. You have to pick the right-sized stitch for your area and sometimes that means switching to another stitch if you have a tiny area to compensate.
I've seen several elaborate floral canvases with decorative backgrounds where the fancy background stitch ends just before the flower petals' fancy stitch begin, and the margin between background and flower is done in tent stitches, normally in the background color (but not always as sometimes the flower petal color looks better in tent).
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
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14 comments:
this wonderful information and great idea is an example of exactly why we love blogs! What a great idea! I am in the middle of a large piece that has some tiny areas that wil need compensating. I have compensated decorative stitches before in very small areas and they do look a little strange. They are technically correct but look a litle off. Tent stitches will be my stand by for little bitty compensation from now on! Thank you!
I can live with the basketweave between the ears, but then the basketweave on the rabbit's ear looks out of place. I think that needs split stitch over it to smooth it out so it doesn't match the basketweave between the ears.
What to do between the ears is as frustrating as when you have lettering and it interferes with the background stitch and you end up with a bunch of basketweave around it. I get all anal about that and annoy myself. lol
And, while I'm here - why are there some empty triangles in the background?
Excellent tip--thanks for sharing through learning!
Yes, I'm wondering about those triangles, too!! Jane, please tell all...Liz
Thanks for the compliments on the solution for the tiny ear space problem. Nancy, there aren't any tent stitches on the bunny ears. I'll have to look at them to see where a stitch is out of alignment and makes you think there are tent stitches. When you do split stitches mixed with random long and short on top, you can get the stitch placement wrong, especially when going back to smooth the transition between your fur stitches and another area of the canvas.
As for the empty triangles, I was wondering when someone would notice. Wait and see!
Jane - what's the pink in the left ear, then? That's what looks like tent stitches to me. Liz
Oh! Now I get it. You are talking about the inner ear. That is definitely tent stitches. You guys are saying it needs to be fuzzy like the ears. I hadn't even noticed. I'll go back and see what thread I used (I am pretty sure it is a perle cotton overdye, not suitable for split stitches) and then see if I have a slightly fuzzy thread I can put on top.
It looks fine to me. I'll live with it a day or two and see what I think. If I have a thread I can substitute I might, but if I don't, I may leave it as is. We'll see.
Thanks for explaining. Communications is very hard sometimes, especially when you are talking to the Dummy of CH!
Liz, thanks for agreeing that they were tent stitches. I thought I was going goofy when she said there werent any tent stitches.
Jane - maybe a little wisper to give it a fuzzy look?
lol - The pink tent stitches don't bother me in the least - I was just clarifying what I thought she meant.
I've done a couple of small nativity animals and used the straight stitches with a little tent here and there, so it's nice to see it demonstrated on a larger piece. I suppose it's a personal preference - I can see how you could have used something pink and made that area the same as the rest of the ear if you hadn't wanted to set off that inner ear as you did with the pink tent stitches. Both work fine for me!!!!
But this is exactly the kind of thing I meant in my post on stitcherie - we can obsess over that rabbit's ear for days if we want and most people who see it will just look at the whole and say, "Oh, that's cute!" hahaha Liz
Nancy and Liz, it is my fault. I thought you were seeing tent stitches on the bunny ears, not on the inside pink lining of the ears. SORRY! Communication is very hard some days.
And Liz, you are right. Obsessing over the details can be fun but in the long run, it may not be worth it. I checked and the inner ear is Needle Necessities overdyed perle, size #12. I will have to see if I have a pale fuzzy fiber in pale pink. If not, I probably will leave it as is.
You know, the background stitch is very much like *triangle point*. I have been reading that book today, it is interesting. Bargello but different.
You are right, Marianne. Trianglepoint and the pavilion stitch family are cousins. I think a great many stitches are similar, just with the details tweeked. When you read through something like Jo Christensen's Needlepoint Book and see how the stitches are grouped into families, you can start to visualize changes that make variations on a theme. If that makes sense. Stitches are usually either straight or on the diagonal or curved, after all.
Most stitches are like italian food - the basics are the same - pasta, sauce and cheese - you just arrange them differently.
I think Nancy's right that stitches are like Italian food. Why am I suddenly so hungry?
Jane, rushing to the kitchen here in CH
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