And with Z comes the official end to the ABC Archives series here on Needle ‘n Thread!

Pulling Z way out of the deep archives, we’re going to talk about Z-Twisted threads.

This can be a rather confusing topic, and it might not matter a lot to you. But it can make a difference to your stitches under certain circumstances.

Depending on the type of thread, the twist of the thread can be one of two types of twist: s-twisted or z-twisted.

What does this mean?

Well, the twist on a z-twisted thread looks like this:

Rayon threads, synthetics, filament silks, and pretty much any thread that can be used in a machine are z-twisted threads.

The twist on an s-twisted thread looks like this:

Cotton hand embroidery threads and wool hand embroidery threads are generally s-twisted threads, as are most stranded silks made with spun silk (as opposed to filament silk).

The twist of the thread can affect the way embroidery stitches turn out.

Now, if you only ever stitch with cotton, wool, and spun (stranded) silk, this is not something you have to worry about. The majority of stitch instructions out there are written for s-twisted threads.

But if you stitch with rayons (for example, for Brazilian embroidery) or with filament silks, or even with machine threads for tiny details, then the twist of the thread matters on certain stitches.

Any stitch that involves a sort of twisted “interlocking” between one stitch and the next – for example, stem stitch (the stitches twist together for a twisted together rope-like look) or buttonhole stitch (the edge of the buttonhole stitches results in the same type of twisted-together rope-like look) – changes with a z-twist thread.

I know! I know! This all sounds very complicated!

Does it even matter?! you might be tempted to ask.

It might not. Again, if you only ever stitch with cotton, wool, stranded spun silk – this probably will never matter to you!

In Detail!

If you’d like to learn more about z-twisted threads vs s-twisted threads, how to tell them apart, and how to handle them for certain stitches, check out these articles from the archives:

This article will introduce you to the terms s-twisted and z-twisted, and explain what they mean.

This article will demonstrate the difference between the s-twisted and z-twisted threads when they are stitched in certain ways.

I’m just enough of a thread and stitch nerd to find this type of information interesting, and I hope it is helpful for folks who are exploring a wide variety of thread types while stitching.

But I don’t want it to become a stumbling block for new stitchers! If you are working with cotton, don’t get hung up on these technicalities, because it won’t affect you, and it shouldn’t worry or trouble you!

Looking for More?

You can explore more of the ABC Archive series from Needle ‘n Thread here, at the ABC Archives Index.

More embroidery chatter coming up later this week!

Website News!

From Wednesday, June 17 – Wed June 24, we will not be shipping from the shop on Needle ‘n Thread. The shop will be open so that you can make purchases online, and any purchases made during that time will ship on Thursday, June 25th.

The most insistent summer bug in my life is the travel bug, and I get bit by it every year. I don’t have a lot of opportunities to travel, but I do like traveling. And heck, if I can’t go in person, I don’t mind armchair traveling!

Last winter, you might remember, Anna and I went to Prague. We didn’t get much farther afield in Czechia because of time limits. It was a good “taster” visit, as it was the first time either of us had been there.

Of course I want to go back! But next time, I want to go to Vamberk.

Why do I want to go to Vamberk?

Let’s explore the reason together, shall we? And then I have some website & studio news for you…

Vamberk is a city located about 95 miles east of Prague, in the Czech Republic.

It is a city renowned for bobbin lace, an industry that began in the region back in the 18th century, brought there by Magdalena Grambová, a Belgian noblewoman.

By the 19th century, bobbin lacemaking was a thriving cottage industry in the region, and it remained so into the 20th century.

A lace school was established in Vamberk in 1889, and it still operates today!

Vamberk lace is beautiful! And I would have loved to visit Vamberk while I was in Czechia before Christmas last year, to see it in person. If you’re interested in lace and visiting the lace museum, though, summer is a better time to go. The museum is open June through September.

In fact, on June 26 & 27 this year, Vamberk hosts the International Lace Festival. If you happen to be traveling to Czechia this summer, maybe you can check it out!

You can learn more about the history of lace making in Vamberk here, at the Vamberk Lace Museum website. Hint: the easiest way to translate a foreign-language website is by using Google Chrome, and clicking the small G/A symbol on the right side of the website address bar.

