Creating Plaid in Needlepoint UPDATED

Creating your own plaid pattern in needlepoint can be quite interesting and fun. Chottie Alderson was the first to describe an easy way to create a plaid pattern on needlepoint canvas with tent stitches.  This is a brief explanation of how Chottie's Plaid is made.
https://www.needlepointteacher.com/stitches/c/chottie-s-plaid/

Here is a more elaborate plaid, also done in Chottie's Plaid stitch.
http://ruthsneedlework.blogspot.com/2012/05/chotties-plaid.html

ANG's diagram of Chottie's Plaid is drawn from Chottie's own information.
http://65.23.145.224/StitchOfTheMonth/2012/nov.php

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UPDATE:  Sorry, ANG has totally cut off access to their Stitch of the Month diagrams except for 2017's information.  You can only see this if you are an ANG member.  This is totally crazy in my opinion.  How on earth do you recruit new members if you don't let anyone see what you offer?!  If you are an ANG member or potential member and would like to protest this, you may email ANG's management company here.
http://www.needlepoint.org/page/ContactANG

There doesn't appear to be any way of contacting ANG's officers directly.
http://www.needlepoint.org/page/ExecCouncil

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What you are doing is filling an area in skip tent stitch using the colors you want for your plaid.  Let's say you want a blue and orange checkerboard effect with a thin black dividing line between the two main colors of blue and orange.  Then you will do 7 rows of blue, one row of black, 7 rows of orange and one of black, then work 7 blue rows again and repeat the sequence until the area is covered with skip tent.

When the entire space you want to be plaid is covered in skip tent, you turn the canvas 90 degrees so that the top is now on the left or right side (doesn't matter which), and fill in the empty canvas threads in the same color sequence—which in this case is 7 blue rows, 1 black row, 7 orange rows, 1 black row, repeat.

How do you figure out the rows and colors?  That's something you have to work out in your mind or on graph paper.  However, there is something called a birthday plaid that does the sequence for you.

First, pick your colors.  Let's do purple, pink, lime and turquoise this time.  Now choose a birthdate, your phone number, the street address or zip code, etc.  Any number sequence will do.  I will choose 72180.  Now I will work 7 rows of purple, 2 of pink, 1 of lime, and eight of turquoise.  When you come to zero in your sequence you can drop it or do ten rows.  I don't want 17 rows of purple so I will drop the zero and just work 7218.  The fun is you won't know what the plaid will look like until you have the entire skip tent done with the canvas upright and you have some rows of the second skip tent sequence done with the canvas turned on its side.

I do recommend you limit your colors to 4-5.  That makes for a more coherent plaid pattern.  I also think alternating wide bands of color with narrow ones makes for a more pleasing design.  If you want help, look for Marion Pakula's book on plaids…
http://www.newneedlepoint.com/content-product_info/product_id-2588/marion_broome_pakula_s_needlepoint_plaids.html

…or try to find Chottie Aldersen's Chottie's Plaid 1 and Chottie's Plaid 2.

You may find Donna's Halloween spider plaid fun.
http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2017/10/halloween-plaid.html

Here are the EGA free project instructions that Donna used.
https://www.egausa.org/images/Resources/Halloween%20PLAID%20Spider.pdf

This makes a really fun teaching project for kids who want to master the tent stitch.  They can pick their color and numbers, then fill in a shape that can be made up into a quick ornament or coaster if you use plastic canvas and glue felt on the back side.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
 Copyright October 9, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas….

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas, now that Kreinik's Micro Ice Chenille comes in Christmas red and green! 
http://www.kreinik.com/shops/Micro-ice-Chenille-3m.html

 Perfect garland thread if you couch it on your Christmas canvas.  Merry Christmas, Kreinik!



Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 27, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Snag Nab-It (and a Substitute) UPDATED

Someone mentioned how useful the Snag Nag-It can be if you have a stray thread that's worked its way to the front of a piece. Here is what it looks like.
http://www.123stitch.com/item/Dritz-Snag-Nab-It/DRITZ-618

UPDATE:  Here's a video that shows how it works.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5leyyqLdSu/

If it seems too fat for your canvas, try using a short length of Kreinik size 4 very fine braid.  Thread it in a needle without a knot on the end and pull the metallic thread all the way through the hole to the back. It will catch any stray lengths and pull them along.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 30, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

All About Pepper Pot

Suzie at Enriched Stitch says that Pepper Pot Silk is her best-selling thread in the shop.  It is wildly popular, but like Suzie, I find it too thick for 18 count.  If I ply it, it works, but it will have slubs and thick/thin spots.  Regardless, you'll want to check this thread out and read Suzie's information.
http://astheneedleturns.com/thread-thursday/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 17, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Au Ver a Soie Goes Metallic UPDATED

Au Ver A Soie's Metallic Braid

You may have seen Mary Corbet's review of the metallic braid that Au Ver a Soie makes and been intrigued.  I know I was!
https://www.needlenthread.com/2017/06/thread-talk-the-metallics-you-want-to-use.html

Luckily I got my hands on a spool of the Au Ver A Soie metallic courtesy of a friend who bought some from Ruth Schmuff's store. I don't know what other colors or sizes Ruth has as this isn't on her website yet, but you can check with the shop.
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/threads/access-commodities/soie-dalger/

I stitched with my Au Ver a Soie gold metallic in size 12 braid this week.  It is a nice flexible thread, not stiff like Kreinik metallics.   It is called Metallise Tresse'.  The end frays a bit as you work with it in the needle's eye. In the photo above you can see the fraying that happened as I handled it. If you cut it off the spool the cut ends don't fray until you handle it a bit or stitch with it.  My spool is color 002 which is similar to Kreinik's Aztec Gold 202 or Citrine 3280; it is more brassy-gold than Kreinik's 002 gold.

It's not a plyable thread--filaments can be pulled from Kreinik metallics if necessary but I don't think you can do so with the AVAS metallic braid--but it compresses.  I compared it to Kreinik size 12 and it's a bit bigger in diameter—although a tad smaller than Kreinik's size 16. But it squeezes down as you stitch with it if you pull tightly.  I tent stitched with the AVAS metallic on size 18 canvas next to tent stitches done with several colors of size 8 perle cotton.  My gold tent stitches are only a tiny bit larger than my size 8 perle cotton ones.

If you want to try this thread, besides Bedecked and Beadazzled, Needle in a Haystack in California carries this thread in a variety of colors and sizes.  The shop also plans a club with a lot of colors later this year once Au Ver A Soie has plenty of colors stocked and available (second link below).
http://www.needlestack.com/WebStore/Thread/AVAS_Metallic.html

http://needlestack.typepad.com/whats_new/2017/11/au-ver-a-soie-metallics-coming-in-2018.html

The French Needle also carries several colors in size 4, 8 and 16.  I can highly recommend Bedecked and Beadazzled and Needle in a Haystack, but I have heard The French Needle ships quickly and does good customer service as well.  I just don't have personal experience with this shop.
https://www.frenchneedle.com/collections/au-ver-a-soie-1

Is this going to replace Kreinik?  No.  It doesn't have the color range that Kreinik has and right now it is limited in availability.  But if you are doing surface stitches or working on cloth instead of needlepoint canvas,  it is a very good choice because it is much less stiff than Kreinik.   For those who don't like the way Kreinik curls off the spool but who are hesitant to use a flat iron on their metallic, this is a good substitute.  All in all, I think this is a great thread to add to our stash.  Now I just need to finish up my current project and figure out how to use this on my next!

UPDATE:  Inspirations Magazine is selling a set of the AVAS metallics, if you are in Australia or New Zealand.
https://www.inspirationsstudios.com/product/shades-of-metallic-metallise-tresse/

UPDATE #2:  Mary Corbet adds more information about this lovely thread.

https://www.needlenthread.com/2020/10/thread-love-au-ver-a-soie-metallics.html

UPDATE #3:  Mary points out that the colors available make metallic shading (something we don't do that we should) easy.

https://www.needlenthread.com/2024/10/shaded-metallic-thread-sets-theyre-fabulous.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 12, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.