For the most part, I am a one-project-at-a-time kind of stitcher. A few exceptions here and there, but it is basically what works for me.
Way back here, I shared with you the beginning of a major project. Thanks to these months of more-staying-at-home-than-usual, it is now a finish. Began on February 29th and finished on June 1st, I present to you all my newest design, which I have called Heirloom Lace.
This piece, as with most of my other lace cross stitch designs, is indeed based on an actual piece of lace. That piece had some striking effects of light and dark and I brainstormed a bit in thinking about how to replicate them in a cross stitch design. I have created a couple of patterns using variations of strands of floss and this absolutely could have been a direction to go. Instead, I decided to give a try to a thread that has been talked about a lot recently, particularly on Fibertalk – Floche. It is a DMC thread, not super common here in the US, but certainly not impossible to find either. It has a beautiful soft sheen and a strand is about equal to 1 1/2 to 2 strands of floss. The numbers are the same as DMC floss numbers (although I don’t think floche is available in all the floss colors).
I chose to use floche on the main areas with full crosses. On the “lighter” areas, I used one strand of floss, in a tent stitch. This gave a beautiful contrast. Both threads were DMC 712 – a light ecru, just slightly off white. I worked this piece on 36 count linen, my choice being a Silkweaver linen in the color Crushed Cranberries. Of course, this design truly lends itself to being done in any color combination of fabric and thread.
What can I say? I was so pleased and grateful to have a project in these last few months that completely captured my attention and kept me focused exactly when I needed my stitching the most.