You can read more about Vamberk lace – and it’s recently-achieved European protected geographical indication designation (the first Czech craft to receive the designation) – in this article from Prague Radio International.

There’s some general information about the lace museum here, on Visit Czechia, which offers all kinds of interesting travel ideas for the region.

And of course, if you drop “Vamberk Bobbin Lace” into Google images, you can find some beautiful examples of the lace from this region.

Exploring this type of lace, its techniques, history, and connections with other countries of Europe, is like falling into an ethereal rabbit hole! I hope you enjoy it!

Volume 7!!

And now, news…

To start off, we have the new Handpicked Collection Volume 7 arriving next week! Yay!

I know many of you have been looking forward to this book, and with good reason! We’ll take a close look at it together once it’s in stock, so keep an eye out for that!

Once it arrives, you’ll be able to find it here under Embroidery Books in the shop.

All the Floche

Finally, finally, we have all of our floche collections restocked and ready to ship!

Our floche collections are curated color groups with floche that’s conveniently packed in 1/3rd-hank twists, so that it is more affordable. Besides smaller color groupings (perfect for a “taster” selection), we also set the complete set of floche.

If you’ve been waiting on floche, you’ll find it here!

If you want to learn more about floche, check out this article.

Shipping Break

From next Wednesday, June 17th, through Wednesday June 24th, we’ll be pausing shipping from the shop. Anna will be out of town with her family, and I won’t have anyone to help out with Dad at home, where I’ll be keeping up with everything else Needle ‘n Thread – except shipping. The shop will still be open, and everything purchased during that time period will ship on June 25th.

If you’re in a hurry for anything in particular in the shop, please purchase before noon on Tuesday, June 23rd if you want it to go out before this break.

Thanks for understanding, and I’m very sorry about the inconvenience!

Thank you!

Lots of folks have written in lately, expressing concern about the recent storms passing frequently through our area of Kansas this spring.

Yes, we’re still above water here and we haven’t been blown away. We’re just soggy. But all is well. Thank you for asking!

Fingers crossed, we’ll have a semi-dry weekend, and I hope you have a terrific one!

There aren’t a whole lot of Y options that I’ve covered in the deep recesses of Needle ‘n Thread, I’ve discovered. Short of the color yellow, I’ve had a hard time finding anything particularly Y-ish, aside from this Y.

So, continuing with our ABC Archive series here on Needle ‘n Thread, today, we shall look at the letter Y. Literally.

Way back in 2013 – that’s 13 years ago! – I wrote about this Y.

This was an “extra” from my Stitch Sampler Alphabet PDF, a decorative alphabet involving some 65 embroidery stitches and stitch combinations. This downloadable PDF is a hefty work that teaches you all kinds of embroidery stitches played out over a decorative alphabet. Of course, you can apply them to other projects as well – but the letters are a whole lot of fun!

Embroidered almost entirely in floche and / or coton a broder #25, the letters are colorful, pretty, and packed with a lot of stitch variety. The variety is what makes them so satisfying to work, I think.

Here’s the same Y, but in a different color scheme. I like the first color scheme better, although when I first stitched the samples for this, I think I was more inclined towards the brighter pinks and purples.

Stitch Sampler Alphabet was one of the earliest download PDF (“e-books”) that I published, and it has been a favorite over the years. The information in it is timeless, so even though it’s 13 years old, it’s still a good one!

Let’s Talk Stitches

Like I said, there are a lot of stitches and stitch combinations in these letters, and may of those are detailed in tutorials here on the blog.

For example, you’ll find a tutorial for the interlaced chain stitch band (highlighted in the photo above) here. In the photo above, the band has a backstitch running down the center and some French knots out on the sides for accents.

One stitch combination “motif” that runs through the whole alphabet is the scalloped buttonholed chain stitch. I’ve got a step-by-step tutorial for that stitch combination here. On the Y, this stitch combination is accented with French knots, too.

The mock wheatear stitch allows you to work what looks like a wheatear stitch, but with separate colors for he chain and the little “spokes.” The stitch is further enhanced with running stitches down the center of the chain.

Those are just a few of the many, many stitches and stitch combinations I played with when creating Stitch Sampler Alphabet! If you want more, check out Stitch Sampler Alphabet in the shop, or you can meander through the Stitch Fun series of tutorials here on the website, where you’ll find all kinds of stitches and combinations to explore!

