Sunday, October 25, 2009

Day 4--Adapting the Plaited Stitch


Today I'm working on the first row of Plaited Stitch--step 3B--and I've run into a problem which I believe is related to my decision to stitch my sampler on 28 count evenweave rather than 24 count congress cloth, as the instructions call for. The holes on the evenweave are considerably smaller than the holes on the congress cloth, and the Plaited Stitch calls for me to insert the needle into the same hole several times--and I'm having trouble finding the right hole.

After quite a bit of practice, and rather a great deal of frustration, I have decided to adapt the band somewhat. I've anchored a thread on the right side of the fabric and I'm working the row in two steps. Step one, I'm working all of the bottom-left-to-top-right part of the stitches (the bottom leg), and then I will return and working from the left side of the fabric I'll work all of the bottom-right-to-top-left part of the stitches (the top leg). I'm sure it will give a slightly different look to my row, but I don't find it to be at all noticeable to the naked eye.* And the decision has kept me from becoming so frustrated with the project that I put it away until I could get new fabric and start over. Which, realistically, might not happen for...well...who knows?

It's been a good exercise for me today--and based on today's experiences I may make some changes in my plans for the other redwork pieces in my stash--the Friendship Sampler and the Redwork House Mystery. Originally I thought that I would work them on evenweave also, but now I'm reconsidering that decision, at least until I look at the instructions for those two charts more closely to see if there are any stitches that might not work out on the evenweave.

I'll finish the right-to-left pass before I put this piece of stitching away for the evening. Tomorrow I'll stitch the left-to-right pass to complete the row.

But first, I'm going to go cook dinner for my dear husband!

*Remember-- I'm not stitching this on congress cloth. If you are and you choose to follow this adaptation of the Plaited Stitch your results may vary considerably from mine!

No comments:

Post a Comment