STITCH LINES...... Ramblings on life as a quilter, stitcher, traveler, photographer, gardener and lover of books, cats and fine chocolate....

Sunday, March 4, 2012

TAST Week 9 - Couching

So it's time again for Take A Stitch Tuesday - this week's challenge was to do some couching. Couching is simply stitching which holds down a heavy thread or metallic thread which is too heavy to pass through the foundation fabric. One can also couch ribbon, yarn, fine cord, or what have you. It can be placed straight along a seam, or be curvy or free-form. You can use just a simple stitch which passes over the thread or ribbon, anchoring it to the fabric, or use an embroidery stitch. I have chosen to use several stitches from previous weeks- the cretan, chevron, fly and featherstitch, to couch down silk and velvet ribbons and yarns. With the soft pink silk ribbon couched with fly stitch, I ruched it into small rosettes every so often.  At the bottom, I have couched several textured yarns.




We're now into the month of March, with it's typical messy weather. Yesterday we saw snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and finally rain. I was glad that my class yesterday was not cancelled because of the weather, and although it was a miserable drive home, it was a great day- thanks KRQ gals! One down, three to go...

Peace,
Linda

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

15 comments:

Pamela Gordon said...

Linda, these couching stitches are really neat (cool) :) Meticulous work. Yesterday sure was messy but today is much better. Have a great week. Pamela

JennyPennyPoppy said...

Lovely couching Linda and very nice ribbons and yarns you used for this technique as well. Wonderful quote of the day :)

Raphaela said...

Lovely couching sampler.

libbyquilter said...

really beautiful samples of couching here~!
i think my favorites are the pink ribbon (love the way that you occasionally ruched it up) and the featherstitching that is couching the 'hairy' fiber.

:-)
libbyQ

shirley said...

These are lovely samples of couching and would look gorgeous on any seams on a quilt.

Kira said...

I like the results of the different stitches over the couched threads. That looks like something you could definitely use as a decorative touch on a quilt or something.

Queenie Patch said...

Your sampler is elegant with neat stitches. I love the pink silk ribbon with the ruches rosettes.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Isn't TAST a great opportunity to stitch and learn from others? I am looking forward to tomorrow's challenge stitch.

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for the class saturday, I had a great day and learned so much! Leanne Perrin

Kathy said...

Beautiful! I especially like the rosettes.

Linda H said...

Thank you all for your very kind comments.
Leanne- I am so glad you found my class helpful. Don't hesitate to call me if you think I can be of help, anytime.

crazyQstitcher said...

Lovely samples but the last is soooo beautiful with the Fargo rose.

crazyQstitcher said...

Lovely samples but the last is soooo beautiful with the Fargo rose.

crazyQstitcher said...

A second, longer look at the rose leads me to believe it is not a Fargo rose but a gathered one.
I wish I could make such nice roses.

Linda H said...

CrazyQstitcher- these gathered roses are SOOO easy- you simply thread a needle with a fine thread, bring it up through base fabric and silk ribbon and do several inches of running stitches through just the ribbon- keep the stitches uneven and not too straight- then go back down through the base fabric and gently pull the thread- it will "gather up" the rose. Anchor thread and knot. Very easy!

GailM. said...

So nice Linda. I love these. So different, so inspirational.

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