Happy Wednesday!

The maniturgium is almost finished. It’ll be sewn into a tube today, pressed a final time, wrapped in tissue paper and packaged nicely in a box, and on Wednesday, it’ll be FedExed to the client.

Amen.

Let’s take a look at the finished embroidery.

First, there are the fish: Fish 1 and Fish 2. Can you tell the difference?

Of course, I named them in my head, because when you’re spending hours embroidering, your mind does funny things with your projects.

For example, when I had both fish finished together, I couldn’t help reciting One Fish, Two Fish…

And in my head, I named the fish Fin and Finnegan. (As in Fin-again.) If I had identical twin boys, I’d be sorely tempted to do that to them.

This is right off the hoop, so it hasn’t been blocked or pressed or anything. I was just messing around with it to get the effect of the whole piece.

The cross is behind the fold – you can see it above.

It’s difficult to photograph long, narrow pieces of embroidery and still be able to see the embroidery.

I tried it here.

Sorry for the messy table.

This was my attempt to block the linen strip, and it didn’t work very well because I only have three 12″ cork tiles. The piece is over 40″ long, so I had to space the tiles, putting some small boxes between them to keep tension.

Well, that didn’t work very well at all! Without being able to pin in the spaces between the tiles, I couldn’t get good tension on the whole piece.

It worked somewhat, but it’s ok – pressing works just as well on this piece.

One step you don’t see here is the personalization on the maniturgium. On what will be the back, I’ve embroidered the name of the ordinand and date of the ordination, using a small simple hand script, in pale blue silk.

Final Steps & Use

The final step, then, is to sew the thing up. It’s really just a simple tube. The make it, the two short ends will be hemmed, and then a seam will be sewn down the length, with the right sides together, to make a 3″ wide tube. Then, the tube is turned right-side out and pressed.

A maniturgium, technically, is just a strip of linen. It doesn’t have to be decorated. It doesn’t have to be finished in any way – it can just be a cut strip of linen. During the ordination ceremony, it binds the hands of the newly ordained priest after they’ve been anointed with chrism. It has become customary over the centuries to decorate the linen. The mode of decoration can be simple or ornate. Sometimes, they’re painted. Sometimes, they’re embroidered.

After the ordination, it has become custom over the centuries that the newly ordained priest passes the maniturgium on to his mother, and when she dies, it is wrapped around her hands before she is buried.

If I have the mental wherewithal to get good photos of the finished piece ready for packaging, I will share them with you. At this point, my goal is to meat the shipping deadline on Wednesday, and I may not have the opportunity for any decent photography. We’ll see!

Previous Articles on this Project

If you’d like to follow this project from the beginning, here are all the articles about it, listed in chronological order:

Books, Fish, & News – first mention of the project and discussion of design ideas

Doodling & Designing

Battling the Indecision of Decision Making – settling on colors, etc.

“Duc” is Done & Deep

Drippy Water on Embroidered Lettering

Adding a Touch of Silver

UM – it’s All That’s Left (on the lettering)

Maniturgium Update – Fish in progress, lettering finished

Today, we’re going to delve into a confusing topic for your weekend reading. I’m going to direct you to a couple publications that I think are Very Interesting and that – I think! – will help allay some of the confusion around thread weight.

Thread weight. What does that mean? Yes, it has to do with weight, in a sense, but in practical, physical, visible terms, it really means thread thickness. That is, what we see of and about the thread when using the thread. It involves the thread make-up – strands, plies, twists, and all the engineering bits that go into make a particular thread what it is, so that it can perform as that thread is meant to perform.

It can be a really confusing topic. And I should clarify before you jump into it that most of what you’ll read in the publications below are related to regular sewing threads and machine threads more than hand embroidery threads (though sometimes, the principles are applicable, despite the category).

I’ll also share some extensive updates from the Studio End of Needle ‘n Thread! So… read on!

Thread education can be a true rabbit hole. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving the whole topic a complete miss, if it’s not something that you’re curious about. If you prefer just to use the threads you like simple because you like them, and you don’t feel at all inclined to know anything about their make-up or particulars, that’s A-OK!

