Sampler SAL - Page 1 - Week 4

Welcome to the fourth part of the Sampler SAL! This time we are going to finish page one. This week we are again going to use a simple stitch to make a big impact! The stitch of this week is satin stitch! The most difficult part of satin stitch is the tension — pull too tight, and you get pulled satin stitch (where you pull the stitches tighter to pull the threads together) but that's not what we are going for this week. This week all stitching is done with two threads in the needle. I've highlighted helpful hints about the number of stitches to save you from having to count.

This is what the main pattern looks like once the satin stitch is done. I realised too late that I didn't get enough photos of the process thinking that since I had a link to a good tutorial I wouldn't need it, but of course knowing where to start and what to do next would have been helpful to make pictures of too — a learning point for me. Hopefully I can explain things well enough for you to do this too — if not let me know, and I'll re-do things and make many photos!

You can find a photo tutorial of how to do satin stitches here.
You can find a photo tutorial of how to do satin stitches on the diagonal here.

First of all I did the centre area I started at the top left / and counted from the square of nine eyelets as that as nice and easy to count from — you need to do nine stitches for each side. Next I did the \ below it and I continued round till I reached the end. When doing the final \ it looked like things weren't going to meet up, but as long as you have counted correctly all should work out nicely. Finally, I did the five lines in the very centre.

Then I moved the hoop and did the left-hand side. I again looked for an easy spot to start and decided that the skinny bar on the right was a good starting point. I counted from the running stitch corner to where I needed to be and then worked my way down — it's 23 stitches for that bit. Then I did the bottom line, I was able to continue and do about half with the thread I had on my needle — this line needs 41 stitches. I then continued round to do the other two sides. Finally, I did the square in the centre. Each square is ten stitches on the diagonal before it starts getting smaller/larger, and the stitches along the + share the same space as the stitches of the square next to it. I did both squares facing the same way in one go.

Last of all I did the satin stitch on the right. This time I also counted using the running stitch line as my starting point. The first stitch covers five threads, then four, three, two, and the last stitch of the shape covers just one thread. Then you need to skip a thread before continuing with the stitches. The next row (and rows four and six) is done one stitch away from the first row, which helps give the quilted effect. The third and fifth rows are the same and start with a stitch that is ten threads apart. The final row is a mirrored repeat of the first row.

The main thing to remember is to make the stitches snug but not tight — giving the threads some space to floof is a good thing, but not too much floof, or you will not get the nice smooth look (don't get too caught up in stroking your stitches!)

If stitches don't look quite right then check to see if you didn't accidentally skip a hole, or put the thread in the same hole twice. Stroking the threads with your needle can help them lay flat if they are misbehaving.

You can find the main pattern here.
You can find the main pattern with the extra eyelets from last week here.
You can find the pattern with extra satin stitch here.

Have fun! I'll see you Friday with the next part of the Shimmering Seas smalls set.

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February

February is all about variegated threads — as such you really do need variegated thread otherwise it will just be a pretty embroidery but won't really do what it was designed for. You can use any thread that is variegated, however if you decide to use DMC I'd suggest using either Color Variations or Coloris as the old variegated DMC has too slow a colour change to really work for this. Hand dyed thread is great for this as well.

For February, you will need:

• A bit of 28ct evenweave or 14ct Aida of 14 × 11 1/2 inches.
• You will need two half skeins of variegated floss (so not the same, but two different colours), but you can use several skeins of variegated floss if you prefer. I made the design in four shades of rust and need about 0.2 skein of each.
• A tapestry needle.