I have about 40% of O'jishi's background done at this point, which is boring for you to watch and boring for me to stitch. However, I am mulling over other parts of the canvas, like what to stitch next, how and with what thread while I work the background, so I am not just working the background--I'm thinking! But you would be bored so I have other things to talk about here to keep you coming back.
I've not been happy with my posting about how to tie off the Alternating Cashmere Pairs in this background when you need to end a length of thread and start another. So let's talk about this a bit more, ok? In the extreme close-up photo above you see that I haven't done as good a job with the laying tool as I might have. I'll stroke that twisted stitch with my needle and since there are only two plies, it'll probably straighten out. This might not work for many plies, but for 2 plies only I ought to be able to fix the twisted stitch by stroking it carefully without pulling out that area and restitching it.
If you look carefully at the photo in the area just under the lowest alternating cashmere pairs, you'll see that I have finished one of the pairs and started another with the first tent stitch. Two threads to the right and up another two threads you'll see what is called the Locking L Stitch or just plain L Stitch. It's also called a pinhead stitch. As far as I can find out, this is a stitch from Japanese Embroidery used to start/stop threads. I believe Shay Pendray, who was a very experienced Japanese Embroidery student, first started using this in her needlepoint and taught many students to use this stitch. Its use has spread. (It is mentioned on Amy Bunger's needle weaving DVD I just reviewed, for instance.) Most really good stitchers I know use it at least occasionally when they need to secure a thread.
What you do is take two little stitches, each over one thread, to make an L shape, then run the loose end under the thread on the back side. This helps keep threads (particularly silks) from wiggling out from the back side. It is also used to start stitching.
You put your Locking L stitch in an area that will be covered later by stitching. As you can see, the longer stitches of the cashmere block will cover the little stitches.
As you know, I like to do light coverage stitches in my needlepoint. When you do light coverage stitches, there isn't much thread on the front. (Duh.) But there also isn't much on the back side to anchor threads under. In my experience, if you don't do the Locking L stitch when doing light coverage stitches, you will need a more solid area somewhere nearby to run your tail of thread through on the back. If there isn't something to hold that thread tail, whether it be a nearby section of dense tent stitches or a Locking L stitch, the threads will start to wiggle loose and you will have to retighten them.
In the photo above, if I decide to use the coral shaded stitches as a border, I could tie off there. My one ply of Watercolours is thick enough on the back to hold the tails of stitches close to it. But since I don't know if I'll use that as a border, and there is a ton of background not close to the edge, I am using the Locking L stitch to make sure I don't have threads wiggling out from under the back side.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
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