Don’t feel like you have to go floundering into the complexities of thread engineering in order to be a good embroiderer. You don’t!

But I do get asked a lot of questions about threads and their make-up. So I know there are folks out there who are curious about “what this means” or “what that means” when they see terminology or specifications on thread types.

YLI Threads is a thread company owned by Bob Purcell, who purchased the company in 2023. He and his wife Helen were the founders of Superior Threads, which they sold in 2016. Superior Threads is a well-known and beloved thread brand among quilters and machine embroiderers, and YLI is equally so.

Years ago, YLI used to produce a very fine silk embroidery floss, too, but to my knowledge, they no longer have a line of silk floss. They do have silk ribbon, though, and “ribbon floss,” both of which are used in the hand stitching world.

Additionally, they produce a love Silk #100, which is a super duper fine silk thread for hand sewing. I use it on goldwork when I need a very, very fine thread for couching goldwork.

Over on the YLI website, they have a really nice information section devoted to Thread Education.

In particular, I find these two resources to be very interesting and very helpful for understanding the particulars about thread weight. And while they are devoted mostly to information for quilters and others who use thread on machines, there is much useful information in them for anyone who uses thread in any form.

Thread Weight for Quilting: Your Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Thread

Thread Mastery Booklet – a downloadable PDF focusing on thread education. It’s very thorough!

Other Thread Weight Education

If you want to read some articles I’ve written about thread weight and embroidery threads, you might check out the following articles:

Sizing Up Cotton Threads

Comparing Cotton Threads, Stitched

Of course, there are a gazillion other articles on Needle ‘n Thread about all kinds of embroidery threads, but those two articles above will give you some insight into cottons commonly used for hand embroidery!

Updates in the World of Needle ‘n Thread!

I have a thumb. And it works!

The thumb surgery was successful! I’m still nursing the skin and scar into normality, and there are some surprising little jolts of pain now and then, but I don’t care about those little things!

I can stitch!

I can pick things up!

My thumb opposes!

It’s all very exciting.

I finished the maniturgium this week, and I will show it to you in its finished form quite soon.

I am working on the stitch-along project (the berries! hurray!) and hope to have it finished-finished very soon. I’m working on it from home in the afternoons, as much as I can.

Life on the home front has not changed. My sister and I are still in the continuous cycle of Dad-care. She comes to the house Mon-Fri, from 9:00-noon so that I can get some work time in at the Studio. Otherwise, I am at home, working as I can on Needle ‘n Thread between home stuff.

I have discovered that this situation is neither efficient nor conducive to much in the way of inspiration. LOL! It is, in fact, a bit mind-stultifying. I do so admire all the people in the world who have survived and flourished through similar situations! They are my heroes.

In the meantime, as far as Needle ‘n Thread goes, I’m just happy if we can stay afloat. Anna and I are both working hard behind the scenes, trying to bring you quality content, inspiration, and good things for your stitching life!

Speaking of Good Things

We’ve expanded our embroidery hoop offerings again, this time adding in two sizes of oval hoops!

These hoops are terrific for working longer, narrower pieces.

I also see them used a lot by sampler stitchers, too, because they so conveniently fit the horizontal segments often found in sampler designs. If you are particular about having just the right tool, just the right fit, you’ll love these! They feature strong, dual-sided brass hardware with a long screw, that works exceptionally well to keep the outer ring fitting snuggly on the inner on these irregular shapes.

Don’t confuse these hoops with cheap hoops that can’t get a grip because they’re not engineered to manage the irregular oval shape. These hoops work!

Ho ho ho! Guess what’s back in red?!? Hurray! I’m so glad to have these red Golden Forge scissors that I wrote about here available again.

I almost wasn’t going to mention it, because I know, come autumn and winter, people are always requesting them for their own holiday stitching, gifts, and whatnot, and they will likely be out of stock and unavailable again by then.

If you’ve been waiting for them, though, you deserve to know they are here, waiting for you.

Plus, they’d look stellar with your red, white, and blue needlework projects for summer!

Please don’t miss the opportunity to get your copy of Elisabetta Sforza’s newest book, Bouquet Letters, that I reviewed here the other day! They are going fast!

Now that I can stitch again, I am also back to my night-time project (above – I wrote about it here).

