Joni Stevenson has written a series of essays on tent stitches that you will want to read and re-read. It's dense going, but if you want to improve how you make tent stitches, it's a Must Read. Joni starts out with a look at the three different stitches in the tent stitch family. You'll learn all about half cross, continental and basketweave, from their disadvantages to how best to end threads if you are basketweaving, and there are plenty of good photos to illustrate Joni's points. If you've never understood how to use the weave of the canvas to do beautiful basketweave, read this.
http://creative-stitch.blogspot.com/2012/04/tent-stitch-part-1.html
Once you understand part one, settle down with Joni and read part two, which talks about basketweave in detail, particularly how to achieve a smooth look when you change colors, and also explains why stitching tent stitches on linen and on needlepoint canvas is different.
http://creative-stitch.blogspot.com/2012/04/tent-stitch-part-2.html
In part three, Joni talks in depth about starting and stopping threads when you are doing basketweave. Her technique will keep the starting point for a new thread from showing on the front as a hole.
http://creative-stitch.blogspot.com/2012/04/tent-stitch-part-3.html
The last tent stitch article talks about ending waste knots and about pin stitches, then goes on to analyze the best starting points for large areas of basketweave.
http://creative-stitch.blogspot.com/2012/04/tent-stitch-part-4.html
My favorite book about basketweave (and the only one I've ever seen that treats basketweave in depth although Joni says Jane Zimmerman has also talked about basketweave) is Davie Hyman's The Diagonal Basket Weave. This book is out of print but well worth hunting down. There's nothing about basketweave that Davie didn't understand and explain well, including how to basketweave if you are left handed. Here's a bit about the last (fourth?) edition of this wonderful book.
http://www.daviehyman.com/book.htm
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
Friday, May 18, 2012
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tent Stitch
Labels:
Davie Hyman,
Jane Zimmerman,
Joni Stevenson,
tent stitches
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2 comments:
Interesting. I searched around and found 2 VG copies. This is a rare book and not cheap. I hope to have the copies in stock late next week. Thanks for the book tip.
I've never seen the Zimmerman book myself but Davie's book was quite popular in the early 1990s. It's a great book but she decided not to republish it after the last edition. I think more and more folks want to do decorative stitching and are neglecting basketweave. After all it is hard to do well.
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