Thursday, February 24, 2011

Round Robins - The Good & the Bad


Way back in late 2006 I signed up for a Counted thread round robin. In case no-one has noticed, counted thread work in it's many forms is one of my most favourite needlework types to do. At the time I was still doing a course which was taking all my time, so the group waited until the new year. That was the beginning of 2007, and there were 9 of us participating from all over the globe.

Today in the mail my sampler has finally arrived home, with only 5 people stitching on it including myself. The stitching is exquisite, and the introduction of the red colours are just amazing. They have made the sampler pop.

The stunning band on the left has been stitched by Norma, the gorgeous blackwork fish are by Mandy, and the fabulous seahorse & shells are by Margaret. Thank you so much girls for such beautiful & inspiring stitching. The hardanger panel is mine.

I have participated in RR's & swaps before & have learnt that you never know what you will end up with, so I decided right at the beginning that this was going to be made into a carry bag, that's why all the bands are going vertical. I would mount it to a backing, add some other fabric top & bottom, some handles & some lining, & I would have a usable article. Well, that was the plan, and hopefully it will still be the plan.

However, did anyone notice the two fine rows of blue & green? The lady who did these had so much trouble that she gave up , but it has left me with a problem.


With all the unpicking that went on, there are now three broken threads that I have to deal with. I have known about them for some time & said I would deal with it when the sampler came home. All the while I thought I would cut the fabric & add some faggotting, the type that joins two pieces of fabric together together. But I am faily certain I need to add a hem to do that, & the broken threads are way too close to my hardanger band.

I have thought about removing the offending broken threads & re-weaving others back in, but I need a place to start & finish. I think I can just cut them back to the hardanger buttonhole, then start a new one from under the buttonhole stitches, weave it in, & finish where? I can't take it all the way to the other end as there is such beautiful stitching in the path.

Anther idea I had is to scatter eyelets everywhere, but in reality I don't think they suit what I have.

A fourth thought was to cut each band apart and applique it seperately onto a backing fabric. Personally I don't think this would work either as there is very little room between my hardanger band & the damaged threads.

So I am appealing to all the stitchers out there as to how I can fix my problem. At this point in time it looks like it will be a case of removing the two lines of stitching, & designing a new band to allow for somewhere to end the old damaged threads & start a new one.

Any one got any other ideas? Feel free to add comments.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Maybe you could remove some threads and do some needleweaving?

Anonymous said...

jenny, this is kaethejean. I want you to know how sorry i am about the way it turned it doing work on your piece. And i am doubly sorry for the mess it has caused, not only between us but on your sampler as well. All the work is so beautiful, like the rest of your work.here is my email
katiejayinpaATgmailDOTcom.i tried finding your email but couldn;t. . I hope you will accept my apologies. ktj

Stitchety Grub said...

Oh dear - what a nuisance - I think you should remove the 2 lines - especially as the green looks like the wrong type - i.e. a "yellow" green not a "blue" green likethe one used by yourself and the other people - and do something yourself in it's place :-)

BJ Pontalion said...

Wow I don't envy this issue you have. I think your idea of designing a stitch over the broken threads might be the trick. Good luck.
BJ

Linda said...

Hello Jenny, this is a lovely piece, each type of stitching beautiful in itself. I hope you sort out the broken thread issue. I wonder if you did a row of buttonhole stitch in the fabric colour, around each of the bands, making sure that your buttonholing covered the little places where the thread has broken. This is a difficult one, and I hope you get it resolved. These things happen, and I am sure there will be a way to mend everything. Good luck.