We’ve re-stocked a wide variety of these Avlea Folk Embroidery Kits. They are quite popular, and for good reason. They’re high quality kits, with everything you need to stitch the project: excellent charts with clear instructions, all the threads, fabric, and needles.

This kit has worked out well for me, to have something to do at night when sleep isn’t an option. It doesn’t require a lot of equipment, I don’t need a magnifier or any special lighting beyond my regular light to stitch it, and I can take it out and pack it up easily. I’m glad I’m able to get back to it now that I have a working thumb again.

And on the Website Side of Things…

Some of you have reached out to say that the images are not showing up in your email newsletters. We are exploring possible reasons for this. We’ve been working on upgrading and increasing security measures on the website, to ward off the ever-increasing AI bots and boogers that are constantly trolling the internet and attacking legit websites. So the glitch with the images may have to do with our security upgrades, and if so, we will have them ironed out as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you’re having problems viewing the article in your email, please visit the website directly to see the latest article. I do have a professional team that takes care of major problems on the back end of the website, so I’ve put this in their hands and hope to see results quickly.

When it rains, it pours…

Thanks for putting up with the lengthy news and updates! I hope you enjoy the Thread Education resources above! And I’ll see you next week with project updates and other fun needlework chatter!

Have a wonderful weekend!

And yes, the books have arrived and are stocked, so if you have Bouquet Letters – or any of Elisabetta’s books – on your wish list, we’ve got ’em! You’ll find them in the shop now.

Let’s take a look at Bouquet Letters up close…

Bouquet Letters presents an elegant floral alphabet embroidered in a range of techniques, from needle painting on the larger blossoms, to dimensional stitches on the accents. It’s such a pretty alphabet!

The book begins with an overview of stitches and techniques, all illustrated with clear diagrams and explained in both Italian and English.

Then, she takes us step-by-step through the process of stitching the letters.

This instructional section is presented in step-by-step photo of the stitching process, so that you can see the embroidered letters develop in close, clear detail.

For each letter and element, she provides a DMC color list, too, so that you can reproduce the letters in the same delicate colorway.

However, you are not restricted solely to this colorway! As with any instructional and project book, you can freely substitute a different palette if you prefer to!

I just love, love, love the blues, purples, ivory, and greens on these letters, though! They all work together so beautifully!

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmm! Luscious! The dimensional accents are luscious!

While the book concentrates on the embroidered alphabet, Elisabetta also presents the possibility of stitching a tea cloth embellished with a verse from Walt Whitman’s poem “Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun.” She provides the text and a sample layout, using the style of the featured alphabet to embellish the text layout.

In the book, you’ll find the designs for all the letters and for many small accompanying embellishments in the same style.

The designs are printed in clear, bold line drawings that are ideal for tracing.

And of course, throughout the book, you will find many sumptuous photos of the finished embroidery to help guide you and to delight!

Where to Find It

We’ve got Bouquet Letters in stock here in the shop, along with all of Elisabetta’s books.

If you’re interested in exploring Elisabetta’s other books, here’s a list of my reviews for each of them:

A Flower Alphabet

In a Wheat Field – and you can see my sample project from this book here.

Sea to Stitch – and you can see my project from this book here.

From Rose to Rose

The ABC of Padded Stitch

I hope June is off to a great start for you! See you Friday with updates and news!

It’s not easy to come up with an X as an embroidery topic, that’s for sure!

I could have done x-stitch (abbreviating cross-stitch), but I kind of felt like that was cheating. So you know what I did?

I went to the search page here on Needle ‘n Thread, and I typed in the letter X to see what the search engine would spit out. And it spit out a lot of X’s!

Way back in the day, when Needle ‘n Thread was just a wee baby and I published a blog post every single day, I ran several series offering free monogram alphabets, one letter at a time.

From knotty Celtic-style X’s to lots of floral X’s, you’ll find plenty of X’s is on those early monogram alphabets!

The nice thing is, if you’re not looking specifically for an X, you can find all of these styles of alphabets available for free here, and download the letters you really want to use!

I know, I know. This is such a slothful way to approach X in the ABC Archive Series.

But what can one do?! It’s an X, after all!

If you’re a traveler and an avid needleworker – if you find the history and culture of needlework to be a worthwhile topic to explore in your travels – then you need to check out this Fabulous List!

