After a childhood of avoiding needlework like the plague; I even got my mum to do my textiles homework for me; it was a surprise that I spent my college years being hooked on cross stitch. Unfortunately I burnt myself out by doing a large 'Forever Friends' design for a flatmate's wedding. I didn't embroider for years after that, the stress of finishing it the night before the wedding was just too much.
I dabbled with a bit of embroidery to decorate my reenactment costumes, but there wasn't much evidence that this was historically accurate so I was limited to the stitches that had been found on textile fragments and I had to keep it very simple. It was the gorgeous Indian textiles used by Tribal dancers which really got me hooked and my stitch of choice is the chain stitch.
I love this versatile stitch and the beautiful effects it creates as shown by the picture below.
Of course other stitches are used in this example but it is the sinuous linking chain that holds it all together.
When I decided to decorate a waistcoat for my Four Hundred Roses costume I knew I wanted to use the logo designed by the talented Bev Spracklen. Other troupe members had appliqued motifs onto their costumes but I wanted to embroider mine. The stitch I chose was chain and I'm really pleased with the result.
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