Module 1 Chapter 3 straight stitch samples

Sample 1a)

I used blue and purple transfer painted satin as the background for this sample, backed with white felt and set my stitch length to 2.4. I chose a light golden brown thread, a light lime green thread and a golden yellow, to complement the background. The stitching is quite neat and I like the spacing between the rows and columns, but the lime green and yellow look quite similar when viewed from a distance.

Close up of sample 1a)

Sample 1b)

I decided to try the exercise again, using the same background, but slightly different coloured threads. This time I used a darker purple, orange and the lime green from the previous sample. Although the overall effect is darker, I prefer this sample because the thread colours don't overpower the background and there is a little more contrast between them.

Close up of stitching sample 1b)

Diagonal grid on black felt - sample2

For this sample I used black felt as a stabiliser and set my stitch length to 2.4. I used red, lime green and orange threads to stitch the grid. I was able to keep the lines quite straight and was quite pleased with the overall effect. It looks a little bit like tartan! (1 hour to complete).

Sample on calico  (3a)

For this sample, I used calico, backed with white felt. I used a multitude of coloursand stitched 'wiggly' lines in a horizontal, vertical and diagonal direction. I also changed
 colours quite regularly (no more than 10 lines in one colour). It did look quite messy once complete and some of the lighter stitching doesn't really show up in the photos. I then used a darker pink to stitch three thicker wiggly lines from top to bottom, but still thought it looked disorganised! (see photo below).

Experimental sample on calico with darker stitching

I thought that I would try again, using coloured fabric as a background. This time I used white satin which had been coloured with green and yellow transfer paints. Again, I sewed lots of 'wiggly' lines in lots of different directions and changed colours regularly. Once this was completed, I sewed three thicker diagonal wavy lines across the fabric in a mid-blue tone (Madeira 1134). I found this sample much more pleasing to look at due to the coloured background, and much prefer the effect of the diagonal lines (they look like blue seaweed!)

Green and yellow transfer painted satin as background- sample 3b)

1 hour