Pieceworks Magazine recently highlighted a great resource for needlework & textile enthusiasts in one of their newsletters.

They’ve put together the International Needlework Museum Directory, a comprehensive list of museums around the world that have notable textile holdings highlighting needlework.

From intricate embroidery and colorwork knitting to folk dress and fashion, our global museum list makes it easy to find where needlework is preserved and celebrated worldwide.

Discover collections near home or wherever your travels may take you. Many museums offer digitized holdings, inviting you to explore, learn, and spark new inspiration for your own handwork…

Many of the museums listed on the directory have digitized collections, too, so you can enjoy their holdings as an “arm chair traveler,” too.

So this summer, whether you’re going abroad, taking a roadtrip, or just visiting your closest city, why not check out the directory for a new museum to explore? You never know what may be waiting there to inspire you!

I hope your summer is off to a grand start!

This morning, I randomly drew the winner of the give-away, so I will announce that lucky person below, and then I’ll share a General Update on Things.

Oooooh, including new stock arriving soon, speaking of beautiful books…

First thing this morning in the wee hours, I tied up the give-away for Richly Stitched Landscape Embroidery and, using a random number generator, drew the winner:

Deborah Jesseman!

Yay! Deborah, you’ll receive that digital copy via email. I will reach out to you shortly with details!

Bouquet Letters by Elisabetta Sforza

Yes, of course I’m carrying Elisabetta’s beautiful new book, Bouquet Letters.

And yes, of course, it was held up in customs briefly. It should arrive this week. I expect it as soon as today, I hope!

This is another gorgeous monogram alphabet book by Elisabetta. The book is presented in both Italian and English, and I will review it in detail once it’s here.

I carry all of Elisabetta’s popular books in my shop, and I’m so happy to add Bouquet Letters, so you’ll see all of them in stock soon!

Stitch Snippet Kits Restocked!

We’ve restocked some of our most popular stitch-along kits – Cotton Quartet and Bee-Jeweled Pin Cushion – and they’re in the shop as we speak!

These kits belong to the Stitch Snippet Stitch-Along series that we have hosted over the past many years here on Needle ‘n Thread. You can find the stitch-along for Cotton Quartet here. You’ll see all the instructions detailed there, in chronological order as the stitch-along unfolded.

And you can find the stitch-along for Bee-Jeweled Pin Cushion here.

You’ll find a limited number of both of these kits available in the shop here.

The Thumb!

I haven’t “unpacked” my thumb yet – can’t do that till Friday – but the surgery seems to have done the trick! Thanks for all your good wishes!

I’m doing the hunt-and-peck four-finger typing thing. It’s highly inefficient. LOL!

Oh my word, I can’t wait to get back to efficient and comfortable stitching!

I leave tomorrow (May 19th) for the procedure down in Oklahoma City, and I am determined to queue up enough blog posts to get me through ten days of recovery without having to type for extended periods of time.

In the spirit of the best laid schemes of mice and men, I have not finished this maniturgium project as of Monday, May 18th at 9:00 AM. I sorely wanted to, but “sorely” is the operative word. I’ve been working on it in every spare moment at home, but my hand just can’t keep up the pace.

I’ll show you how far I got on the project before surgery, and I’ll show you my stitching set-up at home. It’s worked pretty well so far. At the end of this article, there’s a chronological list of all the previous articles on this project, too, in case you want to learn more about it.

When last we visited this project, I still had the U and the M to stitch on the lettering.

Without a lot of time to work in the studio, I transported the whole project home, along with frames, hoops, tools, threads and possible threads, a table top stand to hold my frame or hoop while stitching, a light, a stand magnifier… all the stuff that I didn’t really want to take home, because I don’t have a lot of room for a dedicated stitching area at home, but I couldn’t finish the project without all of the above.

After I finished U and M, I had to go back to Duc…

…because I didn’t have the “glints” or “drips” in the blue shading on these letters. I wrote about this approach here, when I tested the concept and liked it.

I had to return to “Duc” and work those stitches in.

The difficulty with going back on something like this is that you risk losing uniformity in the stitching or technique, and I know I definitely did. These “glints” or drips are larger or smaller on some letters compared to others. In the whole scheme of the piece, is it noticeable? I don’t think so – not enough to be troubled by it.

Once I finished “Duc” (the drops and outlining with the silver, which I wrote about here), I worked the cross in the center of the lettering.

I regret the design choice I made on this cross. It caused me problems. I didn’t get the transfer just right on it, so I had to do some touch ups with pencil right before stitching. And then I realized I really didn’t have a choice – I had to cover a complete framed outline around the cross itself, to cover up the mistake I made on the transfer.

I wish I had just designed a very simple cross with no frame or outline around it.

C’est la vie!

Also, I chose a medium blue for the cross and decided to stitch it solid. The cross, then, is long and short stitch in one shade (a medium) of the blue silks I used. I wish I had chosen the darkest or the second-to-darkest shade. But… c’est la vie! There’s no changing it now!

To frame the cross (and cover up the transfer error), I worked a couched silver outline along the outermost design line using two silver wires, and then I filled in the rest of the frame area with one strand of the lightest blue silk in stem stitch.

I wanted the “frame” to be not-so-noticeable, because it would fatten the cross too much. I think I achieved that, but I do regret that whole design decision of the “frame” around the cross. I would have preferred a darker solid blue cross with a simple outline of silver right around its edge.

Here’s the finished lettering and cross.

Did the “deep water” plan come across? I think so. Could I have done some things differently? Yes. Do I dislike it? No. I like it pretty well – which is better than not liking it at all! LOL!

I do love the colors of blue…

But then… there’s my fish. My not-so-biblical biblical fish.

Originally, I had visions of making this fishy fellow into a mosaic-looking fish, like an old Roman mosaic.

But as time wore on and the deadline loomed and the hand got worse, I just couldn’t take the time to plan that out and get my head around how to turn this small of an fish into a mosaic made with embroidery.

So I pulled threads (specifically, Soie de Paris for the fish, because I want him to be a bit shiny) and started stitching, and so far, this is what I’ve ended up with.

“Rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim…” kept coming to mind as I embroidered the fish. I may have to play up those little dotted bits, by adding in some of the darker coral – just a touch – to enhance them and make them more visible.

The fish took a gazillion years longer than I wanted him to. Stitching with Soie de Paris can be frustrating, and even more so when you’re working with multiple threads in the needle at once.

If you’re not familiar with Soie de Paris, I talk about it in several articles on the website, but perhaps these articles on working with filament silk would be the most informative:

Working with Soie de Paris

Silk Hand Embroidery Thread 101: Twisted Filament Silk

Here he is again, with some of the lettering in the background.

It’s a good thing he’s such a stylized fish, because there is no explanation otherwise for the way he’s stitched. It makes no sense in the fish world!

Still, I kinda like him!

I can’t wait to finish his eye and the rest of his head. I think I will add a glint to that eye.

Here, you can see him a bit better in context with the lettering. He is quite a distance from the lettering – the cloth itself is a strip about 40″ long and 3″ wide when finished. The cross is in the center of the strip, with the words spaced equally on each side of it. And then down at the ends of the strip, there’s a fish on each side.

In retrospect, I wish I had put a little more design into the ends of the strip. I would have liked to adorn the fish area with waves or something. Or maybe I should have made the fish a bit more symbolic and had them hugging a cross or a cross & anchor.

Alas… time, time, time, time, time!

This is my stitching set-up at home for this project. I have a small “standing desk” (I can raise it and stand, or lower it and sit) in front of the west-facing window in my very small (8.5′ x 10′) guest closet room. When I sit on that stool, my back is literally against the twin bed, which is, in turn, against the opposite wall. So it’s a cozy little space, but it has good light and at least it’s a space!

I have a fish and a half to finish, and the maniturgium will be done. Then, it’s just a matter of damp stretching, then sewing up (like a long tube), and delivering.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Previous Articles on this Project

If you’d like to follow this project from the beginning, here are all the articles about it, listed in chronological order:

Books, Fish, & News – first mention of the project and discussion of design ideas

Doodling & Designing

Battling the Indecision of Decision Making – settling on colors, etc.

“Duc” is Done & Deep

Drippy Water on Embroidered Lettering

Adding a Touch of Silver

UM – it’s All That’s Left (on the lettering)